Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Jeff Goldblum

Episode Date: July 3, 2022

In the 29 years since Jurassic Park debuted, Jeff Goldblum has taken on many roles, leaving his mark as a beloved character actor. In this week's "Sunday Sitdown," Willie Geist gets together with the multi-talented star to talk about returning the role of Dr. Ian Malcolm in this summer's blockbuster Jurassic World: Dominion, as well the jazz ensemble he leads on the side.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. I believe the adjective to describe this week's guest is delightful, charming, also applies, talented, of course. He is Jeff Goldblum. He is just so much fun to be around because you just don't know what's going to happen next. You don't know what's coming. Maybe you sit down with him at the Cafe Carlisle in New York City, a little jazz restaurant. inside the Carlisle Hotel to talk about his movie Jurassic World Dominion.

And it just kind of goes off the rails and he's talking about restaurants and a lot of questions to me about my early days as an actor in Somersstock when I was 10, 11, and 12 years old. He's just so fun to be around. And I think you'll pick that up as we talk here. We did ostensibly sit down to talk about him bringing back Dr. Ian Malcolm, the role he originated nearly 30 years ago in the original billion-dollar Jurassic Park Blockbuster now coming back,

a movie that's already out and probably going to bump up against a billion dollars itself this summer. But really, that's only part of the story. There's not much more I can tell you to set this up. You know Jeff Goldblum. You love Jeff Goldblum. So why don't we just get right into our conversation right now? Jeff Goldblum on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

I was looking, I saw it today, June 9th is the 29th and of the premiere of the first Jurassic Park movie. Today, you say? Today, June 9th. Is that true? 29 years ago. In D.C.

It was in D.C., the very first premiere. And then it came out a couple of days later. I must have been there. Laura Dern, the great Oscar-winning Laura Dern, reminded me, because we've been doing some of these in cahoots. She reminded me the other day that, oh, yes, we were in Washington, D.C. But I didn't know until you just said it. That was the first one, really? That was the first premiere?

That was the day. does that feel like a lifetime ago? Does that feel like yesterday? What's your sort of perspective on this Jurassic run? As I sit here right now, a long time. I mean, my standard answer is kind of both at the same time because time is what is time. But as I sit here right now, I'd say, you know, a long time ago,

what's that nice hum? Oh, that's sweet. That's our friend right here. Hi, hi, hi. That's our friend, the slider. He'll be with us all day. A sweet. By the way, sliders, when did they come onto the menu?

And why do they call them sliders? Well, they go down. Well, they slide on the track, yeah. No, not that slider. The other slider. Oh, an actual. On the menu. I didn't know we were talking about cheeseburger.

Well, cheeseburgers, yes. Yes. But in my day, in early on, something happened where we introduced the slider. I'm just free, I'm free associating. No, but I want to go there with you. Yes, please. Here's my thing on the slider. Okay.

You think, oh, I'm just getting the sliders. They're smaller. But if you really add it up, those three sliders are bigger than the burger that you were going to order in the first place. They give you three. You give you three sliders. Well, and do you always go with the bun? Do you always choose to eat the bun? It's a lot of bun.

Yeah. Sometimes I'll remove the bun, and then you've just got the three patties. You never order it in a lettuce wrap, do you? Can you do that? Is that an option? In California, we do, yeah, yeah. As you can imagine. That's why people hate us, as they should.

Yeah, if you're going to get a burger, just go with it. Have the bun, go all in. Maybe so. Maybe so. Anyway, slider. Sliders. Okay. So I was saying before, I'm dropping mental breadcrumbs. Before we got. You were talking about the scope of 29 years. Yes, sir. Yeah, no. I mean, well, I'll tell you, when Laura D. D.N. mentioned it to me the other day. I had forgotten. I can't, as I sit here, I can't really remember. It's the truth of it. Washington, D.C. as distinct from any. else. I don't remember that we were there first. I don't know. It's kind of, anyway, it must be a long time ago, or I'm going dim some bridges. Well, no, you're forgiven. There were many premieres, I'm sure, to that movie, and it was a long time ago. In a movie like this, but does that moment, the explosion of that film that made a billion dollars and set records at the time, does that feel recent to you? Or does that feel like that was a long time ago? And it changed my life and set me off in a different direction.

