Jeff Goldblum logs onto Zoom exactly the way you’d hope: First, he’s just a voice (“I’m quite honored to do this interview,” he says), then he’s awkwardly charming (“Do I see myself at all? Oh, shit. … ‘Start video’”); then he smiles, and the conversation becomes delightful. “I am in my house in Los Angeles,” he says, sitting in front of a colorful mural of commedia dell’arte harlequins. “I’ve in been that same house for about 36 years now, up in the Hollywood Hills. Where are you?”
Goldblum is known for being both endearing and awkward, which has helped him to have a successful career. It’s what made the sarcastic magazine reporter character he played in The Big Chill His anthropomorphic personality is likable “Brundlefly”In The Fly He is a human being, and Dr. Ian Malcolm is a suave chaosian. Jurassic ParkIt’s so easy to be cool in movies. Apart from his acting skills, his uniqueness has made him a well-known TV commercial pitchman and a jazz pianist who is the subject of numerous memes online. Goldblum lived many lives over his 69-year-old life, but he has kept his unique perspective.
His singularly Goldblumian outlook serves to be the beacon for his current television series. Jeff Goldblum: The World According To Jeff Goldblum. On the show’s first season, which premiered on Disney+ in 2019, the actor indulged his interests in everything from RVs to coffee, ice cream to tattoos. The upcoming season will feature him exploring monsters, magic, fireworks, magic, dance and other topics.
Watching the show, it becomes clear that Goldblum’s insatiable thirst for knowledge, a hallmark of his lovably quirky characters, reflects his off-camera mindset. An interview with Rolling Stone’sLast Word column – he explained how the show widened his perspective and reflected on how it helped him to achieve his worldview.
It is Jeff Goldblum: The World According To Jeff GoldblumIs it just an extension of your natural curiosity?
My already large curiosity has been heightened by the show. I wind up going places that I wouldn’t ordinarily go. I was in Sequoia National Forest climbing one those trees, talking with forest scientists, and I have always admired scientists. My dad was a doctor, and now I’ve gotten a chance to play scientists, too.
What are your top scientific discoveries from the show thus far?
An episode was made about dogs. This dog works with first responders or firemen and must hide in a cement tube while I dozed off. [searched for me]. These dogs are able to travel over rough terrain more easily. [than people]They can also find survivors with their noses. So I took the role of a survivor in an old concrete pipe. This dog found me and the firemen did the same. It was very touching. There’s plenty to learn about animals.
Once you said about Jurassic ParkThat was Dr. Ian Malcolm’s approach. “scientists are cool.”Do you feel that way all your life?
There were things in the Michael Crichton book that made that character interesting and smart and not a cliché of somebody who’s socially stunted. My experience with scientists with whom I’d come in contact — even the chaoticians that I talked to seemed cool and smart and were interesting to talk to. I’ve always found people who are passionately interested in something and contributing something to be very attractive and cool to the nth degree.
You kept a pet flee on the set The Fly. What were your learnings from it?
Geena [Davis]We were practicing each day, before we reached the set. We arrived at the set and there was a fly in our trailer. I or she caught it and put it in plastic bags for a bit. I’d never have called it a pet; I don’t think it ever became a pet, but I did look at it without trying to harm it. No animals or insects were hurt on this movie or in the actors’ preparatory period. If you stop and really look, [at a fly]I decided to give it a try for a while and observe what it does.
In 1985, you spoke to an interviewer. “I’m not mainstream. I’m special.”How did you come to accept being different?
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to study with a great professor. [acting]Sanford Meisner, a teacher who stated, “You shouldn’t copy anybody. You should try to find your own voice. It may take you a long time to do that, and a lot of continual digging, but it’s worthwhile.”
More and more I strive to be more self-respectful. I’m nothing if not disciplined and conscientious. I played the piano today as I do every other day and I swear I was better than ever. It’s sort of interesting to me to keep my eyes on my own paper and keep developing and working on what I love and what seems to bring my insides to full life.
What is it that excites you most about the piano and how does it fit in with your artistic sensibilities?
