Her character gave the impression of being in her thirties with a doctorate and tons of experience, regardless how old the actress was. In the books she was apparently in her "late twenties" so that reasonably tracks.
Dude I legit thought she was like 40 and was the secret parents of the kids with the dude
Wasnt she introduced as Dr. Ellie Satler? She completed her doctorate in paleobiology before 24 and she outran a velociraptor!
If you graduate college at 21, you could possibly finish your PhD by 24…would definitely be a bit of a rush but maybe in the Jurassic Park universe there’s so much demand for those sorts of experts that they fast-tracked it.
Dr. Ellie Satler is in her late twenties, according to the book. Laura Dern, the actress, was simply playing older than she actually was. Also, in the context of these films, Jurassic Park's operations were still a tightly held secret at the time Dr. Satler would have been obtaining her credentials.
she outran a velociraptor!
They were deinonychus theropods, velociraptor theropods are the size of small turkeys
In the movie she’s supposed to be closer to 30. Her character went through some rewrites and was initially supposed to be a grad student like in the book which is probably why they cast Laura Dern, but later aged up her character.
Because she looks way older than 23 here.
She also acted very mature for her age.
"girl" is still misleading. At 23 she was still a woman and adult,just a younger woman than one might have assumed
She also served as a partner to Dr Grant with romantic undertones and Sam Neil was 45 so that dragged her perceived age up as well. I just looked it up and the script has her character as late twenties, 27-29
because the character she played has a doctorate.
This just in, Hollywood make-up can make you look like whatever age the script wants.
Some people just have a mature looking face even when they are young. And they will look the same age for pretty much their whole life
Yeah but why does this only apply to people born before the 80s? I've never seen a 20-something in the 2000s and beyond who looked 40+, not the way I've seen older people when they were young. I blame leaded gasoline.
You haven't been looking hard enough, and hollywood doesn't cast them anymore. I work with someone who is 23 and looks like she's 38, I expect she's going to look the exact same age for the next 25 years.
Hair cuts and clothing also make a huge difference. They had her dressed like a late 80s mom.
Makeup?
Not only that, but her character was mature too.
As a young man of 8 years old when the film came out, her legs in those shorts awoke something in me
Reading the book, you'd think Crichton felt the same way. He mentions it a suspicious amount.
I remember watching that scene where she fisted the pile of shit when I was a kid and it woke something in me.
Better put that back to sleep and let it rest bro
costume, hair and makeup. the same way we make assumptions about age IRL. you know how you look at old photos and see people in highschool looking like your parents? because your parents were probably in highschool around that time and they dressed and styled a certain way and you associated that with your parents' age.
As I age I'm blown away when I look back at people I used to watch back in the day and see their age.
Random but this wrestler, the big boss man was my favorite when I was a kid, he was wrestling Hogan back in the 80s and went all the way into 2001 or so before retiring. He died a few years later at the age of 41. Meaning when he was wrestling Hogan in the 80s he was like in his early 20s
And then you’ve got guys like this. I remember seeing some ancient old dudes when I was a kid. My toddler is obsessed with 60s music these days and it blows my mind when I see this video now. I see babies.
I'm sorry, what?!
Wait, does this mean she actually was a teenager in Blue Velvet? I always kind if assumed she was a 20-something playing a teenager in that movie.
the "founding fathers" of the US were all in their early 20s.
A few were, not all, in 1776 -
Thomas Jefferson was 33 John Adams was 40 George Washington was 44 Samuel Adams was 53 Benjamin Franklin was 70
This is false. Ben Franklin was nearly 70 in 1776. Only a handful were even below 20, let alone early 20s.
Below 30?
Wasn't she 25? Looks like filming started in Aug 1992 and she was born in Feb 1967 so she would have been 25.
The top text is in the picture now, so it's set in stone. Ship has sailed. She can legally get her DOB changed on her birth certificate and drivers license now.
She has to give all those beers back now. It's the law.
The OP caption is probably incorrectly looking at either the date the novel was published or when initial talks and production started prior to filming, which would have been 1990.
Shit
Christ though. Wasn't she in a relationship with Dr. Grant (who looked to be in his 50's), or am I completely misremembering?
The actor, Sam Neill, was in his mid 40s when Jurassic Park was filmed. So he wasn't quite 50 but still more than a little bit of age gap. Artistically I'd say it worked because I always thought he looked younger in the film (mid to late 30s) and Laura Dern looked older in the film (late 20s early 30s). Which kind of closes that age gap into something less creepy.
He was probably younger than we remember too.
Although when I looked this up yesterday, I did see that the actor was in a real relationship with Jeff Goldblum for a while.
