Laura Dern on ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’: The franchise has treated women equal to the men

Dern became a global star with her portrayal of Sattler in Spielberg’s trilogy of ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ and ‘Jurassic Park III’ alongside Sam Niell’s Dr Alan Grant and Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm

Actor Laura Dern says when Steven Spielberg offered her the role of paleobotanist Dr Ellie Sattler in 1993's “Jurassic Park”, they both were clear about making her an empowering character, a vision that has been carried forward in the new "Jurassic World" trilogy.

Dern became a global star with her portrayal of Sattler in Spielberg's trilogy of “Jurassic Park”, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, “Jurassic Park III” alongside Sam Niell’s Dr Alan Grant and Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm.

The three actors have reunited for the final film in Colin Trevorrow’s “Jurrasic World” trilogy, which she believes has powerful women who are "equal to the men in the story".

“Now we’re seeing a lot of movies, and I’m so happy we are. Because of the industry being shamed into considering gender and diversity in storytelling, we are seeing ourselves reflected in the stories, thank God.”

"But what I love is that this franchise, from its beginning, treated female equal to the men and it has continued to evolve with powerful women at the helm," Dern said in a virtual interview from Los Angeles.

The 55-year-old actor said during the press tour of the first movie, most of the people would talk about boys loving dinosaurs, but the success of "Jurassic Park", which was based on Michael Crichton's 1990 novel of the same name, changed that perception.

“I met a woman last week who told me she's the first female Congresswoman in her area in the United States and Ellie Sattler was her hero because she had never seen women who were equal to the men in a film. That was her first memory of that experience. It really gave her the courage to go into politics. That means so much to me,” the actor said.