Well, the same question asked in a different way. You know, it feels a long time ago and kind of recent, you know, and kind of recent. And I don't know that it changed my life. Not like you'd think professionally, I guess, in retrospect, but I don't have a recollection of feeling like, golly, my life is changed. You know what I mean? Sure. You must have had moments like this, but maybe you've experienced it differently.

No, I don't, as I remember it, I, nor have I ever felt that any one thing has ever gone, wow, yesterday, you know, what a difference a day makes. Do you know that song? Sure. Yeah. You do? Bye. That's a good question. 24 little hours a day.

By whom? I want a difference a day makes. But that's the subject of, that's what we're saying. No, I've never had the feeling of, geez, yesterday was much different than today. Although, going from forwards to backwards, listen to this that just occurred to me, may mean nothing, or be coherent, the choices, if there's any such thing as free will, I'm going to bookmark on that, the choices that we make today, one might consider, what am I doing today that can actually make a difference in my own life?

What could change things? I'll tell you the one thing that occurs to me is traffic, is navigating in traffic. I tell myself often, and I tell it to my wife, Emily, hey, the one thing you do today that could change your life substantially is being on the road, is getting behind the wheel, or walking down the street. you know what I mean. Sure. So anyway, be careful how you walk down the street and how you're behind a car, you know.

Yeah. So those are the moments you should be particularly careful like that. Besides that, you know, who knows? We engage in things that have long-term, possible, that bear long-term fruits, talking to having exchange with your kids, going to the gym. Nothing is going to, you know, transform things in a day, et cetera, et cetera. But with all that said, though, Jeff, what is it like to be back here? Now, in this movie, something that was a long time ago, doesn't feel like it.

What's it like to be sitting here back in the world of Jurassic? Privileged. I feel lucky. I don't take it for granted. It certainly wouldn't have been predictable or expected 30 years ago. Hey, but I don't know, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Like I have said here and there, when I was a kid, I was hot. about the idea of being an actor.

And I knew it was a long shot to ever get to do it. So, and I'm still aware of that, the fact that I've gotten chances to keep doing it kind of uncommonly, continually over now a longish period of time, is I feel privileged and appreciative of it, and to be in a movie that if nothing else, kind of gets people's attention, entertains them, and means something to them here and there. You know, it's awful fun and to work with creative people. Now, that's the thing that I really did focus myself on. I was hot to not only be an actor, but to have this creative adventure.

And I had a good teacher, Sandy Meisner, who said, you know, here's a worthwhile way to spend your life. You know, and you can keep getting better at it forever. And so that's been important to me. You know, early on, that's been transformational and life-changing. And now I'm appreciative as much for that as anything else. And I'm working with interesting, great people. We mentioned Laura Dore and Sam Neal, but Duant Wise and Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt and all those people, and Colin Travaro, Stephen Spielberg, all those years ago.

The whole bunch of people all along this journey have been a thrill to work with. I know that possibly sounds politic, but it's true. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Jeff Goldblum right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Jeff Goldblum. So we were discussing Jurassic Park. I think it's been a while. Jurassic Park and all the Jurassic, this is the sixth of the installment.

It is. And to be back with Laura, to be back with Sam, back with that team. Yes. And conjuring such nostalgia for. those of us who loved the first one, seeing the three of you together. What was it like to walk on set with them? Fantastic.

Fantastic. Great. You know, I'd been prepared in my mind for some months and been working on it. And then we contacted each other over the phone. You know, how's this going to go and what can we do? But yes, but then I saw them. We all, you know, we were the first production out in the bubble.

Yeah. Caused by COVID and Alexandra Derbyshire, I should mention. Her cohort Pat Crowley invented these protocols, you know, but still keep us safe on all these things. So we were able to, and it was there were no vaccines then. It was, you know. But anyway, we did it. So we all bubbled ourselves up at this hotel is the fascinating thing I was going to tell you. Oh, oh, Lauren Sam.

