Jurassic World Dominion's Chris Pratt Finally Reveals The Secret Behind Owen's Raptor Pose
When it comes to wrangling raptors, no man in all of fiction is as experienced as Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) from the "Jurassic World" trilogy. Originally a member of the Navy, Owen is an animal behaviorist by trade, and is the one responsible for researching and training the packs of velociraptors in "Jurassic World." We see him do this quite often throughout the trilogy, especially when working with his own trained packs. In particular, he has a special relationship with the raptor Blue, who he raised from a little vicious hatchling.
When it comes to shooting scenes with the raptors, however, actor Pratt has to convince the audience (at least, on some level) that he's a real expert dealing with a group of living, breathing bloodthirsty murder-turkeys. And the most iconic way he achieves this with his performance is with Owen's trademark raptor pose, which can be best seen in the "Stand Down" scene from "Jurassic World."
At first glance, this seems like just a generic cautious stance anyone would take when faced with certain death-by-dinosaur. And while that may be true to some extent, Chris Pratt has recently revealed via Twitter that there's actually a secret science behind Owen's raptor pose and why it works so well.
Owen's pose allows him to speak velociraptor
Just like with dogs and cats, the key to working with velociraptors is being able to speak their language. This is something that Owen knows very well, and which lies at the heart of his ability to not get torn apart on a daily basis. In a promotional video with "Jurassic Park" veteran actor Sam Neill and Isabella Sermon for the upcoming film "Jurassic World Dominion," Chris Pratt revealed the inner workings of the raptor pose.
According to his instructions, the poser is supposed to extend their arm with an open palm toward the raptor, thinking of it as a raptor head. Then, they are meant to line up their eye with the space between the thumb and forefinger. This way, the raptor sees nothing but another raptor staring it down. The poser then needs to make themselves appear as large as possible. When it comes to raptor in-fighting, bigger is evidently better.
Thankfully, in the real world, the dinosaurs are still extinct and nobody actually has to face down a raptor (yet). But before Elon Musk gets bored and uses his billions to create his own Jurassic Park, we can all rest easy. And when the day finally does come that the Muskosauraus Rex breaks out of captivity, we can thank Chris Pratt and "Jurassic World Dominion" for teaching us how to survive.