Jurassic World Dominion's Mamoudou Athie Talks Ramsay Cole, Dinosaurs, And The Jurassic Park Cast - Exclusive Interview
"Jurassic World" may be meeting Mamoudou Athie's character Ramsay Cole for the first time in the final installment of the follow-up trilogy, but Mamoudou Athie has been gracing screens since 2015, when he scored his first role in "Experimenter." From there, he went on to play TV roles like Grandmaster Flash in "The Get Down," Carl in "The Detour," Jerome in "Cake," Matt Greer in "Sorry For Your Loss," and Dan Turner in "Archive 81."
However, "Jurassic World Dominion" isn't Athie's first movie role. In addition to his TV credits, the actor played Jared in "The Circle" (no, not the Netflix reality TV show). He also scored roles like Nolan in "Black Box" and Rodrigo Nagenda in "Underwater." Now, Athie has made his way to the "Jurassic" franchise, where his character, Ramsay Cole, is hard at work with the notorious company BioSyn.
During an exclusive interview with Looper, Mamoudou Athie dished on his new "Jurassic World Dominion" character, working with the original "Jurassic Park" cast, and entering this iconic world for the first time. Of course, he also gushed about his favorite dinosaur.
Ramsay Cole: When dinosaurs meet millennials
Ramsay Cole is such a cool character. Tell us a little bit about him.
Where to begin? Ramsay is a product of his time. He is considered a millennial, which has a lot of negative connotations these days. I don't think that's fair. But I guess that's because I am him.
He's highly ambitious, but he also has a conscience, and he also knows that what's good for [him] in the immediate isn't necessarily what's good for [him] later down the line — which is apparently the hardest concept in the world based on what's going on, but whatever. He's something of a cipher. You don't get to know a lot about him outside of what he does. He was a really cool character to have a lot of internal dialogue with [about] what's going on around him, but also staying on task.
He also works for BioSyn, which is in the first "Jurassic World" film. Tell me a little bit about what that company is and how he fits.
What [BioSyn] is and what people believe it is are two drastically different things. What people believe it is, and what he believes it is when he comes to the company, is something that can change the future of humanity. It's something that he thinks can change the future of the world entirely. But what it is really [is] a massive capitalistic organization that is solely interested in making money, at least on [Lewis] Dodgson's side. Maybe [Dodgson's character] Campbell takes an issue [with] that, but that's what I'm saying it is.
The coolest Dominion dinos
How was it working with the original cast members from the first trilogy?
Man, [that] was so cool. It's so cool. Sam Neill, Laura [Dern], and Jeff Goldblum ... I could use a lot more adjectives, but it is just so cool. Basically, it was awesome. Those guys are so cool. How many times have I said "cool"?
Well, they are pretty cool. What else is cool is the fact that there are so many practical dinosaurs — or at least parts of dinosaurs.
That's also super cool.
What was that like walking on set for the first time and seeing one?
Breathtaking. [It's] staggering that the level of craftsmanship exists on that level. I was like, "Can I take this home?" Of course not, but there was something so special about how they made all these animatronic puppets with such life in detail. When you make something that realistic, there's a lot of love involved in making it, and in interacting with them, it's super cool.
I won't ask your favorite dinosaur because no one can pick a favorite child, but what is the coolest dinosaur in this film?
I think we were lying about that last one.
That's probably true.
My favorite dinosaur is the triceratops. It's probably the coolest.
I love the triceratops.
They're cool, huh?
They're awesome.
How many times have I said "cool" in this interview? This is crazy.
It seems appropriate!
"Jurassic World Dominion" releases exclusively in theaters June 10.
This interview was edited for clarity.