With the Jurassic World Dominion Extended Edition now available on Blu-ray, I recently got to speak with director Colin Trevorrow in the beautiful country of Malta. I traveled to Malta with a number of other reporters last week because that’s where Universal held the home video junket, which makes sense if you’ve seen the film, because Malta is one of the primary locations and it’s also where they filmed a huge action sequence.

During the interview (which features some very loud cicadas), Trevorrow talks about why he’s excited for people to watch the extended edition, what it was like editing his original cut down for theatrical release, the future of the Jurassic World franchise, his thoughts on an R-Rated Jurassic movie, and the huge Malta action sequence. In addition, we talked about his filmmaking future, since this is the first time in nine years he isn’t working on a Jurassic World movie.

Jurassic World Dominion was written by Emily Carmichael and Trevorrow from a story by Derek Connolly and Trevorrow. The film takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed and dinosaurs are now all over the planet. Dominion also stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Isabella Sermon, Campbell Scott, Justice Smith, Scott Haze, Dichen Lachman, and Daniella Pineda.

Finally, while I enjoyed Jurassic World: Dominion when I saw it in theaters, the extended edition is so much better. The new version includes fourteen additional minutes, including an all-new beginning, key character moments throughout the film, and even more action. Trust me, the new version is definitely worth watching.

Watch what Colin Trevorrow had to say above, or you can read our conversation below.

COLLIDER: Listen, as I said in the other interviews, I'm going to commend Universal on the matte paintings because it's amazing behind us.

COLIN TREVORROW: We're in Denver right now.

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Image via Colin Trevorrow

100%. It's pretty crazy though that we're in Malta talking about the extended edition, which I'm just going to say, is the superior version of the movie. It adds so much. What are you most excited for people to actually see in it?

TREVORROW: I'm excited about it in a very holistic way because it was the movie for a long time and until a very late moment in the process, so I've always seen it as the movie. The film that was released in theaters is the movie with pieces removed, as opposed to this being the movie with pieces added. I think it's an important distinction to make, because I think we're used to seeing director’s cuts, which this isn't technically, although it kind of is. It's hard to put it into a box, but to me, I think that the way this film starts and ends, to be able to see the real beginning of the movie, to see it travel over 65 million years, and to put the whole thing in context makes it more powerful.

One of the things that I actually respect about Universal with this edition is that usually, they make people double dip. I like the fact that... Maybe you want to say it.

TREVORROW: Oh yeah. Well, not only are we not releasing this two years from now as something else you have to buy, but if you bought the movie already on iTunes or on VOD, the extended edition will just show up. You don't have to pay more for that, which I think is a cool move.

You mentioned that this was your original cut until very late in the process. What was it like in the editing room for you, having to pull out sequences? What was it like in the process for you as a director? Was it something like you had to hit a certain run time? What was it like for you that editing?

TREVORROW: It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. They say, "You have to kill your darlings," and that is something that anyone who gets into film needs to be prepared to think that way about their film, to understand that there may be things that need to go in order to streamline it in a way. Obviously, it was something that I wish I didn't have to do, but the movie needed to be two and a half hours. It was already much longer than any other Jurassic movie by a good 20 minutes. Sitting in there and figuring out what could go without sacrificing people understanding what's going on in a fundamental way, was really the challenge.

In the end, hopefully, this is the kind of thing that if you do want to be a filmmaker, and you saw that theatrical version, you can watch the original film and maybe understand some of the sacrifices you have to make, some of the compromises you have to make as a filmmaker, because it is a relationship. I didn't pay for this movie. I didn't release it all around the world. That's something that you have to understand.

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Image via Universal Pictures

This franchise is a huge thing for Universal. These movies make a billion dollars in merchandise and the toys. Going forward for the franchise, what do you think the studio might want to do, or what would you do if you were continuing?

TREVORROW: We are at a moment that I think the franchise was at eight or nine years ago, where a set of stories have been told, and this 37-year-old guy came into Steven Spielberg and said, "Listen, check this out. I see a path. Here's a story in a beginning, middle of an end, and I think that we can turn this into something that is different than what it was, which is that it's not a bunch of movies with plots about dinosaurs. It's a movie about people who live in a world in which there are dinosaurs." That's an important distinction for me. Marvel tells stories that are not about superheroes. They're about people in a world in which they're superheroes. That was the most important thing for me, is to make that transition so that when a younger filmmaker comes in, whoever comes in now and has a vision, they're able to have a vision within this new construct. The breadth of stories, the diversity of stories, and experiences [that] we can have in the new world we've created is going to be an advantage to that filmmaker.

Do you think that the studio Amblin would ever allow Jurassic World to make a lower-budget R-rated movie in the Jurassic World universe, or do you think it's permanently in PG-13 because so many kids love the dinosaurs?

TREVORROW: It's hard to answer that question. I don't know. I do know that if we made A Quiet Place, if we made a hard R really scary version, potentially very contained, I know I'd want to see that movie. If a parent took their kid to that movie and horrified them for life, I know that would be a problem. Look, I don't want to put any cuffs on whoever has a vision for this in the future. All I know is that people love dinosaurs, people love movies with dinosaurs in them, and I know people love the world that Michael Crichton created. The reason why there are dinosaurs and humans in the same place, that sci-fi idea, it's a brilliant idea. From there, I feel like someone else should come to us.

Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, DeWanda Wise, and Isabella Sermon in 'Jurassic World: Dominion'
Image via Amblin Entertainment

You've spent the last decade making Jurassic World movies, being in the dinosaur business, if you will. This is your first time not having a Jurassic thing in front of you. What is it like as a filmmaker? Are you nervous? Are you excited about the future?

TREVORROW: I am. As we both know, everything I have made over the past nine years has been in the context of or the shadow of two major franchises that we loved when we were kids. To have to be a storyteller, an original storyteller, and present something without it being able to get out of that shadow has been challenging for me. To be able to now step out of it, I know it makes me vulnerable in a different kind of way as an artist, but to go and tell stories without it constantly being in the context of from the guy responsible for making new versions of the thing that you loved when you were a child, that's liberating in a way.

I think that the Malta action set piece in Dominion is fantastic, but I'm more impressed with it actually now having been in Malta and seeing how thin the streets are. A small car has a tough time on a road, let alone filming a big sequence. Can you explain to people the challenge of that sequence?

TREVORROW: Yeah, thank you. It's a testament to all the stunt drivers and the stuntmen and women here, and Dan Bradley, who's an extraordinary second unit director who has done some of the most amazing Bond sequences you've seen. We worked so closely together to figure out how we were going to pull it off. It's funny because the thing that inspired it for me was Ronin, that amazing cart chase through those tight little alleys and how tight the walls are. It's like you're in a trench the whole time. While we were doing it, I was like, "How the hell did they do Ronin? How did they do it?" It was extremely challenging, but I think that's the reason why it feels so visceral and kind of nasty and dirty, and it doesn't feel like we did it on a sound stage or with a green screen at all. Everything you see is real, except for the dinosaurs.

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