So I pulled up with Emily and the two kids, because they spent the whole three months with us there. and Sam and Laura had found out when I was arriving and were there stationed on some little balcony and gave me a very sweet and crazy, you know, hello. And then we embraced it. It was great. And then the first day on the set, Laura tells this story. By the way, she says hello. Oh, I love Laura.

Yeah, she loves you. She said, we were there. We did a scene. You've seen the movie. I don't want to give anything away where we're all in a Jeep. The three of us. We were packed in this Jeep. In fact, for one shot of that, my kids were there. There was a rig that allowed us to go all the way around. We were harnessed up.

In any case, the three of us were there kind of improvising and doing things, and we showed up, and she said that Colin Travaro, our wonderful director, took a picture, and she saw the crew, and they were all kind of interested and a little bit, you know, emotional and like that and made her emotional. And Colin sent that picture to the great Mr. Steven Spielberg, who said back to him and he related to us that he was emotional, you know. So it was emotional. What I remember from it was very sweet being with them. They're great.

They're great actors, as you know. And great people. Great people. They changed my life, really. They're great. They're fantastic. But what I remember is that it was a very focused kind of playtime, you know, work time to kind of get it right.

Our first scene, and, you know, I was going, what can we do? And Colin to add on, how about this? And how about that? And, you know, like that. So we went to work. You went to work and you went to work well. And you stepped back into a story for people who are getting ready to go see this, where we now find the dinosaurs, I won't give too much away,

but we're having to coexist and to live in the same spaces as dinosaurs. So what else should somebody who's going to go out and watch this know, about where we find ourselves in Jurassic world? You know, they don't have to be too overly prepared. It's 44 years since the last story, kind of in real time. And, yes, dinosaurs are all over the world, so it's kind of an epic, in scope, little story that takes us all over the place.

And the three of us don't have just little tidbits. You know, we're not just a garnish on a sweet platter. But, you know, we have nice little parts, So we're all over it, if that interest anybody. And what else? It's a movie that you want to see in the movie theater because it's big and loud. We're going to take our kids, as a matter of fact, for the first time to see a movie in a movie theater this coming Sunday. Oh, their first ever movie will be Dad's movie.

Yes. That's cool. I've never seen it. I mean, yeah. Now, what do you do? You just walk up and buy a ticket at your local movie house? We, as one can do these days, we prepaid our tickets. So we've got the row and everything.

for this sense. You know, that's going to be a thing when Jeff Goldblum walks into the theater and there he is up on the screen, not just for your kids, but for everyone in there. Let's see, we'll see. We'll see how much of a thing it is,

but I'll try to give a little profile. Do the boys have a sense? Obviously, they know what you do for a living, but what exactly it looks like when dad works? Yeah, they've been on the set and sort of, I don't think they know that it's, I don't know what they know. Who knows how their brains are working,

and they seem to be in Wonderland of some kind, as you know. But, yeah, I get, yes, yes, I tell them, I pretend, and we play movie, you know, and I say action, and then they direct me, and we play that movie game, and, but they've seen me in things. They saw the Jurassic Park movies on TV, you know, and we try to keep them off screens for the most part. Good. That's hard. Don't you think so? It's going to be harder a little later.

Already they know what to do to do things for schoolwork and stuff, but they're not, and they've gotten hold of it. We try to stay off our things around them, but they get a hold of them. And they go, what's your code? What's your code? We know Mama's code. I won't tell them my code. So anyway, they see trailers to horror movies and things. I go, wait a minute, wait a minute.

That's the thing that you get on YouTube and you watch one thing that looks innocuous. But then the next thing, and then the next thing, and they go down these rabbit holes. We've prevented them from social media so far. 13 and 15. We're holding on for deer like. smart and how do you as far as we know I'm sure they have secret accounts that we're going to wear up but we think we're being good

really it's tough it's tough I can I can imagine you got a fifth almost 15 year old daughter you want her to be safe in all the ways you can keep her safe and that's one of just keeping her off places like Instagram but we'll see how long it lasts even Instagram she can't she can't go on

no she's got Snapchat which is how they talk to each other I see that's what I from what I understand I'm not we're doing our best it's hard it's very hard because That's the world they all live in. It's where they congregate and talk to each other. Right. Yeah, and all the dangers and, you know, potential benefits, I suppose.

