- NOTE: This article is for the film series version of John Hammond where he is portrayed as a more heroic character, while his portrayal in the original novel is a villainous character.
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| “ | Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattler, welcome to Jurassic Park. | „ |
| ~ Hammond's most famous quote and one of the most famous movie history quotes. |
Dr. John Hammond is the overarching protagonist of the Jurassic Park franchise.
In the films, he was portrayed by the late Sir Richard Attenborough.
Biography[]
All that is known about John Hammond's early life is that he possibly attended university, but he developed a dislike of them. He scoffed at academia and said that action was happening in laboratories, not universities, so he recruited several famous professionals and intellectuals, including Robert Muldoon and other scientists, through this university/laboratory lecture.
In the 1993 movie based on the original novel, Hammond's personality was changed from a cold-hearted and eccentric CEO to a more caring and sympathetic grandfather, and unlike in the novel, Hammond survived the downfall of his park and redeemed himself by helping the survivors (including his grandchildren) escape from Isla Nublar. His intentions for building Jurassic Park were similar, but during his conversation with Ellie, he revealed that though he initially built the park to be rich, he also wanted anyone in the world to be able to see the dinosaurs, showing that he genuinely admired the dinosaurs, as well as wanted to provide his family, visitors and workers at the park a genuine sense of wonder. When the park suddenly fell into chaos, his conversation showed that he wanted to fix everything up, only for Ellie Sattler to bluntly tell him that he "never had control" and that the only thing that mattered at that point is the survival of the people they loved. Hammond was visibly struck by Ellie's words and spent the remainder of the film doing whatever he could to make sure that they all survived Jurassic Park. His determination to redeem himself from the disaster that roots from his dreams was apparent when he agreed with Dr. Grant that the park was a failure and should not be endorsed, though he was understandably depressed about it.
During his life in working on the park, he was also criticized by Ian that he couldn't/never meant to control the genetically-engineered dinosaur's life as "life always finds a way", a critique that he humbly accepted in the sequel after he found out that despite the heavy damage in the facility that was used for nursing dinosaurs due to the storm in Isla Sorna, nature had taken over the job and dinosaur ended up surviving without any need of mankind's help anymore.
He also made a major appearance in the 1997 film The Lost World: Jurassic Park, based on the novel's sequel, where he had lost control of his company InGen to his ruthless nephew Peter Ludlow, who intended to reinvigorate his uncle's past dream by opening a theme park filled with dinosaurs in San Diego. Fearing the potential danger of Ludlow's plans as he already experienced said danger himself in Isla Nublar, Hammond contacts Dr. Ian Malcolm to lead an expedition to Isla Sorna, where much of Hammond's work originated, in order to document the dinosaurs and their habitats to make the island a natural preserve. In one of his more ruthless, nearly villainous turns, he manipulated Malcolm into doing this by revealing that he had already sent Ian's fellow scientist and girlfriend Doctor Sarah Harding to Isla Sorna. Malcolm, knowing that Harding did not understand the danger she was in, made his opinion of this scheme plain to Hammond, including the now-iconic rebuttal to Hammond's assertion that they wouldn't be making the same old mistakes that time.
The mission succeeded, though Ludlow and many of his men fell victim to the carnivorous dinosaurs during the mission because he was unaware that some of Ian's friends' attempts to free dinosaurs from antagonistic humans had disastrous consequences. Ludlow also died from his misguided ambition to continue Hammond's work, but they were deeply estranged by this point, and it was implied that Hammond briefly took back control of InGen to undo Ludlow's work.
John Hammond died shortly after the events of the second film. He was briefly mentioned in Jurassic Park III by Dr. Grant, who stated how he still disagrees with his creations. His legacy still lives on in Jurassic World. Simon Masrani, CEO of Masrani Global Corporation & son of Hammond's personal friend Sanjay Masrani, acquired InGen in 1995. He later opened a now fully functioning park in 2005 on Isla Nublar: Jurassic World. Two decades after the events of the first film, Hammond's dream had finally come true in a now fully functional dinosaur park. The island's cloning facility had been named in honor of him, as well as a statue erected in the lab's entrance in a form of remembrance. But unfortunately, history repeated itself once it was revealed that Vic Hoskins and Dr. Wu masterminded the Indominus rex's creation to be used in wars, where both Hoskins and the hybrid monster caused damages that surpassed that of what Nedry did, and eventually it also caused Hoskins' own death when the situation worsens more than he anticipated, though Wu was able to escape with documents and samples of dinosaurs' DNA, including the I. rex's.
It was revealed in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom that he was partners with Benjamin Lockwood to make the technology to clone the dinosaurs. However, they broke off their partnership when Hammond found out about Lockwood's plan to do human cloning. There is also a painting of him in Lockwood's manor.
Personality[]
This portrayal of John Hammond is more sympathetic, noble and benevolent than his literature counterpart in many ways. First of all, he is a genuinely loving grandfather to Tim and Lex. His ambition in building Jurassic Park focused on creating a sense of wonder for the world over profit, wanting to reintroduce the long extinct dinosaurs back to the world so everyone can see those creatures in the flesh instead of through media and fossil records alone. Next, his relationships with everyone in the park are much more amicable, especially towards Ian Malcolm despite his initial skepticism regarding his park's future and belief where "life finds a way" hence not truly under man's control. Lastly, he's much more responsible for his actions as demonstrated through his genuine efforts in saving everyone when the doom of his park was certain and later, arranging Isla Sorna to be a natural preserve.
Even so, Hammond still has many flaws that earned him criticism from others and put him somewhere between a likable and unlikable person. When Nedry instigated the chaos in the park by shutting down the security system and indirectly unleashed the dinosaurs in the process, he found himself in denial of the prospect of damages his said former employee being irreversible until Ellie snapped him out of it. Later, during his aforementioned effort to isolate Isla Sorna as natural preserve, Hammond resorted to manipulate Malcolm in assisting him in such perilous quest through his girlfriend Sara, a decision which was admittedly extreme enough to at least come close to being villainous. Even Alan Grant acknowledged in a conference press that Hammond ended up creating out-of-control monsters instead of fulfilling his lifelong dream while reflecting on the Isla Nublar incident in 1993.
Despite the aforementioned flaws (ex. naivety and ability to take human error and unpredictability of wild animals into account which leaving much to be desired), Hammond's inherently good nature and redemption cemented him as a better person and foil to his more ambitious nephew Ludlow. One may conclude his approach in stopping Ludlow's plan to establish another Jurassic Park at San Diego to be a lesser of two evils. For his ambitious pursuit to build Jurassic Park, the fact that Hammond was against human cloning showed that he has a set of values and scruples. Overall, Hammond represents what his book counterpart would have become had he not let his greed and ambition turn him into an unfeeling person.
Trivia[]
- The main reason why John Hammond is not the main antagonist in the live-action Jurassic Park film is due to Steven Spielberg wanting to focus more on the dinosaurs than the human characters. This change was what led Hammond to redeem himself rather than turn evil.
- John Hammond was originally intended to return in the fourth film, but failed to do so because his actor Richard Attenborough passed away.
- Sean Connery was offered the role of John Hammond based on his performance as Professor Henry Jones, Sr. in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. However, he turned it down.
- Clint Eastwood and Marlon Brando were considered for the part of John Hammond.
- Ian Bannen and Jon Pertwee were possible actors for Hammond.
External Links[]
- John Hammond on the Jurassic Park Wiki
- John Hammond on the Jurassic World: Evolution Wiki
- John Hammond on the LEGO Wiki
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