Henry Wu (Jurassic Park)
Dr. Henry Wu is a fictional character in the Jurassic Park franchise. He is introduced in Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park, which began the franchise. He also appears briefly in the novel's 1993 film adaptation and plays a larger role in the Jurassic World film trilogy. Dr. Wu is the lead geneticist for the dinosaur theme parks Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, overseeing the de-extinction of dinosaurs through genetic engineering. He is killed by a Velociraptor in the novel, but survives throughout the film series, in which he is portrayed by actor BD Wong. Although Wu is a supporting character in the novel, he has a drastically reduced role in the film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg. Wong and Wu are both Asian-American, and the actor believed that the role was reduced, to his disappointment, because of "racial exclusion in Hollywood".
Henry Wu
Jurassic Park (novel; 1990)
Jurassic World Dominion (film; 2022)
- Bill Ten Eyeck (Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis)
- BD Wong (Lego Jurassic World, Lego Jurassic World: The Indominus Escape, Jurassic World Evolution)
- Vincent Tong (Lego Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit, Lego Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar, Lego Jurassic World: Double Trouble)
- Greg Chun (Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous)
Wong was skeptical that he would ever reprise the role, but eventually did so for the fourth film in the franchise, Jurassic World (2015). It was directed by Colin Trevorrow, who co-wrote the script with Derek Connolly. The writers viewed Wu as a logical character to return, considering his role in recreating dinosaurs. Wong is the only actor from any of the previous films to appear in Jurassic World, and he and Trevorrow were happy to revisit the character after his minor role in the first film. Wong reprised the role again for the sequels, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022), which were also co-written by Trevorrow.
In the Jurassic World trilogy, Wu secretly creates weaponized hybrid dinosaurs at the behest of others, although the animals later escape and wreak havoc. In Dominion, he secretly engineers giant locusts for his employer, Biosyn, which unleashes the insects to consume rival crops in a plot to control the world food supply. The character undergoes a redemption when he expresses regret for his actions and eventually stops the locust outbreak. Wu is sometimes considered a villain in the Jurassic World films, although Wong believes the character is misunderstood, stating that his research is well intentioned and driven by the demands of others.
Aside from the films, Wong also reprised the role for the video games Jurassic World Evolution (2018) and Jurassic World Aftermath (2020), as well as two theme park attractions, Jurassic World: The Ride and VelociCoaster.
Production background[edit]
Jurassic Park film adaptation[edit]
For the 1993 film adaptation of Jurassic Park, Wu was portrayed by BD Wong, an Asian-American actor who had risen to prominence with a role in the Broadway play M. Butterfly. Wong was suggested for the role of Wu by Janet Hirshenson, the casting director for Jurassic Park. Director Steven Spielberg quickly agreed with the suggestion.[15] Wong believes he got the role as a result of his work in M. Butterfly,[16][17] which earned him several awards.[15]
Wong auditioned for the role of Wu with scenes that were taken from the novel, but he was surprised to find out how small his part would be in the film adaptation.[18] He believed that his diminished role was the result of "racial exclusion in Hollywood",[19] suggesting that the filmmakers at that time did not want to "waste screen time on an Asian-American character".[20] Wong said "it does happen a lot that they'll pick an ethnic character that's huge in a book or in some source material and either cut it, turn it into a white person, or whittle it down to nothing. And that's how I kind of felt about the original movie".[21] According to Wong: "They didn't care about him, they don't even explain what happened to him at the end of the movie when everyone's evacuating the island! Clearly, he was not a priority for anyone. And I was very bitter about that for many years".[22][23] He said that racial diversity and representation were uncommon at the time of the film's production.[16]
Wong's role was shot in one or two days.[24] He said he felt "left out" of the film adaptation and that "there was no real interest in that particular character as there was in the book".[21] However, he did praise Spielberg for "making me feel important and introducing me to the crew in a way that made me feel like I was a real contributor to the movie, even though my part was tiny".[25] One of Wong's friends, a fan of the series, later assured him that the filmmakers would revisit the character one day, though Wong was skeptical that this would ever happen.[23][16][26]
Jurassic World series[edit]
For years, fans would ask Wong what happened to his character after the events of the first film. Eventually, he wanted to make some online videos to answer such questions: "Silly things for the fans, like he somehow ended up with the shaving cream can".[a][18] Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, the writers of Jurassic World, viewed Wu as a logical character to return, considering his role in recreating dinosaurs.[26][27] Before Wong had a chance to upload any videos about his character's fate,[18] he was contacted by Trevorrow about possibly reprising the role in Jurassic World, a year before it began production. Wong agreed, but was skeptical that he would actually wind up in the movie, due to the evolving nature of film projects. Wu's involvement in the script was finalized several months later, and Wong's expectations of the character were surpassed. He found the role to be more three-dimensional compared to the original film.[18] The role was written by Trevorrow, who also directed the film.[26]
Regarding his small role in Jurassic Park, Wong said: "The very thing that I bemoaned in the original movie is what made further exploration of the character possible. That couldn't have happened if they did say he didn’t get off the island, or if they did kill him, or if they did resolve it in a way that closed the door for him to reappear".[16] Wong was the only actor from the original film to reprise his role in Jurassic World.[28] He had played various doctors throughout his acting career and disliked having to wear lab coats,[29] which he found stereotypical.[16][30] He was particularly happy to wear a new lab coat in Jurassic World that is "a little more flattering and less industrial-looking" than the one worn in Jurassic Park.[26][16]
Wong was disappointed that his character's death was cut from the novel's film adaptation.[20] After the release of Jurassic World, he expressed interest in returning for the sequel, "Even if it's only to experience some cinematic version of the death Henry Wu experiences in the original Michael Crichton novel. That would be perfectly great to me to have a movie death like that on my reel. I would love that".[31]
Wu's credentials were stripped following the events of Jurassic World, a detail that was removed from the final cut of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.[32][33][30] The end of Fallen Kingdom shows dinosaurs dispersed around the world, allowing other companies to reverse-engineer them. Co-writer Trevorrow felt it was far-fetched that Wu had been the only person who knew how to create a dinosaur "after 30 years of this technology existing" within the films' universe.[34] Wong praised Trevorrow for attempting to "thread this character through and give him a journey that is interesting, dangerous and human in the little screen time he's given".[35]
Speaking about Jurassic World Dominion, Wong said that Trevorrow was "very proud of where he's taken this particular character. He kind of rescued this character from obscurity".[36] Dominion reunites Wong with several actors from the original 1993 film: Sam Neill (portraying Alan Grant), Laura Dern (Ellie Sattler), and Jeff Goldblum (Ian Malcolm).[37] Wong and Goldblum have appeared in four Jurassic Park films, more than any other actor.[16]
Aside from the film series, Wong also reprised his character through voice acting for Secrets of Dr. Wu and Jurassic World Aftermath.[10][38] He also physically reprised the role for Jurassic World: The Ride and VelociCoaster.[13][14] Vincent Tong and Greg Chun voice the character in Lego Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar and Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous respectively.
