How Jurassic Park Referenced Henry Wu’s Book Death (Without Killing Him)

Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park novel killed off Dr. Henry Wu, and the movie still references the scene, albeit without actually killing Wu.

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Prolific sci-fi adaptation specialist Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park novel killed off Dr. Henry Wu, and the movie still references the scene, albeit without actually killing Wu. While Crichton’s book is by no means obscure and was itself a best-seller, it’s fair to say that Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation and the franchise it spawned are now what most people think of when they hear or read the words Jurassic Park. That’s not a knock on Crichton’s source material, but Jurassic Park the movie caught on in a way few films ever do.

The film also underwent multiple changes, including a controversial ending to Jurassic Park, on its journey from page to screen, with the most famous probably being that Ian Malcolm died in the book, but Jeff Goldblum’s version lived in the film. In a testament to just how much impact Spielberg’s movie had on pop culture, Crichton himself retconned Malcolm’s death in his sequel book The Lost World, revealing that the fast-talking scientist was only thought to be deceased. Malcolm of course starred in Spielberg’s sequel movie.

Malcolm wasn’t the only character to survive the Jurassic Park movie while dying in the book though. There’s also the case of Dr. Henry Wu, the park’s leading geneticist and creator of the dinosaurs, which represent John Hammond’s legacy in Jurassic World: Dominion. He’s gone on to become a vital part of the Jurassic World series, having taken on a slimy and villainous role, but the original adaptation did pay a sly homage to his book-based method of death.

Jurassic Park Paid Homage to Henry Wu’s Book Death, Without Adapting It

In Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park book, Dr. Henry Wu – played by B.D. Wong in the films – has a much larger role than he does in the first movie. When the surviving characters are trying to get the park’s power back online after it was disabled by the nefarious Dennis Nedry, Wu is with them and helps. Unfortunately, he gets attacked by a murderous raptor for his troubles and then dies as he’s being eaten. Surprisingly enough, Jurassic Park makes reference to Wu’s grisly book fate thanks to the iconic, yet oft-turned-down Dr. Alan Grant.

A famous early scene in Spielberg’s Jurassic Park sees Dr. Grant, after essentially being heckled by a snide young boy, proceed to surely give the child life-long nightmares by describing to him in graphic detail how raptors kill their prey. This involves disembowelment, followed by beginning the eating process while the victim is still alive. That’s exactly what happens to Wu in the book, and it’s unlikely its inclusion in the script was accidental. While Jurassic Park the movie may have deviated from Jurassic Park the book in big ways, clearly those making it were mindful of what had come before. With Wu now a slimy villain in the Jurassic World movies, perhaps he’ll eventually get what’s coming to him on the big screen.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/jurassic-park-henry-wu-death-book-movie-reference/