We're deep into this year's summer movie season, and it'll get another big boost tomorrow with the release of the Gareth Edwards-directed Jurassic World Rebirth. It's the latest entry in the Jurassic Park series, which might be getting a little -- check this out, baby -- long in the tooth. You see that shit? That's writing. I am blogging today. I don't know why Scott wants me to write about a clarinet solo in a Jurassic Park movie, but if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it!
So right, that clarinet solo. The two leads of Jurassic World Rebirth are big-deal movie stars Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, both of whom have dabbled in music over the years. The third lead is Jonathan Bailey, who might be a little less familiar to those of us who don't pay attention to theater. Bailey, a British stage actor, broke through to TV on shows like Broadchurch and Bridgerton, and he's in the Wicked films. In Jurassic World Rebirth, he plays the paleontologist Henry Loomis, one of approximately five thousand movie characters seemingly named after the guy who Donald Pleasence played in Halloween. He also plays clarinet on the movie's score.
Alexandre Desplat scored Jurassic World Rebirth, using some bits from John Williams' original Jurassic Park music. When Desplat and a 105-piece orchestra recorded the score at Abbey Road Studios in London, Jonathan Bailey went to watch. As People points out, Bailey recently talked about the experience on The Tonight Show. He was excited just to see this massive orchestra recording this music, and he kept coming back:
As the week progressed, I came back, and I was like, "Could I bring my clarinet?" Because I played the clarinet at school. I told you it was a nerdy story. On the Friday, they said, "Look, you can come." I just wanted to play one -- even if it was just, like, one slightly sharp note of the John Williams score, it would've been my dream come true. I came, and I ended up playing my clarinet with John [something or other], the clarinetist, and I played on the John Williams score. I stayed there, and Alexandre Desplat, amazing composer, was like, "Hey, you can play! You stay, you stay!"
So I stayed in the session, and we were playing all the cues that were coming up -- extraordinary music. His score is amazing. And then a clarinet solo came up, and he said, "Come on, you're gonna play." Obviously, world-class musicians, I said I couldn't do it. And I sat there as this clarinet solo played, and I was like, "I'm gonna regret that for the rest of my life." I sat there and carried on, played the odd note here and there. And then again, a clarinet solo came up, and he said, "It's now or never," and I just went, "OK." And I ended up playing the theme of Dr. Henry Loomis, the character I play in a Jurassic Park film, on the clarinet, which is in the score!
He's right, that is a nerdy story! But good for him! That's nice! Now, the Jurassic World Rebirth people have shared a little featurette about Jonathan Bailey playing with the orchestra and doing that clarinet solo, and it's fun to watch. It turns out that Bailey's clarinet solo arrives in the first moment that his character comes into contact with a living dinosaur and does the whole Spielberg-face thing. I have some hopes for this Jurassic World movie not being as shitty as the last few, though early reviews are not encouraging, but there's at least some chance that this clarinet-solo video will be more compelling than anything that happens in the picture itself. Check it out below.
Jurassic World Rebirth is out 7/2. I have children, so I may see it in the theater.
