Alan Grant is a fictional character from the
Jurassic Park franchise. In the film trilogy he is portrayed by
Sam NeillNigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor who was born in Northern Ireland.He has had a number of high-profile roles including: the lead in Reilly, Ace of Spies, the adult Damien in Omen III: The Final Conflict, Merlin in the miniseries Merlin, the executive officer, Capt...
.
In the
Jurassic Park novel, Grant is described as a barrel-chested, forty-year old chief paleontologist. At the time of the
InGen-Story:InGen is a fictional genetic engineering company appearing in the Jurassic Park series of novels, films and real world attractions. The company is based in Palo Alto, California, and has one location in Europe...
incident, and the time of the publication of the book, it can be assumed that Grant was born in either the year 1950 or 1949.
Alan Grant is a fictional character from the
Jurassic Park franchise. In the film trilogy he is portrayed by
Sam NeillNigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor who was born in Northern Ireland.He has had a number of high-profile roles including: the lead in Reilly, Ace of Spies, the adult Damien in Omen III: The Final Conflict, Merlin in the miniseries Merlin, the executive officer, Capt...
.
Plot
In the
Jurassic Park novel, Grant is described as a barrel-chested, forty-year old chief paleontologist. At the time of the
InGen-Story:InGen is a fictional genetic engineering company appearing in the Jurassic Park series of novels, films and real world attractions. The company is based in Palo Alto, California, and has one location in Europe...
incident, and the time of the publication of the book, it can be assumed that Grant was born in either the year 1950 or 1949. In the novel, Grant tells Tim Murphy that he is a widower. In the book, it says he helped describe the
MaiasauraMaiasaura is a large duck-billed dinosaur genus that lived in the area currently covered by the state of Montana in the Upper Cretaceous Period , about 74 million years ago.-Description:...
with
Jack HornerJohn "Jack" R. Horner is an American paleontologist who discovered and named Maiasaura, providing the first clear evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young. He is one of the best-known paleontologists in the United States...
. Actually, Grant is based on Horner himself - one of the scientific advisers for
Jurassic Park - than on "Bob" Makela (1940-1987), Horner's co-author for
Maiasaura.
Grant had uncovered a
VelociraptorVelociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 mya during the later part of the Cretaceous Period. Only two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V...
skeleton in
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, when he was invited to Jurassic Park, a jungle island where genetically engineered dinosaurs were being created. It was there that he met Tim Murphy, and supposedly becomes good friends with him. He was the one who confirmed the breeding problem in among the Jurassic Park
OthnieliaOthnielia is a genus of hypsilophodont dinosaur, named after its original describer, Professor Othniel Charles Marsh, an American paleontologist of the 19th century...
,
VelociraptorVelociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 mya during the later part of the Cretaceous Period. Only two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V...
,
MaiasauraMaiasaura is a large duck-billed dinosaur genus that lived in the area currently covered by the state of Montana in the Upper Cretaceous Period , about 74 million years ago.-Description:...
,
ProcompsognathusProcompsognathus is a genus of small theropod dinosaur that lived during the late Triassic period , about 210 million years ago. Procompsognathus was named by Eberhard Fraas in 1913. He named the type species, P...
and
HypsilophodonHypsilophodon is an ornithopod dinosaur genus from the Early Cretaceous period of Europe. It was a small bipedal animal with an herbivorous or possibly omnivorous diet...
.
Later, he was witness to the Tyrannosaurus escaping its paddock, and subsequently attacking the remainder of the tour group. In the ensuing carnage, Ian Malcolm was severely wounded when the Tyrannosaurus threw him in the air. Shortly following the attack, he managed to locate Hammond's grandchildren, and upon witnessing the death of Ed Regis they attempted to make their way to the hotel. Grant and the children successfully crossed the Tyrannosaurus paddock and spend the night in a remote maintenance building. While searching for something to speed their return to the visitor center, Grant discovered a small inflatable raft, in which to travel down the jungle river. After an initial close call with the Tyrannosaurus in the lagoon, they managed to reach the safety of the densely forested jungle river, a trip that eventually culminated in the small group being swept over a waterfall and Tim escaping from the jaws of the Tyrannosaurus mere seconds after Muldoon's heavy tranquilizer took effect. Finding a service door behind the waterfall that led to the East Garage, Grant found a small electric car which they used to return to the Visitor Center.
On returning to the Visitor Center, Grant realizes the
Velociraptors had escaped, and managed to return full electrical power to the park, as well as poison several adult
Velociraptors. He then went into the waterworks plant to count the dinosaur eggs starting with the
Velociraptors, but was later rescued by the Costa Rican forces.
Film version
In the film, Grant initially dislikes children, contrary to the father-like figure in the novel. A major difference between the film and novel is that Grant is involved romantically with Dr. Ellie Sattler. He also has a beard in the book as observed by Tim Murphy. As in the book, he survives the attack by the T-Rex on the tour vehicles and becomes lost in the park with Hammond's grandchildren. He later discovers dinosaur eggs on the journey back to the Visitor Center.
Jurassic Park III
Grant later gave lectures on the intelligence of raptors, and dismissed the Dinosaurs that
InGen-Story:InGen is a fictional genetic engineering company appearing in the Jurassic Park series of novels, films and real world attractions. The company is based in Palo Alto, California, and has one location in Europe...
created as nothing more than "theme park monsters". He also added that nothing could get him to go to Isla Sorna or any of The Five Deaths. The third film shows that although Ellie Sattler and he are still close friends, they are no longer involved. He was later tricked into going there by "wealthy" parents who were supposedly taking an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, when they were actually searching for their son Eric. He encounters a
SpinosaurusSpinosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur which lived in what is now North Africa, sometime during the Albian and Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous period, about 112 to 93.5 million years ago. This genus was first known from Egyptian remains discovered in the 1910s and described by...
, and found out just how intelligent raptors really were after his partner Billy stole their eggs. He was rescued when his old friend and former colleague
Ellie Sattler alerted the
NavyA navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
and the Marines and Grant is reunited with Billy by the Marines who had found him injured but alive.
Jurassic Park IV
As of 2008, there was word of
Sam NeillNigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor who was born in Northern Ireland.He has had a number of high-profile roles including: the lead in Reilly, Ace of Spies, the adult Damien in Omen III: The Final Conflict, Merlin in the miniseries Merlin, the executive officer, Capt...
reprising his role as Alan Grant for Jurassic Park IV even though Neill stated that he was not asked to reprise his character.