VANCE, Ala. — Rebooting the nineties dinosaur franchise, Jurassic World has crushed box office records and dethroned this Summer’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” for the title of biggest opening weekend ever. Big name stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are tasked with battling the genetically engineered dinosaur Indominus Rex, but not without the help of some important Alabama Connections.
Character actor and former stuntman Michael Papajohn has his role to play in the prehistoric pandemonium and also hails from Vestavia Hills, Alabama. He graduated from Vestavia Hills High School in 1983 and earned a baseball scholarship to LSU, where he played center field on LSU’s College World Series teams in 1986 and 1987.
“Saying I’m from Birmingham and I’m from the South and I’m an LSU guy always grounds me,” he said in an interview with AL.com. “I have this authentic feel about being from the South. I’m very proud of that, and it’s really helped me in my career.”
While he has previously taken part in other big hits such as Eraser, Waterboy, For the Love of the Game, and Spider-Man, Jurassic World is Papajohn’s biggest project to date.
“Of course, I’m real excited to be a part of it,” Papajohn says. “I’ve never been part of a Steven Spielberg movie before. I’ve read for some projects, but I’ve never booked a project with Steven Spielberg’s name attached to it.”
Papajohn plays a contractor for InGen, the corporation that owns Jurassic World, who is the right-hand man to the Jurassic World theme park security chief played by Vincent D’Onofrio of “Full Metal Jacket.” Because of the colossal nature of the project, the actor was not able to reveal too much about his role. “I can’t talk much about the story, but I’ve got a scene at the end of the movie that I’m real proud of,” he said.
Papajohn is just one of a few Alabama connections in the fourth installment of the franchise. The Mercedes GLE Coupé, which will enter mass production at the company’s Tuscaloosa County plant this year, is among several Mercedes vehicles appearing in the film. Mercedes has promoted its connection to the movie on its social media channels and displayed action clips of the GLE Coupé in the film during January’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Jurassic World is now playing in theaters nationwide.
(Video Above: The official trailer for Jurassic World)