I love it. It’s mysterious what really turns you on and gets your juices going. That’s what music has done for us all. [for me], including jazz. Finding out what motivates you is a key part of acting or any creative endeavor. You’re the authority, finally, about what does it for you.
Which music moves you most today?
[Composer Samuel Barber’s] “Adagio for Strings,”This beautiful piece of music has been used in movies. It’s the saddest and one of the most moving pieces of music. David Lynch uses it in The Elephant Man. Oh, God. It’s just heart wrenching and music does that to me.
I’ve seen The Waterfront many times and, yes, Kazan’s direction is spectacular, and Brando just grabs you in like nobody else can. But I’ll tell you, even in the back-of-that-cab scene, it’s Leonard Bernstein’s score that moves me — and I think it’s the only movie he ever wrote a score for. These themes grab me and make me want to do something. It can inspire you and hurt your heart instantly. … And I was just looking at VertigoAgain, the music is by Bernard Herrmann. Taxi driverAnd PsychoMany of the Hitchcock films. But Vertigo, especially, my God, that movie wouldn’t be the same without that score.
I listen to jazz and my bandmates turn me on to the stuff I should have known about for all these years anyway, so I’m catching up with Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and many people. And I’m crazy about it; I love it.
Your breakthrough film was being made The Big Chill the cast would get together and have dance parties that weren’t even for the movie. What’s the secret to that kind of bonding on a set?
Well, it’s a sort of a miracle when it happens. You can see the film here. [director]Larry Kasdan was the one who set us up. He was all about these people being friends for years before in the backstory and had actors had who’d never met each other. He asked us to meet for rehearsals and then go on to live in an isolated area in Buford, South Carolina. We had a blast and his methods worked. [Kasdan’s]Meg, Meg’s spouse, had picked the music and kept it on tape during rehearsals. As a result, we started dancing. Thanks to all that, we connected.
That’s the way it’s always been for me with acting pals: You get together, like the circus, with people who were roaming and only have a fleeting brush with each other, but it demands that you are intimate in the deepest and most spiritual way and have an interesting and passionate experience that may mean something to somebody else if it’s witnessed and filmed.
You’re known for asking the crews you work with to wear name tags. Why is it so important to make a connection with everyone you work with?
I enjoy looking at the call sheets with all the crew members and getting to know them a bit. I go over it as if I’m going over my lines. It makes me feel better. Robert Altman, Wes Anderson and others who work in similar ways, would both agree that the main thing we were doing was not the end product of the movie. [on a set]It is sharing an art experience together.
I don’t think the actor is necessarily any more important to part of the democratic community than any other person. Actors certainly don’t have the right to behave in childish, discourteous ways towards others.
What’s the most indulgent purchase you’ve ever made?
Charlie, my six-year old son, was taking me to his lesson on Ventura Boulevard. Next door, there was a caviar shop. Charlie was taking the lesson. [my other son]River began to wander and said: “Hey, let’s go in there.” He’s only four and the guy working there said, “We only have three kinds of caviar right now. We’ll give you a sample of all of them.”I said: “Sure,” and so he gave me and River a sample and then I figured, I don’t like to be the kind of person who samples anything without buying — I don’t know why, I think it’s not nice. So I said: “OK, yeah, we’ll take a tin. Give me that middle line.” It was a little more than I’ve spent for food usually. So that’s indulgent.
You’re 6’4″. What should people know about the extremely tall?
I guess 6’4″ feels like the perfect height for me. I wouldn’t want anything else. It was great being tall as a high school student and having to make it in a challenging society. It was great to get taller because it meant that I was taller. “Watch out. I can take care of myself. I’m big.” That’s been fine and dandy.
I’m working on a part now that requires me walking on stilts. So I’m not too tall that I don’t have a part that the director has said, “You know what you need for this part? To be about a foot taller. You need stilts.”Today’s stilt practice was about an hour ago. So I’ve been walking around on stilts.
Your career has progressed, and people are more likely to consider you a sexual symbol. Does that make you a burden?
I don’t know that I am, but it’s never been burdensome. I’m as vain as the next fella. It’s nice to feel that there’s some interest. What can I say but: I’m blushing.