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In Honor of Jurassic Park's 30th, Ariana Richards Recreates Her Dino-Frightened Jello Tremble
Three decades on, those grown-up spoon skills are still on point.
It was eerily effective in 1993, and it’s still equally scare-inducing today. When Jurassic Park (now streaming on Peacock!) signaled the slow, stealthy approach of a hungry velociraptor by showing young actor Ariana Richards frozen midway into spooning up a bite of green Jello, the image immediately entered the pantheon of Steven Spielberg moments that have come to define his movies’ indelible staying power.
As a child, Richards played the Jurassic Park role of Lex Murphy, the granddaughter of park mastermind John Hammond (the late Richard Attenborough) and older sister to Tim (Joseph Mazzello), her curious but pint-sized sibling. The two kids shared tons of screen time as the movie voyeuristically filtered much of its up-close dinosaur terror through their eyes, including the epic moment when young Lex freezes in fear as she realizes there’s a scaly stalker somewhere close by.
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Now retired from acting yet obviously fond of her forever bond with the franchise, a fully-grown Richards took to TikTok to share a split-screen recreation of her iconic Jurassic Park Jello scene.
Check out Ariana Richards reviving her Jurassic Park Jello scare on TikTok:
Even after 30 years, we’ve gotta say Richards’ jiggling Jurassic Jello skills are still on point — even down to the present-day video’s film-faithful recreation of the trembling green Jello itself (hey, she apparently spared no expense!).
Memorable as it is, Jurassic Park’s trembling Jello moment isn’t the only time the movie leaned on Richards’ expressive young face to signal imminent dinosaur danger; both she and Mazzello spent the film’s second half swallowing their fear as reptiles smashed the kids' Jeep to bits, devised a way to turn door handles with their claws, and pack-hunted the unaccompanied kids inside the park’s industrial kitchen.
RELATED: The Jurassic Park trilogy's 9 scariest moments
Richards’ TikTok clip is actually part of the movie’s 30th anniversary celebration, with the official Jurassic World account inviting fans this week to share their own homemade video versions of the frightening dino moment. Richards’ response just happens to be the one to top all others, flagged by the franchise itself as “A duet 30 years in the making.”
For more behind-the-scenes memories as Jurassic Park celebrates 30 years of scaring us silly (and shaky), check out SYFY WIRE’s fun callback coverage — including Wayne Knight’s purple-faced Seinfeld snafu, that time Jim Carrey auditioned for Jeff Goldblum’s role, and a child actor’s reflection on Sam Neill’s intense “6-foot turkey” scene demonstrating how a raptor dices its prey.
Jurassic Park is streaming now on Peacock, alongside The Lost World, Jurassic Park III, and Jurassic World.
