Just What Washington Needs--More Dinosaurs

The Scene: World premiere of Universal’s “Jurassic Park” in Washington. The screening Wednesday was at the Uptown Theater, the after party was in the National Building Museum. Locally, a movie premiere is a major attention-getter since “glamour is as extinct in Washington as dinosaurs,” as one woman put it.

Who Was There: The film’s stars, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Samuel Jackson; plus 1,100 guests, including Muhammad Ali, Tom and Peggy Pollock, Sid and Lorraine Sheinberg, Lew Wasserman, Sens. Barbara Boxer, Arlen Specter, Harris Wofford, Patrick Leahy and Bob Kerrey; Reps. Tony Beilenson, Henry Waxman, Maxine Waters and Pat Schroeder; plus Mickey Kantor, Ron Silver and Peter and Eileen Norton.

Who Wasn’t: Director Steven Spielberg (still working on “Schindler’s List”) and President Clinton and family; recent petty sniping from reptilian East Coast media pundits about Hollywood influencing the White House was said to have kept them away. L.A. media consultant Josh Baran said, “Rampaging dinosaurs reminded him too much of the press corps.”

Best Line From a Politician: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California): “This is the first dinosaur Hollywood has sent to Washington since Ronald Reagan.”

Quoted: Of co-starring in this film, Samuel Jackson said, “Steven is basically the star of his own film. Then you have the dinosaurs. Everybody’s anticipating what they look like. People are coming to see them. Then they’re coming to see us. Kind of. We’re kind of filler.”

The Setting: Ambrosia Catering packed the cathedral-like National Building Museum with acres of tropical foliage, lighting effects and a state-of-the-art sound system that put out ambient bird noises, pounding dinosaur footsteps and a 110-decibel thunderclap. “It’s meant to completely shock people,” was the soundman’s understated comment about the boom.

Dress Mode: Not a big fashion town. Men in rumpled tweed coats, button-down blue oxford shirts and suspenders; for women, ill-fitting, dark Anne Klein business suits, unbelievably sensible shoes. A lot of the men looked like they sleep in their suits. A lot of the women looked like they could use some sleep.

Money Matters: Tickets started at $250, and more than $250,000 was split between the Children’s Defense Fund and the Children’s Action Network. According to organizer Sally Van Slyke, this was the most any Washington movie premiere has ever raised.

Requisite D.C. Protesters: About two dozen demonstrators used the occasion to protest the development of genetically engineered food. They had nothing against the movie, it just seemed like a good chance for publicity. One dressed as a cow; three went as dinosaurs. They would have had more in costume, but the only other dinosaur outfits they could find were of TV’s Barney. “Somehow that didn’t feel right,” said one of the organizers.

Just Let Me Get This Dinosaur Paw Out of My Mouth: The local NBC affiliate’s entertainment reporter asked novelist Michael Crichton if he had “a hand in the way Spielberg put the film of your book together.” Well, yeah. Crichton co-wrote the screenplay.