As a veteran of movies such as Spider-Man 3, Terminator Salvation and the Twilight films, Bryce Dallas Howard is no rookie when it comes to starring in Hollywood blockbusters. Her next film, Jurassic World, could be one of her biggest hits yet. Box office prognosticators are predicting a Jurassic size box office opening weekend of over $100 million. To put that in perspective, Furious 7 and Avengers: Age of Ultron are the only two films in 2015 to open with over $100 million so far.

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a new, fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World. In order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction, the genetically modified and enhanced Indominus Rex, is created to revive visitors’ interest. This backfires horribly, of course. Bryce plays Claire, an executive of Jurassic World, who, after all hell breaks loose, must partner with Owen (Chris Pratt) to save her nephews.

Howard recently discussed his real world Jurassic moment, running in heels and her blockbuster-to-be, Jurassic World.

You’re obviously a well known actress, but you’ve also directed some short films. Do you have any desire to direct a feature length film?

I got a chance to direct a lot of short [films] and that’s been awesome and I love that and I would love to [direct] a feature. I’m not currently developing anything right now, but I’m always reading scripts.

Speaking of directing, this is [director] Colin [Trevorrow’s] first big feature film.

It’s his second film period.

Did he bring anything to the table that you hadn’t done before?

You probably know that his first [feature] film was Safety Not Guaranteed which was a movie made for $700,000. $700,000 is an enormous amount of money, but not for [making] movies. Something that he brought to [Jurassic World] was the mindset of making a micro-budget film, which is a lot of passion, a lot of efficiency and the ability to accomplish a lot with an intimate crew. The catering was way better than on an independent film, but other than that, [the movie shoot] felt, I shouldn’t say indie, but it felt far more intimate than the usual monster franchise studio film. That was all Colin. Colin is a smart guy. He’s going to have a sensational career and I was always asking him, ‘what are you going to do next?’ He just said, ‘I’m focusing on this. I’m putting all of my energy into this right now.’ What I got from that is his integrity as an artist and how important this movie was to him. [Jurassic World] wasn’t just a way for him to leverage his career. This was as much a passion project for him as Safety Not Guaranteed.

Do you have a vivid memory of the first time you saw Jurassic Park?

Absolutely. That movie was cinema history. It really was with how groundbreaking the technology was. Michael Crichton’s story and Steven Spielberg’s masterful direction [combined to create] this perfect movie. My memory is that all of my friends were going to see the movie on opening night. I was not allowed to because I was 12 and it was PG-13. My parents are very literal and they saw the movie on opening night. They came home and I remember this as clear as day. My dad came home and said, ‘this is cinema history. You have to see this movie in the theater.’ So I got to see it that opening weekend with my parents. At that time, I was around movie making and I was also very interested in filmmaking. Whenever my dad would do something in a film that I couldn’t quite understand, I would ask him and he would explain it to me in a really great way. When I saw Jurassic Park, I kind of liken [my experience] to an aspiring painter seeing the Sistine Chapel for the first time. It was something so beyond what I thought could be possible. The 12-year-old part of me was like, ‘this must be real.’

You play a strong woman in the film. Did you ever think, ‘why can’t I wear a pair of sneakers instead of running around in these heels?’ And who’s easier to work with, dinosaurs or kids?

I’ll answer the second question first. The dinosaurs on this film were really cooperative [laughs]. Nick [Robinson] wasn’t a kid. He was 19 when we made this movie. Ty [Simpkins] was just brilliant. I just had an experience again working with a young cast in [the upcoming movie] Pete’s Dragon because I can’t get away from reptiles. I have only had incredible experiences working with children. I almost prefer them to adults because the enthusiasm comes from such a genuine place. I shouldn’t joke about that because I’ve worked with pretty much universally grown-ups.

