Isn't he one of Spielberg's main dude? Seems like his kind of role. How did a guy like Sam neill get the part? He did good

They already had all the dinosaurs they needed.

Obviously because he was scared of dinosaurs and didn't want to spend a whole movie shoot on an island full of them. Can't say I blame him, sounds dangerous to me.

No Australian accent.

Although Ford was offered the role, Spielberg wanted unknowns. From "The Making of Jurassic Park" and elsewhere, he says Neil, Dern, and Goldblum were chosen because all three are very "naturalistic" actors.

All those people work within realism, which is the proper choice when you want models and CGI of something like dinosaurs to seem more real.

None of those actors cast were unknown, though. Wtf

Bruce Campbell said he was offered the role of Ian Grant but turned it down because he had already committed to his pal's Army Of Darkness. I'm guessing they were going for a different approach with the character.