First came the Mesozoic Era, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Then came 1993, when Laura Dern starred with Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum in a very realistic, not at all far-fetched movie known as Jurassic Park. Now, we have firmly entered the Dern-aissance Era, when there is only one set of footprints in the sand, because Laura Dern has been carrying the gays in her arms all along.
Paying homage to our honey-haired queen has become as reflexive as breathing. For some, that means dressing up as Dern’s shrewd paleontologist Ellie Sattler for Halloween. A pink button-up tied at the waist? Who among us has not? And the relaxed fit of those khaki shorts? It’s called fashion (look it up). Dern supports us in everything we do, and dressing up as her characters is no exception.
Asked by a New York Times interviewer about the phenomenon of gay people costuming themselves as Ellie, Dern was pleased.
“It makes me really happy someone else is wearing the shorts, because it should be shared joy,” she told the Times in a conversation about the forthcoming Jurassic World: Dominion, which hits theaters on Friday.
This isn’t the first time Dern has celebrated fans costuming themselves in her legacy. In 2017, the Enlightened star excitedly shared a slideshow of getups inspired by Big Little Lies and her indelible mom-zilla Renata Klein. “Keep ‘em coming!” she wrote in her Instagram caption, and we do as we are told (by Laura Dern, at least).
Elsewhere in the Times interview, Dern reflected on Ellie’s impact as an inspiring woman in STEM. “I’ve had the luxury of spending these 20-some odd years with young women coming up to me and talking about how they went into science or tech or marine biology and myriad other professions because of Ellie Sattler,” the Oscar winner said. “It’s just amazing that the character meant so much.”
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