Thread by @AndrewBriedis

Jurassic Park was released in theaters 25 years ago today, so I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about why I have a baby raptor tattooed on my leg.

I was a kid when Jurassic Park came out, and I was kinda a punk kid who cried a lot and hated trying new things. I had just quit sports, and my mom wanted to get me interested in literally anything because I had all of this energy and nowhere to put it.

She looked into youth theatre and asked me if I wanted to audition for a play. Naturally, I said "fuq no."

Then I see Jurassic Park and I'm like "why am I not in this movie." I could play this kid's role, easy. I wanted it so badly, I spent the summer of 1993 crying my eyes out and ruining our family road trip because I was so pissed I wasn't in Jurassic Park.

Have you ever loved something so hard, you cry yourself to sleep because you're not a part of it? That was the first time I learned about this thing in life people have to deal with for like, forever.

I saw Jurassic Park in the theatres nine times that summer, which really was a lot because my family didn't have much money. And I would stay to the end of the credits each time, picturing my name scrolling up on that screen. One day, I hoped to see my name scrolling on a screen.

My mom, ever the doer that she was, looked at me one day after I was undoubtedly bitching about Joseph Mazzello's performance and said, "Well if you want to be in Jurassic Park that badly, why don't you just write Steven Spielberg and ask him to be in the next one?"

So, she went out and found Steven Spielberg's production company's address, before Google, and to this day I don't know how she did it. Like, did she pick up a phone and say: "Operator, I need to talk to Hollywood?"

And I wrote Steven Spielberg, in terrible child handwriting, a letter that explained how much I would love to be in Jurassic Park 2 or 3, should there be one. And that my great uncle was best friends with Cary Grant and was in movies back in the 30s, so Hollywood was in my blood.

A few weeks later I got this letter from the head of PR of Amblin Entertainment.

After reading it, I immediately went to my mom and said, "I would like to audition for the play now." And that is how I got into theatre. Because someone important took the time to help a kid.

So, I have this tattoo on the back of my leg as a reminder of the first major lesson my mom taught me: If you want something bad enough, go straight to the source. Don't waste your time wondering. Dream bigger than you can imagine.

Jurassic Park set off a series of events in my life that led me from acting to writing, and 25 years later, I found myself at the season finale of SNL, where I got to see my name scrolling on a screen for the first time. And Steven Spielberg was in the audience.

For context, this is the tattoo. It’s based on Stan Winston’s original art for the film, by the incredible Dan Bones of East Side Ink.

Thank you all for the really kind and awesome comments about my mom! I would love to share them with her but she passed away in 1999. She was the best and your thoughts would have made her so happy. 🦖

Some people have asked for me to post a picture of my mom. Here are a few from around the time that I was the pain in the ass in question. She really could pull off any kind of hat. Yeah 90s!

In keeping with the theme of this thread: @colintrevorrow @FilmBayona @LeDoctor can I please be in Jurassic World 3 #JurassicPark25

YOU GUYS. #JurassicPark25