For Jurassic World Rebirth, Jonathan Bailey indulged his inner music nerd.
On Wednesday, June 25, the 37-year-old actor appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and shared the backstory of his clarinet solo on the soundtrack to the upcoming film.
“This really was a highlight of my career,” He started by saying, “The nerd in me erupted like Vesuvius,” before going into detail about how his run of Richard II in London came to be.
Bailey noted that the director of Rebirth, Gareth Edwards, informed him that they would be recording Alexandre Desplat’s new soundtrack at the adjacent Abbey Road Studios, which included elements from John Williams’ famous original.
“As the week progressed,” Bailey continued, “I came back and I was like, ‘Can I bring my clarinet?’ I played the clarinet in school. And on Friday, they said, ‘Look, you can come.’ “
“I just wanted to play one—even if it was, like, one slightly sharp note. … Would’ve been my dream come true,” the actor said.
That wish-granting came to fruition (and then some) when a clarinet solo came up. Bailey admitted he was initially hesitant and declined Desplat’s offer to play while being surrounded by “world-class musicians” — but he felt immediate regret.
So once another clarinet solo came up, “[Desplat] said, ‘It’s now or never.’ And I just went, ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ And I ended up playing the theme of Dr. Henry Loomis, the character I play [in the film] … on the clarinet, which is in the score.”
In 1993, the year Jurassic Park debuted, Bailey’s grandfather gave him his first clarinet, which is when his clarinet skills began more than 30 years ago.
“I got given a plastic clarinet by my granddad,” the Wicked star said, laughing, “who I think won it in a pub. And I started playing then.”
“It just shows that if you find something you love and you commit to it, you never know how it comes full circle,” Bailey continued. “But honestly, it was so emotional.”
Jurassic World Rebirth is stomping into theaters July 2.
