- "...the bloodsucking lawyer"
- —John Hammond(src)
Donald Gennaro was a lawyer sent by Cowan, Swain & Ross to inspect Jurassic Park. He was also the general counsel for InGen. He appears in both the book and film. Although he survives in the novel, in the film he was eaten by the escaping Tyrannosaurus rex. Both the depictions are extremely different.
Novel canon
In the Jurassic Park novel Gennaro was a lawyer of Cowan, Swain & Ross, a San Francisco Law firm that helped John Hammond found the InGen corporation early in his career. He was sent to Isla Nublar to inspect the safety of Jurassic Park, while his wife, Elizabeth, grew angry that he had to miss his daughter's birthday party.
During the Park Drive he sat in the same car as Dr. Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler and Ian Malcolm. When the group visits the sick Stegosaurus and has to return he stays with Ellie, who wants to investigate the dinosaur further.
After the Tyrannosaurus rex has attacked the cars he joins Robert Muldoon, who plans to save the survivors. He also joins Muldoon when he has to take down the T. rex near the river, and when Muldoon has to protect the Visitor Center against an attack of Velociraptors. Gennaro is forced to join Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler in the Velociraptor nest near the end of the novel. Ultimately, he escapes the island with the other survivors.
In the novel The Lost World Gennaro is mentioned of having died of dysentery while on a business trip. This is not to be confused with the InGen Incident; Gennaro died on a separate business trip.
Film canon
Gennaro's first appearance.
In Jurassic Park Gennaro was a lawyer who represented the investors of John Hammond's Jurassic Park. He is described in the script as:
DONALD GENNARO, forty, in a city man's idea of hiking clothes and a hundred dollar haircut...
Donald Gennaro
Gennaro accompanied the endorsement team on a weekend trip to Jurassic Park to inspect the park's viability and security. Having his own reservations, informed Hammond 'in 48 hours he'd shut him down.' In turn Hammond responded 'that in 48 hours he'd be accepting his apologies.' After
Donald seconds before being eaten. (Jurassic Park)
witnessing a real Brachiosaurus and watching a tour show Gennaro changed his views and believed Jurassic Park could make a fortune charging upwards of $10,000 a day, going as far as to suggest having a "coupon day" for the not-super-rich.
On the program tour Gennaro rides (like Ed Regis in the novel) in the same car as Hammond's grand kids Lex and Tim Murphy. They have two no shows, one where they're suppose to see a Dilophosaurus but don't, and when they're suppose to see a T. rex eating a goat, but the Tyrannosaurus doesn't appear at all. They also meet a sick female Triceratops.
Gennaro Final Moments
With a storm coming the group headed back in the cars to the Visitor Center but the power was shut off by Dennis Nedry and the cars stopped in front of the Tyrannosaurus Paddock where Gennaro, Lex, and Tim watched in horror as the T. rex ate the goat it was supposed to eat earlier. Gennaro runs out of the car and into a bathroom nearby and sits frightfully on a toilet soiling his pants leaving Lex and Tim to fend for themselves from the T.rex. Ian Malcolm tried to distract the T. rex but only causes it to charge towards the bathroom. Gennaro starts reciting the "Hail Mary" prayer but quickly gives up and slams the stall door shut. This effort proves futile as the Tyrannosaurus smashes its head through the door and causes the entire structure to collapse around Gennaro. He unsuccessfully attempts to remain still before it grabs his upper body in its mouth, shakes him violently then devours most of him . Later in the film when Robert Muldoon and Ellie Sattler come looking for the group, Muldoon finds what is left of Gennaro's dead body.
Gennaro's last moment at 01:04:48
In a deleted scene of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, 4 years after his death, he is mentioned a few times. Peter Ludlow says that Gennaro's family sued InGen for 36.5 million dollars after his death.
Comics
In Jurassic Park: Genesis Donald Gennaro is a lawyer who is invited, twice, to visit Jurassic Park. He constantly seems unimpressed with what he is seeing, both during the production of the Park and in Jurassic Park Movie Adaptation I while accompanying Dr. Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler and Ian Malcolm on their tour. He notes on numerous occasions how the impressions of those seeing the Park (both the doctors and himself) affect the fate of Jurassic Park. Ultimately, when the fences are de-powered and the Tyrannosaurus rex escapes, Gennaro abandons John Hammond’s grandchildren, Tim and Alexis, and cowers in a nearby toilet facility. Eventually, the T. rex proceeds to eat him after it shatters the facility; ironically, Gennaro had watched this dinosaur being born on his prior visit, and was unimpressed, evoking Hammond to tell him that “someday, this little fellow might surprise you!”
Popular culture
Donald Gennaro makes a small appearance in "Weird Al" Yankovic's Jurassic Park song's claymation music video. He is reading a newspaper in the bathroom, when the Tyrannosaurus rex appears and eats him (then proceeds to drink a cup of tea and floss). In regards to the dinosaur eating the lawyer, the song includes the line "Well, I suppose that proves they're really not all bad."