Following our chats with both director Gareth Edwards and the trio of Luna Blaise, David Iacono and Audrina Miranda, The AU Review’s dino-sized coverage of Jurassic World Rebirth wraps up with Rupert Friend and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.
Ahead of the film’s release in theatres this week, Peter Gray spoke with the actors – Friend stars as Martin Krebs, a pharmaceutical representative with morally-questionable motives, and Garcia-Rulfo plays Reuben Delgado, the father of a shipwrecked family who discover that their saviours might have led them to an island fate worse than death – about exploring the instincts of their characters, the bizarre notion of working with special effects, and why Jonathan Bailey’s slutty little glasses may actually have some serious competition.
I grew up with the Jurassic films, so it’s always exciting to see how this story changes and evolves. I wanted to ask both of you, when it came to working with each other, what surprised you the most about how the other approached their character or a particular scene?
Rupert Friend: Do we even really? I don’t know if we had a scene together.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo: We just had a moment in the boat, but you interact more with David (Iacono), right? And with Luna.
Rupert Friend: I guess in the gas station…but, I mean, I was just impressed by Manuel, but also my other colleagues, (the) ability to imagine something that wasn’t there. That’s always going to be slightly magical to me. You watch someone’s face, and it helps you see something that isn’t there.
Did the film challenge either of you to reconsider how we respond to the unknown or the uncontrollable? Not just with fear, but with humility as well?
Rupert Friend: Yeah, I mean, the film and the book are dealing with the idea of man’s meddling in nature and then exploiting it for personal gain, or corporate gain. It never ends particularly well. I think that’s one of the messages of it. If there is one.
With your character, Manuel, you bring a grounded charisma to the action. Did you see your character as a natural leader, a reluctant leader, or something else entirely? How did you approach your character and the situation he was in?
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo: I mean, honestly, as a father, instinct, survival, taking care of their kids. Sometimes they don’t know what they’re doing as a parent. They just feel like they know, so that way the kids feel more secure. I think that’s what Reuben is. He doesn’t have an idea what he’s doing. He’s just doing it for them to feel a little safe. But he’s hoping for something, somebody to save him. I think it’s just that father instinct to take care of his children.
Rupert, you’ve spoken before about liking scripts with hidden depth. Did you find any existential or philosophical thread in your character’s story that you could really latch onto?
Rupert Friend: Yeah, David Koepp is one of the finest living screenwriters. I love his work. I love his screenwriting. I love his novels. And there’s always something going on underneath what you think is going on. And in the writing of my character, I kind of watched what happens when you effectively lie to yourself with a form of idealism about your motives for doing something. Eventually the truth will (come) out, which is another way of “life finds a way.” The way the truth will come out is kind of linked (to that), and I feel like you see that in this. Particularly, the pivotal scene between my character and Luna’s character on the boat, which I won’t spoil for anyone, but that’s the cinematic moment where you see someone who could do the right thing, and professes to want to do the right thing, and you see what they actually do. And what people actually do speaks more than what they say they’re going to do.
And one thing I have to talk about is, obviously we’re seeing all the discourse around Jonathan Bailey’s slutty little glasses, and I’m going to shout out and say Manuel, I think slutty little moustaches need to be talked about as well. You have some facial fuzz here.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo: (Laughs) Thanks, man. It’s very “zaddy”.
Rupert Friend: It’s zaddy? Yes, we got it in!
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo: Sorry, we just learned that word.
Rupert Friend: Yeah, we just learned about zaddies.
Well, as a gay man, we’re going to let you completely own that word. Maybe Jonathan’s getting too much credit.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo: Here is where it’s happening.
When it comes to these movies, there’s so many iconic images and scenes that we relate to Jurassic Park. Were there any of these moments from the original films that you held as inspiration or reference points whilst filming Rebirth in any way?
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo: Not personally. I think it’s just the talks with Gareth, he was very clear that he wanted to be very inspired by the first Jurassic Park. As a character, I did what the page gave me and inspired me, and the talks with Gareth, but I watched the film back. We all saw it. I don’t think you were there (gesturing to Rupert), but we saw it in one of the hotel rooms. We were watching it for fun, not to be like, “Oh, we’ll take this.” At least not for me.
For both of you, did you find working with the animatronics, or when it was a tennis ball, or something to that effect, was the environment difficult or easy to stay in character?
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo: That was bizarre.
Rupert Friend: Yeah, it’s bizarre. It’s weird. A lot of this movie is obviously done after we’ve finished our jobs, so I felt like we, the humans, banded together kind of energetically, because there was nothing to hang your hat on outside of that. Very often, literally nothing at all. So you end up sort of leaning on each other, not physically, but energetically, and it was a great feeling. But it’s a very surreal way to make a living.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo: It helps that they show you a picture, or something in the computer, of what it looks like. It gives you an idea.
Rupert Friend: They didn’t show me anything. I don’t know when this secret covert meeting happened, but I also wasn’t invited to watch the film in a hotel room, so apparently I was just out on the cold for the whole thing.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo: Maybe it was the movie night and you weren’t there.
Maybe it was method acting, and because you’re the villain, they were just trying to get in that headspace for you.
Rupert Friend: Yeah, sit at a different table at lunch. No one would answer my questions. They’d look over my head.
Jurassic World Rebirth is screening in Australian theatres from July 3rd, 2025. It will release in the United States on July 2nd.
