Interview “Jurassic World Dominion”: Actor Jeff Goldblum Talks About The Legacy Behind The Ian Malcolm Character. @JurassicWorld @UniversalPics @Rmediavilla #JeffGoldblum #JurassicWorldDominion #JurassicWorld
What was your reaction when you found out not just that you were coming to what is the grand finale of this movie of the series, but also that you would be reunited with Laura and with Sam again?
Jeff Goldblum:
I was so excited you could have knocked me over with a feather. Is that the expression? Yeah, I was very excited. Come on. This franchise, these movies back in 93 were so spectacularly enjoyable for me, working with Steven Spielberg forever, creatively changing and then working with Laura Dern. Sam Neill back then, life changing and getting to know them.
I was a different person because of it and then getting to work with them again, very, very exciting. When I heard it was Colin Trevorrow, our wonderful director, who told me during the shooting of a commercial, well, several years ago, Hey! I think we’re going to do a third Jurassic World because he had written the first one and directed it. Wrote the second one and said, I think there’s going to be something good for you and Laura and Sam. Watch what says. I was very curious and excited about it.
And then it came to fruition. And then there we were on the set in England at Pinewood Studios, where they shoot the James Bond movies. I was out of my mind with gratitude and appreciation, I’ll tell you that.
What place does Ian Malcolm hold in your career for you personally?
Jeff Goldblum:
Well, like I say, creatively, it was a landmark moment. You know what? What was that? That was 93. I’d done several movies and plays, but I’m a humble student of acting. My teacher, Sandy Meisner said, takes at least 20 years of continual work to even call yourself an actor. And then, you know, you can keep improving if you if you apply yourself in the right way. And then working with Steven Spielberg, who, as we know, is
We’re lucky to be on the planet and working at the same time as him, his movies and his work methods. And he just spectacular. He’s a giant of the cinema. And doing that taught me a lot and was very nourishing and life changing. And then to work with the cast, like I say, ah, Laura Dern, Sam Neill was amazing. But then I think professionally I kind of focus less on my so-called career. But I think I, I found out over the course of time that, you know, it was a good thing to have done.
I think it made a made a big difference. And then, of course, seeing people come up to me over the last couple of decades and be so thrilled to have seen it and have stories and of all ages and from all over the world, that’s a really life enhancing and just beautiful thing to to have experienced.
How did Ian Malcolm evolve to be the character he is now in Jurassic World Dominion?
Jeff Goldblum:
Oh, that’s a good question. Well, it was a good question for me in trying to act, you know, with this big gap in between what you know about me. And I had to kind of try to imagine what I’ve been doing and how I now feel and think about all sorts of things. Colin Trevorrow helped, he had ideas and we collaborated and talked about it. But I think that Ian Malcolm, because he went through those events in 93 and in 96 and seven where he almost died and saw other people die from, this encounter with giant, fierce animals was transformational.
I think he probably feels precious about all of life is more present in his life, has prioritized the important things, has several children whom he adores deeply. I think his relationships have been deepened, and I think he has an urgent he’s developed an even more urgent mission to use himself to contribute to the scientific community and to the community at large and be a better steward on the planet and figure out how we can all, with global cooperation, live peacefully, not only amongst ourselves, but between us and other species and all the creatures on earth.
What is the biggest difference between the first Jurassic Park and this one in terms of the shooting of the working with the effects and all of that?
Jeff Goldblum:
Well. In the. That’s a good question. In the first one, we didn’t know it at the time, at least I didn’t. But we were intersecting with a breakthrough in cinema technology. I, ILM and Dennis Murin a Stan Winston with his animatronics that could bring dinosaurs to life like they’d never been brought to life before on the screen. And it changed all of cinema. Some people have compared it to the beginning of sound in movies.
It really was a moment. But at the time when it was new, there was a lot of looking at tennis balls and imagining where the dinosaurs were going to be in this one. John Nolan had a creature shop there in Pinewood Studios that my two little boys visited, Charlie and River seven and five and saw them finishing up the big dinosaurs. You see more dinosaurs in this than ever. There are different dinosaurs, and it was amazing. And it was Colin Trevorrow who thought and had the vision of putting more real dinosaurs that you could touch and feel and act with and work with in this one than ever before. But it was really, really amazing.
What is the most memorable experience about making this movie for you?
Jeff Goldblum:
Well, I’ll tell you, we did it. We were one of the first productions to work during the COVID challenges, and Alexandra Darbyshire and Pat Crowley were two of our producers who spearheaded and pioneered the protocols and figured them out. They spent a lot of money on it and put in a tremendous amount of effort and kept us safe. We didn’t know how it would go, but they brought us along and got us to the finish line. And those same methods have been used by many productions since and I think are still being used in some variation in shows right now too, in order to keep going.
It was just tremendously memorable and we were all bubbled up because of that in a hotel called the Langley Hotel near Pinewood Studios, where they shoot these Bond movies. And my kids were there and my wife was there and we were all bonded in the company, I must say. We worked on weekends because we were all there, couldn’t do anything else. And Colin Trevorrow kept us very focused and worked on scenes that we were going to do and shoot the next week. And it was very helpful and and bonding and kind of kind of a beautiful experience.
You began this, you began this journey in 1993 and have now concluded it. Did you find some closure in this film, a sense of fulfillment, what this legacy has achieved that?
Jeff Goldblum:
Gee, that’s a good question. Yes, I think so. Colin Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael conceived this story and wrote such a lovely script that I think it wanted to close out the story that began with the park adventure and continued on through all the World Jurassic World chapters. And they wanted to sort of conclude it in a way that was satisfying.
I hope I hope it does to audiences. But to make it, it felt. Satisfying? Yes, it did. I felt well-nourished by it. And and as as somebody said in a line from a movie once, I felt like I’d revealed myself to myself and felt utterly drenched and purged.
