Every dinosaur film needs a Velociraptor—a favorite of children, who favor both things that are cute-looking and things involving blood and brutality. We thought we'd give this diminuative carnivore, whom we've decided to call Vito Velociraptor, an affable edge by casting Michael Cera.

Photo by Gregory Harris. Interview, July 2010.

For our male human, the potential love interest of the aforementioned curious human, we nominate Eddie Redmayne. His voice was so full of earnest excitement and concern in My Week With Marilyn, he'd be perfect as the boy worrying over the safety of his dinosaur-loving girlfriend.

Photo by Peter Lindbergh. Interview, September 2011.

Next up is a flying reptile: the Pterodactyl. We believe the "p" is silent, but we may have just been mispronouncing it all these years. We nominate Meryl Streep as the voice of Penny the Pterodactyl. Should Peterson and Disney envision the Pterodactyl as sassy, maternal, snooty, naive, or clever, we know that Meryl will do justice to any one of these options.

Photo by Brigitte Lacombe. Interview, December 1988.

Our first invented character is a Plateosaurus; a classic long-necked herbivore featured in most children's plastic dinosaur sets. Herbivores are frequently portrayed in film and television as cuddly, innocuous, and easily pushed around—proliferating a particular vegetarian stereotype. We would prefer a devious, manipulative, nefarious, scoundrel Plateosaurid voiced by Kevin Spacey. We shall name him after the famous, ancient Greek traitor Alcibiades.

Photo by Rankin. Interview, December/January 2008. 

As we mentioned before, humans may or may not be involved. In case they are, we decided to cast Hannah Murray as the curious, well-intentioned human who somehow gets entangled in the personal lives of the main dinosaur characters.

Photo by Vita Hewison. Interview Online, May 2012.

Our inner patriot caused us to cast a Brachiosaurus, first discovered in Colorado. Although it's precise size is somewhat polemic, one estimate is that the dinosaur was 85 feet long. In more tangible terms, were the Brachiosaurus a leisure ship, it would be a yacht, but not quite a super yacht. Other defining features include a very long neck and giraffe-like structure (its front legs are longer than its back legs). We envision Edie the Brachiosaurus as a strong, grounded, alpha-female who owns her large size, voiced by Alfre Woodard.

Photo by Michael Haddi. Interview, May 1994.