Steven Spielberg has had a legendary career. When all’s said and done, it’s quite possible he’ll be considered the greatest filmmaker who ever lived, if he isn’t already.Jurassic Parkis unquestionably one of his most beloved directorial achievements and Dennis Nedry, the man responsible for the park’s disaster, is one of his more interesting supporting characters. Now, a new fan theory points out that, quite possibly, Dennis Nedry was paying homage toThe GooniesinJurassic Park.
This theory comes to us from Twitter user Shawn Robare. He took a look at the various outfits thatDennis Nedry, played by Wayne Knight, wears throughout the movie. It turns out that they just so happen to line up pretty remarkably with several members ofThe Goonies, which just so happens to be a movie that Steven Spielberg produces. Here’s what Robare had to say about it when he made his discovery.
“Guys, GUYS, is Dennis Nedry homaging the Goonies in Jurassic Park?!? #stephenspielberg #goonies #jurassicpark #dennisnedry”
When we first meet Dennis Nedry, he’s sporting a Hawaiian shirt that, when looking at it side by side, closely resembles whatChunk(Jeff Cohen) is wearing inThe Goonies. Later on, we see Nedry wearing a grey jacket before heading off to steal the dinosaur embryos he needs to get paid. This very closely resembles the Member’s Only jacket Mouth (Corey Feldman) wears in the movie. Lastly, after Nedry has the embryos in the famed Barbasol can, he’s seen sporting a yellow raincoat. Again, looking at it side by side, this shares an uncanny resemblance to what Mikey (Sean Astin) wears inGoonies.
There’s no shortage ofJurassic Park fan theoriesonline. But this one, as far as we can tell, hasn’t even been brought forward prior to Shawn Robare bringing it up on Twitter recently. It could be pure coincidence, but it’s uncanny when looking at it together like this. It’s also possible that Steven Spielberg, or producer Kathleen Kennedy, who also worked on both movies, was just having a little bit of fun. Now, does this theory have any deeper meaning? Probably not. It’s likely just a fun callback, that nobody noticed for more than twenty years, to one of Spielberg’s other classic movies.
The Goonies, directed by Richard Donner, was released in 1985, just eight years prior to the release ofJurassic Park. So, at the time,Goonieswas much more fresh in everyone’s minds. Perhaps that’s why Dennis Nedry was paying homage to Chunk, Mouth and Mikey. Or maybe he wasn’t paying homage and it’s just someone connecting dots that aren’t really there. Unfortunately, given Corey Feldman’s recent sexual harassment allegations,The Goonieshas been present in people’s minds for less than favorable reasons. In any case, this is a pretty fun theory. You can check out the side by side images, courtesy ofShawn Robare’s Twitter, for yourself below.
