Today on Crew Call we talk with Jeff Goldblum, who’s up for his third career Emmy nomination this year for the second season of National Geographic and Disney+’s The World According to Jeff Goldblum which follows the actor across the nation as he muses on various human fascinations, i.e. magic, dogs, dance, fireworks, the list goes on. The World According to Jeff Goldblum is up for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special.
You can listen to our conversation below:
Sharing in his awe of life on the show are sundry folk from all walks of life. We see the Jurassic Park franchise actor gab it up, and in various instances, live life to the fullest by partaking in a stunt, i.e. walking on hot coals.
Deadline Goldblum calls the NatGeo execs who pitched him on the series “smart and generous” and said to them, “I’m not shy about making these shows about me.”
“I wouldn’t mind revealing myself in these in a way that works for the half hour story,” said Goldblum who folds some of his home movies into the show.
The Fly, Big Chill and Jurassic World franchise star said he was all about a show “where Jeff Goldblum is a character…in which you can’t tell what’s fact or fiction; I’m using some of the raw and literal stuff that brought me up.”
“I’m not comparing myself to this, but I’ve enjoyed movies like Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris where in some of the scenes Brando is supposedly improvising and talking about his real father and experiences; they’re the most electrifying and interesting,” said the actor who was Oscar nominated in 1996 in the Live Action short category for the movie he directed, Little Surprises.
“I always thought, ‘Hey let’s do something like that!”. (Don’t worry NatGeo and Disney+ executives, there won’t be a season 3 episode of The World According to Jeff Goldblum entitled “Butter”).
Where the series hits the runway says Goldblum is when “they turn on the camera and catch me actually coming up with how I feel about this thing and my experiences.”
Everett Collection We also chat with Goldblum about his extensive career from studying with legendary acting coach Sandy Meisner, to breaking out in the Joe Papp musical The Two Gentleman of Verona opposite Raul Julia, to “lucky, miraculous series of breaks”: Goldblum’s film career began promptly with the Charles Bronson hit Death Wish in 1974, followed by back-to-back Robert Altman movies, California Split and Nashville blasting off all the way through to his work with Taika Waititi and Wes Anderson.
Goldblum also shares with us whether he’s heard anything about any Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai sequels; the big takeaway from that cult pic for him was forming a jazz band with star Peter Weller.
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