Since it launched with a blitz of media coverage in September 2021, de-extinction startup Colossal Biosciences has been stalked by comparisons to Jurassic Park. This in itself is not surprising. For a startup trying to bring back the woolly mammoth—or at least something like it—a fable about the dangers of foolhardy scientists messing around with the genetics of long-dead creatures is an obvious reference point.
What is surprising—given the amount of time that Colossal CEO Ben Lamm spends patiently shrugging off comparisons to Jurassic Park—is his latest hire. On February 1, Colossal announced its new chief marketing officer would be Emily Castel, a former Hollywood executive who worked on monster movies including Pacific Rim, Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, and, uh, Jurassic World. It turns out that Colossal, which also has plans to bring back the dodo and extinct marsupial the thylacine, really is getting involved in the entertainment business. But, Lamm says, that doesn’t mean monster flicks so much as educational content and documentaries