When you're rushing through a movie shoot, time always seems to fly.
Before anyone realized it, mid-December had arrived, and the freezing North American winter had quietly settled in.
It was already past midnight, but the set of Jurassic Park 3 was still brightly lit.
Everyone in the crew was hard at work — even the logistics team was busy setting up new shooting areas.
The long hours and high-intensity work were tiring, sure, but everyone's enthusiasm was through the roof.
Thanks to their nonstop efforts, filming was progressing at lightning speed. They estimated only a few more days before wrapping up completely.
With Christmas vacation just around the corner, director Joe Johnston had promised everyone a long break and a fat bonus — how could anyone not be motivated?
Originally, when Luke joined the cast, his addition forced a major rewrite of the script, which increased the workload.
But with everyone pulling extra hours, not only did they stay on schedule, they actually finished ten days ahead of time.
That spoke volumes about Joe Johnston's talent as a director. He understood that the best way to save money was by boosting morale.
After all, everyone's got a lazy streak, and "slacking off at work" might as well be a universal survival skill.
So, knowing how to properly reward people — that was the secret to saving both time and effort.
Stingy bosses often end up paying the highest hidden costs.
Of course, all of this was possible because of Luke's additional funding.
That huge cash injection gave Johnston the freedom to go all out.
And Luke got what he wanted too — a heavily revised script that made him the main lead with the most screen time.
---
The original story of Jurassic Park 3 was pretty straightforward:
A young boy accidentally ends up stranded on Dinosaur Island. His desperate parents trick Dr. Grant, the paleontologist, into coming along as their consultant on a rescue mission.
But the moment they land, they're attacked by the movie's big bad — the Spinosaurus. Their plane is destroyed, and the satellite phone they need to call for help gets swallowed by the dinosaur.
While running for their lives, they eventually find the boy, only to be hunted again and again by different dinosaurs.
In the end, they manage to recover the satellite phone — from the Spinosaurus's dung, no less — make a call, and finally get rescued.
Story-wise, there wasn't much to it. The only clever touch was the use of the satellite phone — the key to their survival that gets eaten by the villain early on.
Every time the phone rings afterward, it means the Spinosaurus is near — basically the creature's personal theme music.
And when they finally retrieve the phone from the dino's droppings, it signals both hope and danger — the monster's return now hidden and even more deadly.
When Luke had watched the movie in his previous life, his main thoughts were: "Man, that phone's indestructible. Did no brand want to sponsor this thing?"
And also — "How on earth did they make that massive pile of dino poop?"
Now he knew the answer: colored oatmeal mush.
If an Indian props team had made it, it probably would've looked even more realistic.
---
In this lifetime, though, Jurassic Park 3's script had been rewritten significantly.
The boy character was removed, replaced with Luke's new role — a teenage adoptee of a white couple who happens to be an extreme sports enthusiast.
That change made sense of why a -looking kid had white parents, and it gave his action sequences a logical backstory.
But Luke also had another reason — a strategic one. He wanted audiences to remember him and secure his spot as the leading man in future Jurassic sequels.
Sure, it wasn't fair to "Star-Lord," but come on — the Jurassic World franchise would be a goldmine, and he wasn't about to let that slip away.
---
At the moment, Luke was sitting in the break area, going over the day's shoot in his mind.
After working on three films, he'd learned and grown a lot. He was no longer that clueless rookie.
A voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
"Dinner's here! Take a break, everyone — grab some food before we keep going!"
Luke looked up to see Director Johnston clapping his hands and calling out to the crew.
He really did know how to keep morale high — no one's passionate about work on an empty stomach.
So every night, he provided takeout dinners. They varied the menu, but somehow it was almost always food.
"Director, again?" one crew member asked.
"Of course! Who else but the restaurants are still open at this hour?" Johnston joked.
"Fair point. I'll take lo mein and General Tso's chicken."
"Man, I've eaten so much food lately, I swear I'm boycotting it on Christmas!" someone else complained.
Luke couldn't help but laugh.
Only in North America could "eating food on Christmas" become a thing.
Because really — if you go out on Christmas Day, restaurants are about the only ones open.
Over time, it somehow became an accidental American tradition.
Dark humor at its finest — just like ordering midnight takeout.
---
"Luke, you still working? I grabbed some food for you before everyone snatched the good stuff. How's that? Happy now?"
A man walked over and sat down beside him. It was Bob — the stunt coordinator Luke had borrowed from Chen Long.
After days of working together, they'd gotten close enough to joke around freely.
Both were , so they naturally spoke in Mandarin — though to the rest of the crew, it probably sounded like some kind of encrypted code.
Bob was easy to get along with, but Luke had one gripe — why did the guy keep mixing English into his ?
He knew it was a trend back in the early 2000s — people thought it sounded cool — but to Luke, it was torture.
"If you could just stop sprinkling English in every sentence, I'd be a lot happier."
"What? Isn't this way more fashion?" Bob teased.
"I've had enough of you. Fine, what did you bring me to eat?" Luke sighed.
"Hahaha, chicken soup! Start with some hot soup, it's good for you," Bob said with a grin.
"…" Luke didn't move.
"What? It's soup! Why aren't you drinking it?"
"I overdosed on 'chicken soup for the soul' when I was younger. Just get me a Coke," Luke replied.
Bob chuckled silently. Who hadn't had enough motivational "chicken soup" in their youth?
He slid over a box of baked rice cakes.
"You can't just drink soda. Try these rice cakes — they're famous, even made the news."
"They look totally normal. You're lying — how could these make the news?" Luke asked suspiciously.
Bob pulled out a newspaper and pointed to the headline:
"New York Man Hospitalized After Eating 30 Rice Cakes — Intestinal Blockage!"
"…"
"When I saw that news, my first thought was — these must taste amazing! So I finally ordered from that place tonight," Bob said proudly.
"I'm not touching that. No wonder you're getting fat," Luke said, shaking his head. "Brother Chen Long told me you used to be super handsome — the brightest star in Wan Chai."
"How dare you! You trying to get yourself killed?" Bob fake-pouted. "But fine, you're the big-shot investor here and I'm just a hired hand. I can't get mad at you."
"Alright, alright, give me a few rice cakes then. What else did you get?" Luke asked, giving in.
"Grilled brains! My memory's been not so good lately, so I need a brain boost," Bob said.
Luke sighed. "The chef deserves an award — from General Tso's chicken to grilled pig brains, true East-meets-West fusion. Wait, you ordered two portions of brain? Is it really that good?"
"No, one's pig brain. The other's called 'love brain.'"
"What's the difference?" Luke asked.
"None. 'Love brain' is pig brain."
"…."
Luke was speechless.