Daniella Pineda says a line revealing her character is gay was removed from the sequel because it ‘wasn’t relevant to the story’

The Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom star Daniella Pineda has said that a brief scene revealing her character to be gay was cut out of the finished film.

The actor, who plays a paleo-veterinarian in the film, told Yahoo that a line of dialogue was taken out of the 130-minute film because it was running too long. In a scene involving her traveling in a vehicle with Chris Pratt’s character, she originally made a remark about her sexuality.

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“I look at Chris and I’m like: ‘Yeah, square jaw, good bone structure, tall, muscles,’” she said. “‘I don’t date men, but if I did, it would be you. It would gross me out, but I’d do it.’ I love that I’m looking at Chris Pratt, the hottest guy in the world, and I’m like, ‘It would gross me out, but I guess I would do it!’ It was also cool because it was a little insight into my character. But they cut it.”

It was originally conceived by director JA Bayona and writer Colin Trevorrow but the original cut was 160 minutes, so it was taken out “for the sake of time” as it “wasn’t relevant to the story”.

The decision to remove a gay reference from a film of this scale follows a number of similar occurrences in Hollywood. Last year, Tessa Thompson revealed that a scene in Thor: Ragnarok that confirmed her character’s bisexuality was cut because it distracted from some “vital exposition” while in 2016, John Cho said that a kiss between his character and his male partner in Star Trek: Beyond was also taken out of the final cut.

In May, Glaad’s annual report of representation in Hollywood showed that in 2017, out of the seven major studios, only 14 films featured characters who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.

“Record-breaking films like Black Panther and Wonder Woman prove that not only does inclusion make for great stories – inclusion is good for the bottom line,” Glaad’s president and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis, said. “It is time for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) stories to be included in this conversation and in this movement.” Ellis said Glaad’s target was that 20% of studio films should include LGBTQ characters by 2021 and 50% of by 2024.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has received mixed reviews, with a 59% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it “a messy menagerie of dino-related quirks and twists”. It has made over $420m at the global box office so far with a US release on 22 June where it’s predicted to open to around $140m.