Jurassic World’s Bryce Dallas Howard insisted that she still wear high heels in the sequel
After criticism of the first film, her character's high heels were due to be cut from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – but Howard has revealed she put her foot down to keep them in
One of the oddest things about 2014’s Jurassic World is just how much the film inspired people to talk about high heels (rather than, you know, dinosaurs and stuff), after viewers were amused and affronted by scenes where heroine Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) kept her impractical shoes on throughout her jungle-based adventure, even when being chased down by a T-Rex.
Howard herself struggled with the footwear during the filming of Jurassic World and even had to undergo special heel stunt training. “It was dangerous wearing heels all the time,” the actor previously told RadioTimes.com in 2014.
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“But it was important to me – it was hard for me to be Claire without those heels. It was like her armour, you know? It was her strength. So yeah, I ran through the jungle, for a few months, in high-heeled shoes!”
In the end, it became many people’s abiding memory (or criticism) of the film, so it’s no surprise that new sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom sees Howard donning more appropriate footwear for most of the adventure.
However, Claire does still wear high heels occasionally in the new film – including in the very first shot of her appearance, which echoes her entry in Jurassic World – and this was apparently down to the efforts of Howard herself, who told us that the original script called for Claire to ditch the high heels altogether in an extreme correction to the first film’s approach.
“Obviously Claire is prepared this time going to the island, so she’s naturally going to wear boots,” Howard told us in a new video interview (above).
“But in the first scene, like you mentioned, I’m wearing high-heels, and it was written like ‘Claire’s wearing sneakers’. Like specifically, Claire’s wearing speakers.
“And I just circled that when I was reading it and I was like ‘No…no it’s an office, Claire would wear heels.’ And then it was like another scene where I’m like ‘hmm, well Claire’s kind of like…she’s going to wear heels in this scene also.’”
In the end, Howard got her way and Claire’s high heels were reinserted into these particular scenes – and according to the actor herself, it was a crucial part of her characterisation going into the new movie.
“It’s important, I think, to be truthful to the character in that way,” Howard concluded.
“In that she can do both! She can wear flats, and she can wear heels!”
“It’s a part of the character and kind of a metaphor for her journey. And that’s how it was intended in the first, and intended in the second.”
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will be released in UK cinemas on the 6th June
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