There’s something magical, though, when you’re working with a kid. And yes, the dinosaurs were cooperative [when they were created] in post-production [laughs]. What I love about my character (Claire), when you first see her, she’s running the park. She’s responsible for 20,000 visitors a day. She’s responsible for the assets – the dinosaurs. She’s all for the bottom line. She presents this sense of power and authority, but in truth, she’s super disconnected from herself. In her quest for a profit, she’s disconnected from her own humanity. I thought it was so interesting to meet a character like that who makes THE mistakes – who causes the chaos – evolve into an individual who redeems herself and is ultimately heroic.

When you’re making a film where the majority of scenes are action sequences, there’s not a lot of time for character development. Especially when you’re playing a character who’s initially unlikable, there’s not a lot of time to win audiences back. I really respected Colin for writing a story [that allowed my character to evolve]. Speaking of the heels, during the [costume] fittings, of which there were several, I was like, ‘couldn’t I just wear boots or something?’ The costume designer said, ‘but you’re going to look so protected.’ And I said, ‘yea, exactly [laughs]’

There’s something honest about having a character who starts off so pristine in heels from a corporate environment who ultimately ends up in the jungle. Something that spoke to me about the character was that every so often, someone comes along who says they can run better in heels better than they can run in sneakers and I think that’s who this person is. When she first goes into the jungle, there’s even a line about ‘those ridiculous heels.’ I really had to practice running in heels because that’s not a skill I was born with.

What is it about dinosaurs in general that wins the hearts of so many people? And how do you think Jurassic World will do that?

I think that’s because dinosaurs were real and they seem so fantastical. It’s difficult to imagine that they were real, they ruled the earth for way longer than we’ve been around and that they existed 65 million years ago, but we can study them. There’s evidence that they existed and yet, they’re sort of a mystery. How did they go extinct? When I was a kid, that was one of the biggest mysteries of my life. When you’re a kid, you’re into imaginary things, but here’s something that’s better than something imaginary, because it was real.

Part of what was so amazing about Jurassic Park was that until that point, we had really only seen bones in museums, two-dimensional drawings and a couple of like really weird 1950s films. To get to see dinosaurs come to life and co-exist with humans, it’s wish fulfillment in a way – and a cautionary tale. In terms of Jurassic World, there’s the fun of seeing the park – John Hammond’s dream come to life. Dinosaurs are still incredible to see and I would say that the park has been open for around a decade. In a way, it’s impressive to see dinosaurs, but because the original Jurassic Park opened 22 years ago, the [dinosaur amusement park guests] think, ‘what might interest us now to buy a ticket [to the new park]?’ I think that’s the parallel theme with this movie and the plot within the movie.

How old will your kids have to be to see this movie?

I made a terrible mistake when shooting this movie. I went home one night and my daughter asked me what I did that day. I told her that I worked with a dinosaur. She looked terrified. Almost every single night since then, she has asked me if a dinosaur is going to come into her room. It’s going to be a while before my daughter sees the film. In terms of my son, my husband will need to see the movie and we’ll talk about it. He’s eight years old and I’ve seen a lot of kids in the audience his age and younger and they absolutely love it.

You mentioned earlier that you sort of played two characters in the film. How did you approach the moment with the brontosaurus, which is sort of the start of your character’s evolution?

You know this, but you shoot a movie out of order. It was so much fun thinking, ‘okay, now she’s vulnerable and courageous and empowered’ and the next day it was, ‘now she’s fearful and insecure.’ The brontosaurus scene, which was really emotional, was shot with an animatronic dinosaur. It was an unbelievable experience. You can go to exhibits and see animatronic dinosaurs, but that was nothing like this. It was really real. That was a particularly emotional day. Michael Crichton passed away when his wife was eight months pregnant. When we shot this scene, his son six years old at the time and that was the day he visited the set. He saw this dinosaur. He turned to his mom before we started shooting and he turned to his mom and said, ‘mom, it’s a real dinosaur!’ I just burst into tears. This is his father’s legacy.

Jurassic World opens in theaters June 12.