LOS ANGELES—The female velociraptor referred to as “clever girl” in the movie “Jurassic Park” is suing Universal Studios and director Steven Spielberg for $25 million on the grounds of sexism and discrimination.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, claims that the line of dialogue is sexist and discriminatory because it uses the word “girl” (the character portrayed by the velociraptor would clearly have been middle-aged) and because it describes the girl as clever, implying that the majority of girls are not intelligent. The suit also states that the late actor Robert Peck, who played game warden Robert Muldoon in the film, tried to change the line to simply “woman” but was summarily rebuffed by both Spielberg and an unnamed studio boss.
The velociraptor’s attorney, Gloria Albright, said that because of the sexist line her client became typecast as a clever-girl-dinosaur character actor who could only do sci-fi action movies. “Despite her considerable acting chops,” Albright said, “she was never considered for, as an example, the leading lady in a Western or a romantic comedy. If that’s not discrimination, I don’t know what the hell is.” Albright noted that her client wasn’t even given an audition for any of the subsequent “Jurassic Park” films and that she became stuck mostly doing dinosaur B-movies, including one humiliating role in which she played a baby Tyrannosaurus rex. In fact, she later lost her agency representation, became addicted to kava, and even appeared in a few prehistoric-themed adult films.
Universal Studios called the lawsuit “clever” but stated that it has no merit and that they would fight it tooth and claw. A representative for Spielberg said that he had no memory of “Jurassic Park” because it happened so long ago.
