As good as Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum enjoyed a sell-out return to the boards at the Old Vic earlier this year. Will he be back? Jeannette Slavinski endeavours to find out
Above: Jeff Goldblum
“I adore the UK”, says Jeff Goldblum. He made his name in blockbuster movies like The Fly, Jurassic Park and Independence Day, but as his successful British debut at the Old Vic testifies, Jeff Goldblum’s golden age enters a restorative chapter.
Jeff’s no novice to theatre work, having made his youthful debut in the musical version of Two Gentleman of Verona on Broadway. As an advocate of the Meisner Technique, he also teaches acting in the City of Angels.
Perched in the gods at the Old Vic, I felt like a fly on the wall. At 56, Jeff’s agility and dexterity buzzes the audience with a raw synergy that makes one believe he could swing from the Old Vic’s magnificent crystal chandelier (which has a history all of its own).
But it is artistic director and actor Kevin Spacey who pulls the punches, literally, as he swings for Jeff leaving him bloody nosed in Mamet’s satire, Speed-the-Plow, which enjoyed a successful run at the Old Vic earlier this year.
Laura Kelly played the female lead, and the ménage à trois become embroiled in a deal to produce a Hollywood hit. Chilling out backstage, Jeff appears virginal wrapped in a cosy white fur hoody, looking like a bespectacled Eskimo.
Autograph hunters had weaved a queue, while he obligingly signed his name through a serving hatch, making him look like trapped prey (ironic, for a man who once hunted dinosaurs in Jurassic Park).
I tell him his paced dynamics as Bobby Gould, a Hollywood producer in Mamet’s play, were richly portrayed. Mamet maintains that humans are greedy, lustful, duplicitous, corrupt and inspired.
Does he think Jeff’s character Bobby Gould is an incarnation of Mamet’s comments? “Mmm, I’m still learning from the play,” he muses. “That’s what’s terrific about the writing; it’s rich, always a little mysterious and keeps revealing itself as I try to play it.
“Bobby Gould is certainly a fellow who is a contradictory mix of surprising and unexpected things. He has potential in him I think, as I unravel him I discover he has an interest in things that are beautiful, and that these things might be a contribution to other people. I aspire to that.”
Has his character taught him anything, I ask. “Yes,” he emphatically replies, “There’s something potentially good about hard work, open mindedness and loyalty to one’s friends.”
Moving on to his co-stars, I wonder how he feels about Kevin Spacey’s community involvement and contribution to England’s theatrical heritage: “I adore Kevin. He’s been so sweet and kind to me, masterful in his playing the part. And everything I’m aware he’s doing with the theatre is inspiring, I can’t imagine how he gets the energy, he’s Herculean.
“I know if I had anything to do with a theatre I’d feel lucky to have him around, he’s a real asset. I’d certainly like to work with Kevin again.”
South London differs considerably to LA – not just in the frequency of sunshine and blue skies. I wonder if he prefers one over the other. “It would be tough to compare them. I sort of adore both,” he laughs diplomatically, “Most of my time has been spent immersed in the play, but I did go to a couple of nice places to eat.” At least we know he was well fed.
Jeff has no specific plans to return to the UK for more thespian endeavours, but he keeps that spark of hope alive by revealing he’d be “delighted to come back”. Let’s hope he can find the time. His next project, back in La La Land, is to work the publicity for his new film Adam Resurrected.
He gives me an exclusive, sobering insight into his character Adam Stein, a Jewish-German impresario, who witnesses the horrific murder of his wife and daughter in Nazi death camps. Stein manages to save his own skin by impersonating a dog for the camp commandant, played by William Dafoe.
Much of the film is set in an asylum for Holocaust survivors in Israel’s Negev desert, where Stein is sent to recover from a nervous breakdown. “The role,” says Jeff, “came from a wonderful book, Adam Resurrected, written by a wonderful author in Israel. Paul Schrader was directing it, I think he’s a terrific director and I love the part very much. It is the most difficult role I’ve had to play.”
Goldblum was born 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his father was a doctor and his mother a radio broadcaster. His own paternal grandfather emigrated from Russia, his maternal grandfather from Austria between the wars.
Despite being Jewish himself, Jeff said his background doesn’t give him any particular advantage in playing the role because it’s a very universal story. Research into the role led him to the preserved Polish Majdanek concentration camp, which he gravely states with shivering sentiment: “Majdanek. It was a very powerful, painful experience; it’s devastating and very, very sad.”
After a moment’s heart-felt silence, he talks about the Holocaust survivors he met: “They were very generous to me. I met with a lot of them in Los Angeles, I told them what I was doing and they were very kind, they told me their stories. It was very educational and uplifting.”
It sounds quite harrowing – one hopes there is a happy ending? “Oh I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone, but there’s a kind of spiritual epiphany in the middle of the Negev desert with the boy. It’s finally a very positive movie.”
Adam Resurrected is due for release later this year
Web exclusive: The real Jeff Goldblum – a Q&A by Jeannette Slavinski
Jeannette Slavinski: So how does a busy working actor who’s had a movie out each year relax? I believe you are a yogic? Namaste.
Jeff Goldblum: Namaste.
JS: What’s your favourite position, dog with head up or dog with head down?
JG: Oh, I don’t do much hatha yoga these days but I like the sun salutation exercise. JS: No surprise there I guess. So what’s your mantra? Oh, that’s a secret.
JS: Who’s your favourite poet?
JG: Rilke.
JS: What makes you happy?
JG: Playing the piano I guess.
JS: The talented Mr Goldblum is a maestro at Jazz; I have witnessed his passionate syncopated jazz rhythms in an exclusive club in Hollywood. Jeff has a violet voice that colours every note, I compliment.
JG: Oh, thank you so much Jeannette.
JS: Do you like to dance?
JG: Oh, yes I like to move around to music sometimes, yes I do.
JS: What style of dancing?
JG: I like to do a couple of step taps, which I learned.
JS: Having made an appearance in Sesame Street with Big Bird and Snuffleupagus, choose a character from a children’s fable you would like to play.
JG: Golly, maybe the Cheshire Cat or the Mad Hatter?
JS: Tell me your biggest disappointment?
JG: Gee, that’s a good question, mmm, disappointment, nothing springs to mind, I don’t know.
JS: You support a lot of causes and charities, which is your strongest cause?
JG: I’ve been involved with hunger issues for a long time; world hunger.
JS: Tell me your fondest memory of childhood.
JG: Fondest, so many nice things I remember, I’ve seen the home movies of things. They took home movies of when they brought my little sister Pam home from the hospital, I guess I was two or three and there she was!
JS: Whom did you admire as a child?
JG: JF Kennedy, Martin Luther King, oh and Bobby Kennedy.
JS: Being a man of so many parts, can you describe yourself in one syllable?
JG: Ha ha, golly that’s a tough question. One word? Gee… joy.