Characteristics[edit]
Trevorrow and Wong do not consider Wu a villain,[39] an idea that the former found somewhat uninteresting.[40] Wong said that Jurassic World "began this journey of three movies in which I was able to explore very different aspects of this character, and this strange unprecedented instance of me playing a character that I played in one movie and then, 23 years later, I resumed the character, and the character had gone through so many different things that he became almost a different person".[23] He said the events of Jurassic Park changed Wu, stating that he starts out as an "idealistic, forward-thinking, very proud guy" who is "almost smug about what he’s done".[16] As time goes on, he feels trapped by "the mechanism of commerciality and greed that surrounds him".[16] Wong further believes that Wu is awestruck by the power of genetic engineering and oblivious to the motivations of other people who have recruited him to use such technology for "bad things",[30] while stating that it was "the demands of the world that made those dinosaurs happen".[16]
Wong does not view Wu as someone "playing God", but said that the character has an element of denial when it comes to the events caused by his actions.[41][42] Regarding Wu's portrayal in Jurassic World, Wong described him as someone who is "delusional" and impressed by his scientific advances, to the point that "he's completely turning a blind eye to all of the bad things that are going on. [...] he doesn't really take it to heart to the point where he feels guilty about it at all". He did not view Wu as evil, but rather "extremely misguided or just in denial", describing him as "more of an accessory" to Hoskins.[21]
According to Wong: "People love to say that he’s evil and terrible, and that hurts my heart. I find him rather noble and vulnerable and an unjustly vilified person because he started out as someone who cared so much. The dinosaurs were just a kind of stepping point to all the things that could be done with the technology for humanity. Then it went terribly wrong and just got worse and worse. It’s rather emotional for me, his whole journey". Despite the effects of his research, Wu still believes it can be useful for humanity.[16]
Trevorrow said: "We don't really understand what he's reaching for, and yet he makes these choices that suggest that there is an endgame to it and that there’s something that will satisfy him. In the first two movies, we suggest that it's just recognition".[40] Wong, likewise, said that Wu is eager to receive credit for his work,[41] stating that he "doesn't always put the dinosaurs first" but "he really does respect them, and he takes great pride in his role in creating them".[16] Trevorrow believed that Wu's best moment in Dominion is when he gives credit to Charlotte Lockwood:[40] "For his whole career and especially in the book, he had been seeking credit for what he'd done and had felt so unappreciated. [...] And so for him to finally give credit to someone else, I found that to be the greatest sign of his evolution and his redemption".[39]
Reception[edit]
Reviewing Fallen Kingdom, Scott Mendelson of Forbes wrote that Wong "is once again a highlight". He stated that watching Wu "discuss his specific morality is as engrossing as any dinosaur chase".[43] After the release of Fallen Kingdom, Michael Walsh of Nerdist called Wu "a compelling, complex, and important big bad whose story deserves a powerful resolution" in the sequel. He stated that no other character "has undergone as dramatic a transformation" as Wu: "He began as Jekyll and turned into Hyde, losing his soul as he was consumed by a dangerous god complex". Walsh also viewed Wu as "the Walter White of Jurassic Park" and concluded, "We've followed Jurassic Park's heroes for 25 years, it's time to follow its greatest villain".[44]
Renaldo Matadeen, writing for Comic Book Resources, opined that Wu "has easily been the most sinister villain" in the film series, going from InGen's lead geneticist to "a monster playing god". Matadeen stated that Wu's redemption storyline in Dominion "might have lacked closure because it never confirmed what catalyzed his change of heart, but Wu still came out of the conflict a hero".[45] Saim Cheeda of Screen Rant praised Wu's redemption but stated "there is the feeling that he changed all of a sudden between the second and third entries".[46] Nick Bartlett of /Film felt that Wu had a "sketchy progression" throughout the Jurassic World trilogy and noted that he once again "disappears into the background" for much of Dominion, as in previous films. Bartlett believed it would have been better if Wu "paid for his ignorance and ambition with a heavy dose of poetic justice".[47] Richard Trenholm of CNET praised Wu in Dominion and viewed him as "a tragic figure, tortured by his mistakes", writing further, "He's the closest thing to an actual human person, and carries the original film's themes of scientific folly and hubris on his shoulders. We don't see much of him, though".[48]