Jeff Goldblum names the three defining moments of his career: “The foundation of everything”
Although the other cast members of Wicked: For Good might be smarting a bit after being snubbed by the Oscars, Jeff Goldblum is unlikely to be too upset about it, after all, he’s been around long enough, done enough, and already has an Oscar nomination under his belt, quite aside from a new jazz album coming out.
Goldblum might be in his mid-70s, but looks about 15 years younger and doesn’t really show any signs of slowing down, what with making a fantasy podcast, recording music, appearing in a new TV series, plus a filmed adaptation of Stephen Fry’s debut book called The Liar on the way.
He’s been at the top of his game for a good 40 years now, after breaking through with David Cronenberg’s buzzy creature feature The Fly in 1986 and has had a sizable hit in pretty much every decade since. Of course, he’s probably most meme-famous for the lounging lizard of maths Ian Malcom in Jurassic Park, his bare-chested, permanently horizontal lothario character that seems to be one of the only voices of reason in the dinosaur-infested theme park.
But according to Goldblum himself, there have been three pivotal moments that have allowed him to progress from one stage of his career to the next, as he told Firenze Made in Tuscany, revealing: “The first one is definitely when I found my way to the Neighborhood Playhouse right after high school. Studying with (famed New York acting coach) Sanford Meisner was the foundation of everything”.
Adding, “Second one, working with Steven Spielberg (in Jurassic Park and The Lost World): he is a genius and wonderfully sweet. Then collaborating with Wes Anderson: we’ve done four movies so far, and the first one − The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – shot here in Italy, was a magical experience.”
One of Anderson’s famed inner-circle actors alongside Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson and Luke Wilson, Goldblum’s last film for the director was 2023’s Asteroid City, the comedy set in a fictional desert town in the 1950s visited by a UFO. But Goldblum has spoken previously about his nostalgic fondness for each of the films he has made under Anderson and that he feels a special closeness with the other actors involved.
Although Goldblum is obviously enamoured by the experience of working for Anderson, he has also talked about how the director is incredibly fastidious, not wanting a single word of his scripts to be changed, as Goldblum learned when he gave some small suggestions to Anderson on the set of The Grand Budapest Hotel.
One Wes Anderson movie that Goldblum wasn’t involved in, as he was busy being the Wizard of Oz at the time of filming, was last year’s The Phoenician Scheme, led by Benicio del Toro, the chaotic tale of a wealthy tycoon and his daughter trying to protect his business interests against various assassins and terrorists.
While reasonably well received by critics, it struggled to break even at the box office and wasn’t greeted with the usual raft of award nominations that Anderson is accustomed to.
Meanwhile, Goldblum’s newest album of music will be released in June and is another compilation of modern takes on jazz standards featuring the actor’s singing and prodigious piano playing. Other stars, including Charlie Puth and Cynthia Erivo, will make appearances on the record, titled Night Blooms and serving as a companion piece to 2025’s Still Blooming.
