James Cameron Almost Directed ‘Jurassic Park’

We know 'Jurassic Park' as something of a modern classic. Directed by Steven Spielberg, it's an almost perfect example of action-suspense blockbuster filmmaking. But it turns out, Steven Spielberg almost didn't direct the film and James Cameron - the man behind 'Avatar' and 'Titanic' - almost did.

Before it was one of the biggest films of the 1990s, 'Jurassic Park' was a best-selling novel from author Michael Crichton. Hollywood was engaged in a fierce bidding war for the movie rights to the novel; a bidding war between two of Hollywood's biggest directors.

Cameron (out promoting the 3D Blu-ray of 'Titanic') revealed that Spielberg beat him out by just a few hours, winning the rights to the novel and launching a new franchise at Universal Pictures.

Cameron says his version would've been "nastier, much nastier" and likens his vision to "'Aliens' with dinosaurs."

While Spielberg's film did have its nasty moments, it was hardly rated-R and was a film that was entertaining for kids as well. And Cameron thinks that was the right move. He tells the Huffington Post:

When I saw the film, I realized that I was not the right person to make the film, he was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids...Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that. His sensibility was right for that film.

While the thought of an 'Aliens' style version of 'Jurassic Park' is an interesting one to theorize, we agree with Cameron. Spielberg was the perfect director for 'Jurassic Park' and we're glad he was just a few hours early.