The actor Jeff Goldblum called a genius: “I’m interested in what he thought”
He might be more of a meme than a man these days, but it’s hard to argue that Jeff Goldblum isn’t one of the greats. From his early bit parts in Annie Hall and Nashville, to his blockbuster days in the 1990s, to his recent collaborations with Wes Anderson, his career has thrown up some of the biggest and most memorable films. Even if you don’t remember the movie, chances are you’ll remember his appearance in it.
The lanky legend has come a long way since getting yelled at in his first-ever scene. It’s hard to say whether or not people want to emulate him, as he has a style that is completely his own, but young actors will almost certainly want to replicate the level of success he has had in his various pursuits. But who did a young Jeff look up to when he was making his own way through the acting world?
Born in 1952, Goldblum’s first hero was his older brother Rick, who tragically died at the age of 23. The star credits his love for jazz, which he has turned into an arm of his career, to his fallen sibling. In terms of famous names, Marlon Brando would have very much been on his radar growing up, as he confirmed during an interview with The Talks.
“I’m interested in what he thought, because I love him and still he’s a mysteriously brilliant genius to me,” Goldblum revealed, in response to a quote from his idol, “we are always acting”. “I think he was talking about role-playing and the masks that we all wear in life, which, of course, I know about. But I think it’s different. I may be, you know, sometimes engaged in trying to entertain others, but I like to think of acting as only happening when you’re playing the game. It finally needn’t have a lot of rococo decoration on it.”
When he found out he was going to be working with David Thewlis on the set of Netflix’s Kaos, Goldblum wasted no time in getting on to his favourite subject. “Hanging out with him, I excavated stories about Marlon Brando, because they became pals on that famous [documentary about the] making of The Island of Dr. Moreau,” he told W magazine. “He had great stories about Brando, which I collect anytime, from anybody”.
Anyone who knows anything about either of these guys might be surprised to hear that they align on their acting principles. Brando is, to many, the epitome of pretentious method acting. He dedicated hours to specific characters, seemingly going out of his way to annoy everyone on set in the process. Goldblum, on the other hand, at least in his modern phase, seems to be the total antithesis. Light, breezy, focused solely on fun, it’s hard to imagine Brando gladly suffering Goldblum’s performance in Wicked, or the latter replacing the former in something like On the Waterfront.
Despite the results being very different, Brando and Goldblum have clearly shared the same passion for acting at various points in their careers. The fact that the latter was able to appreciate the former while taking his own style in a very different direction speaks volumes to the way his mind works. Jeff Goldblum’s mind… imagine what that place must look like.
