Thread by @BrentKappel

If you had a chance to listen to the @JurassicParkPod about my experience in #jurassicworld and wanted to see some behind the scenes stuff I’m starting a thread with images/descriptions. I have a bunch so I’ll update over time! 🦖

The casting call straight from the dansjp3page forums.

This is the first email they sent back. I was in a state of shock when it showed up in my inbox. Once I came back down to earth I needed to figure out how to get from LA to Louisiana to fill out the necessary paper work.

Well I took a red eye into Louisiana at 12 am, went to the casting office by 9am that same day, and was on my way back to LA by 5pm that evening. The fastest trip I’ve ever taken! (also the first time I tried gumbo) haha

Before leaving the casting office I took a small flyer with an email attached to it. I decided I should follow up and explain my situation since I didn’t get to talk to anyone directly in the office outside of a Production assistant...

...And I’m glad I did because shortly after I was speaking directly to a casting director. She booked me for the Main Street filming and I was all set to head back in June! And you know I read this confirmation email as “Welcome to Jurassic Park”.

Fast forward one month later. This was me on the plane ride back to Louisiana for filming (never shared this before....embarrassing lol).

Slept at the airport that night to save on hotel/rental fees. @JurassicOutpost podcasts kept me company. One of the episodes was actually speculating about the six flags set we were filming at. So of course I went straight there when I got my car. This was my first look at JW.

Just realized I could screenshot my Facebook posts from back then. Here are a few of the things I posted leading up to the first day of filming.

I’m checked into my hotel, 14+ hours after landing, and my call time finally arrives. I’m Park Visitor Group C, and I’ve got my pass to get through security. It’s REALLY happening!

I thought I would sleep like a rock that night. Nope. Just too excited. Around 3am I posted this to Facebook and then headed to set early for my 530am call. (I had no idea how relevant this quote would be btw.)

Im through security, have an ET sticker over both cameras on my phone, and I see Main Street for the first time...Kind of. It’s really just a bunch of shipping containers with palm trees peaking over them. Alongside tents for hair and makeup, wardrobe, and props department.

As I mentioned they had us place stickers over our phones. But I needed a photo with my scan-band. So I went into the nearest port-a-potty and took this super blurry selfie.

You can listen to the pod for a break down of how walking onto set for the first time went. It would be difficult to portray in a tweet how exciting it was! We spent most of that day milling around main street as a helicopter did passes. This is a shot from that day.

After posting that screenshot I realized video would be more engaging so I threw together some clips from the film. I’ll post them according to the day they were filmed. Here’s the Main Street pass we did on day 1. #jurassicworld #wheresdrcrest

After the fastest 12 hours of my life I was back at the hotel for the weekend. But all I could think about was Monday. Fast forward, I’ve received my call time and the SECRET password to enter set is... Salmon.

We spent a lot of day 2 finishing up the basic Main Street crowd stuff. One of the highlights was a lunchtime speech from @prattprattpratt hyping up the extras for the rest of the shoot. You could tell how excited he was about being part of Jurassic which was great!

This was also the day we filmed in Jurassic Traders. I found some photos of the shirts and displays I attempted to describe on the pod. Still love that double trex shirt design.

And here are the postcards that blew my Jurassic fanboy mind. Wish someone could confirm that the mini dino one was meant to be a reference to the novel. Until it’s proven otherwise I’m going to believe that it was haha.

Spent the rest of Monday on the main steps of the visitors center. We did this shot first, which linked up to the helicopter pass from Friday.

Rounded out the day with our first hint at the pteranodon attack. They crowded us all onto the steps and left us in the hot Louisiana sun. After everyone was sweating and cranky we were directed to act disgruntled... it wasn’t hard haha.

Found this while walking back to my car that night. It’s a production call sheet which outlines the days plans. It’s a cool little glimpse into the filmmaking process.

We started out Tuesday by wrapping up the general crowd stuff. And I popped up in front of Trex Kingdom!!!

After briefly taking cover for one of the many thunder storms that pop up in Louisiana. We headed back to set and finally began the running and screaming portion of filming.

Embarrassing story time. I gathered courage between one take and walked up to @LeDoctor to tell him how much I appreciate his work. Or I thought I did. It turned out the person was head of wardrobe department, and pretty much laughed at me. Didn’t try that again haha.

It’s now day 4. We’re filming a sfx shot involving wire work. One of the light fixtures outside of Winstons steakhouse is about to be pulled down. I’ve got a great view from a balcony overlooking Main Street, and little do I know I’m about to be attacked by a Dimorphodon.

Had some down time while the crew cleaned things up for the next take, so I sat on the steps of the Innovation Center and drew this sketch of Main Street. I fleshed it out a bit more that night when I got back to the hotel.

@jimmybuffett was on set for the second half of the day. They played Margaritaville over the PA system when he showed up for this take. It was a really cool moment and he was a great guy to all the extras (Plus it’s one of the best cameos ever)!

And now we’ve made it to what I thought was my last day on set. I couldn’t leave without a picture... or three. So I peeled the ET stickers off my phone and snapped these shots.

Spent the remainder of the last day dodging invisible dinosaurs and truly living out my childhood dreams. And the best part is the vfx artists at @ILMVFX chose this shot and animated a Dimorphodon snapping at my head. I can say I survived an attack in a #jurassicpark film!

@colintrevorrow was amazing the entire week. He gave a handful of speeches to the extras keeping moral up during the hot days. And I could tell he was having a blast during the Main Street attack. He posted this status at the time. Its great knowing JW is in the hands of a fan!

After that I wrapped what I thought would be my last day on a Jurassic set. It was bittersweet, but undoubtedly one of the best experiences of my life. And luckily it wasn’t over, I just didn’t know that at the time.

Fast forward a month. I’m turning on my phone after seeing #godzilla 2014 at the theater. A voicemail pops up, and it’s probably the coolest ten second message I’ll ever receive.

No better time than #JurassicJune to jump back into this story. I had just received a voicemail confirming my role as a scientist in #JurassicWorld. To say I was excited would be an understatement 😭🤯🦖🔬

A few days later I’m headed back to Isla Nublar ready to science some dinosaurs.

Its the day of filming and my minds racing about what I might see. But most of all I’m hoping to share the screen with the one character/actor I know is tying back to Jurassic Park. Dr. Henry Wu. So I posted this status and headed to set.

Before we enter the lab I’m told to stand next to a semi truck. A production assistant snaps my photo, and I’m handed my new #JurassicWorld ID. Plus a cool name to go with it, Dr. Ryan Crest.