Sam Neill Marks Return To ‘Jurassic World’, New Image Of John Boyega In Series ‘Small Axe’ & Michael Jackson Almost Playing An X-Man Character

Hollywood veteran Sam Neill has returned to face some scary dinosaurs…

Thanks to the green light given to the movie to resume production, Jurassic World: Dominion has begun shooting again and Sam Neill is back as Dr. Alan Grant.

Grant was one of the characters in the first two films in the Jurassic franchise, and he was among the few who managed to survive the onslaught of the prehistoric creatures.

The New Zealand actor took to Twitter recently to celebrate his return to the popular franchise by sharing an image of his character from the first film.

Neill captioned the post. “Hold onto your hats – getting’ my old one back on this week, and facing off dinosaurs once again. Best yet. Excited and terrified – these things will kill ya. With @LauraDern @BryceDHoward @prattprattpratt #JeffGoldblum @colintrevorrow I’m obviously a little more … grizzled now..”

Hold onto your hats- gettin' my old one back on this week , and facing off dinosaurs once again. Best yet .Excited and terrified- these things will kill ya. With @LauraDern @BryceDHoward @prattprattpratt #JeffGoldblum @colintrevorrow I'm obviously a little more …grizzled now.. pic.twitter.com/zYtG5uadB2

— Sam Neill (@TwoPaddocks) August 2, 2020

Fans get their first peek at John Boyega in the Small Axe, a BBC/Amazon series.

Small Axe is directed by Steve McQueen and tells five stories from within London’s West Indian community between the 1960s and the 1980s.

According to Deadline, Boyega’s episode is titled Red, White And Blue, and will feature him as Leroy Logan, a real-life Metropolitan police officer who intends to change the force from within after witnessing his father being assaulted by two policemen.

Boyega stars alongside Steve Toussaint, Tyrone Huntley, Nathan Vidal, and Jaden Oshenye.

Late King of Pop Michael Jackson reportedly campaigned to play a very important mutant in Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000).

MJ was one of the world’s foremost performers at the height of his career, and it seems he wanted to delve into Hollywood too.

A new report has revealed that Wacko Jacko (MJ’s nickname) wanted to play Professor Charles Xavier, the telepathic mutant in X-Men.

The report says that a pitch meeting took place in the spring of 1999, stating:

Michael Jackson walked in the door. Wearing sunglasses and refusing to shake hands, Jackson was visiting the industrial space to meet with Singer to discuss the prospect of playing Professor Xavier in the upcoming film.”

X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner remembers telling him, “Do you know Xavier is an older white guy?”, and Michael replied, “Oh yeah. You know, I can wear makeup.”

MJ then queued up for an elaborate presentation but as it turned out, Twentieth Century Fox, the studio behind the movie’s production, never took him seriously.

The role of course later went to Patrick Stewart, whose portrayal garnered much praise from critics.