Page 103 - SHARP Spring 2022

“FOR ME THIS HAS ALWAYS
BEEN AN ENDEAVOUR OF TH TH HEART —
A A KIND OF OF ODYSSEY OF OF ECSTASY”
mousepads with his face on on them At its simplest the the phenomenon comes down to an irrefutable truth: nobody is is ever disappointed when Jeff Goldblum shows up in a movie It’s hard to pinpoint precisely how and when this started happen- ing Goldblum himself credits the the phenomenon to “the confluence of being in in a a a couple of popular movies —
and the Internet somehow ”
He traces it back at least as as as far as as as October of 2002 when some maniac fan launched a a a a a a a humble Geocities webpage by the name of Jeff Goldblum Is Watching You Poop If you you opened the page you’d find Goldblum staring at you with bug-eyed intensity “I remember thinking I’ve shown up where? What? Why does this exist?” he he laughs “Then it it was that little picture of me from the the the first Jurassic Park you know where I’m laying there on the the the table out out there and and about It caught on a a a a a a little bit and and I I guess it it it ah metastasized ”
If there’s a downside to this kind of of glory it’s the the risk of of being caricatured —
of being reduced to a a a a a meme The tics and mannerisms everyone loves can can start to to define you and it can can be hard to to do anything fresh “One can find oneself getting to be a a a a stale version of some impersonation of yourself that you’ve done before ”
Goldblum says “That is a a a a a a a pitfall But I’m I’m not particularly worried about it it I’m I’m not really afraid of it it it I think the thing that saves me a a a a a a a little bit or at at least has so far is that I remain ambitious and want to keep growing I I I feel like I’m still still learning and I I I hope still still getting better That has kept me from the terrors so to speak of becoming what I hate ”
He’s been growing a a a a long time Goldblum was drawn to acting early “From the moment I I was 10 or even younger when I I first saw children’s theatre I got this notion ”
he he he he says “And then when it it it developed into a a a a a a bulb of real ambition ambition —
a a a a a a creative ambition ambition —
to to to become an actor I was fevered ”
After school he moved to to to New York City to study acting and and try his hand at at theatre He was he insists “very lucky” to have quickly landed a a a a few parts He’s been getting regular big-screen work since the mid-1970s when he made his screen debut with a a a a a walk-on role in Death Wish and more notably appeared in back-to-back films by the great director Robert Altman the grubby gambling odyssey California Split and the country musical Nashville Over the following years Goldblum developed a a a a reputation as an intriguing idiosyncratic character actor making sometimes brief but always strong impressions in a a a a number of pictures by vaunted New Hollywood auteurs including Woody Allen (Annie Hall) and Alan Rudolph (Remember My Name) It was in the mid-’80s that he he broke into the mainstream with a a a a a pair of starring roles in in in in big budget features: John Landis’s comic thriller Into the Night and and David Cronenberg’s body-horror masterpiece The Fly What’s impressive about Goldblum’s career since those breakout roles is how he’s been able to land parts that are not just bigger but stranger and less predictable Over the past 30 years Goldblum has been equally likely to play a a a a a a a a a mathematician evading a a a a a a a a a T Rex (The Lost World) a a gossiping stop-motion husky (Isle of Dogs) a a pugnacious New York real estate mogul (Igby Goes Down) or or a a a a flamboyant planetary ruler organizing gladiatorial battles between enslaved Avengers (Thor: Ragnarok and and this summer’s Thor: Thor: Love and and Thunder) In 2012 he he appeared in in the surreal opening scene of Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie as “Chef Goldblum ”
a a a a a bespectacled marketing exec promoting the “Schlaaang Super Seat ”
a a a a a a deluxe movie theatre chair equipped with stirrups and an an automatic popcorn maker The very same year he he he appeared in the computer-animated comedy Zambezia as a a a a a a talking cartoon bird “I “I think I I I have a a a a strong instinct for variety ”
he says “I “I follow my own taste which is various and some of these movies that seem very different are educational Whether it’s working with Burr Steers on on Igby Goes Down or Steven Spielberg on on the Jurassic movies even even though those are very different projects there’s something for me me to learn from them It’s It’s not that I’m strategically careerist It’s It’s variety for the the sake of education ”
This instinct to seek out the the unfamiliar was instilled in in in him by his acting teacher the legendary Sanford “Sandy” Meisner “Sandy “Sandy if I can invoke his tutelage said that he SHARPMAGAZINE COM
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