Yeah. But I just saw an elongated podcast amongst some experts who was talking about the impact of social media, since many people are talking about it, you know, over the last couple decades, but where we're at and what real impact it'll have over the next 10 or 20 or 100 years with the species, you know, like the printing press, that was a kind of a landmark in some ways. Anyway, we could talk about that. But, yeah, anyway, so we keep them off screens.

So they're going to see this movie, and yeah, hopefully they'll get a kick out of it. Have you seen the movie? Have you said, and I've watched it yet? I've seen it twice. They showed it to the cast and a few couple of friends some month or two ago. I was very, you know, interested.

What did they keep in, what they keep out? Oh, I'm okay. I think that was okay. etc, et cetera, et cetera. Hey, that's really good. And then I saw it one other time, a second time in London with the crew. It was basically an all British crew mostly. And they were, it was sweet to be around them and show it to them and all our work. You know, they kind of, you know, put a big investment in doing it during that period, too. They had to be bubbled up. They couldn't go out, see anybody, all that stuff. And so that was a very sweet experience. And I saw it with a bit of a crowd

and I had a great experience. I'm not just selling it, but I was kind of very with it. And on the edge of my seat, and there are a lot of jumps in it, the dinosaurs, made me jump a bunch of times, you know, which is sort of enjoyable. And then, and the characters by that time,

and now we've been immersed in spending time with each other doing this publicity. So I was very kind of talking about it. So I was very kind of immersed in the characters. And the dinosaurs and I was even kind of choked. up and kind of I was really with it you know so I loved it this will be the third time the third I think this time with the kids with a real real audience yeah that hopefully this weekend it'll be you know full and enthusiastic I think will be I hope a uh an exciting experience I agree

with you see it in the theater yeah that's the way to right experience it and I think feel the rumble of the dinosaurs running and all that stuff yes well you've been in some movies now we're not talking about me okay but wait a minute and have you Besides all this, which is a kind of acting, I suppose, but you've also acted or ever wanted to act? Well, I was, wow, we're going deep here. Just for a brief, but bear with us, because I'm sure they're interested in you. In fifth grade, Summerstock, Ridgewood, New Jersey. My mother put, I was playing sports almost exclusively. She said, we have to broaden ourselves out a range of interest today.

Because you were a jock. Go do the theater, yes. Very interesting. So, very good, because you were, the captain of your Oh, my gosh. You've been all over Wikipedia. It's fantastic. And look at you still. Now, so she said we've got to make you, maybe there's an arty side too. So do a little. And I really did enjoy it. So the production that summer was Annie. I was nine or ten. And as you may know, Miss Hannigan's orphanage was all girls. But they made an exception and allowed one boy in Miss Hannigan's orphanage. So there I was scrubbing the floors with all the little girls. It's a hard not quite for us. That was me. I'm really diced. I'm really nice. I'm really nice. I'm a lot. I'm. here. That was my first. And I just, I know you've talked about this too, the, what was happening backstage and the smell of the

paint and all the, the collaborative feeling of. And I thought, well, boy, this is fun. So then I kept going and I did Fanny and Fiddler and all the Fannie. Sound of music. Wait a minute. Fiddler. Who'd you play in Fiddler on the roof? I was a

supporting player. I was sort of dancing in the back and doing the kicks and everything. Fantastic. Yes. And then you said, And sound of music. I was Friedrich, one of the sons. So long, farewell. Aveda saying, I do. Do you and you and you, do it.

You try to hit that note when you're 12, and the voice is going up and all that. What else? But you sing nowadays, too. No, I don't. And don't try. I know you did that with Conan. You're not going to get that with me again.

Please sing. So, yes, there was some theater, but it ended, perhaps I should have stayed with it. But I enjoyed it. I really did enjoy it. Really? And I thought it taught me something about presents at a young age. Yes, you have stayed with it.

It's a kind of a mix of everything that you are maybe. Yes. So is that interesting? Okay, well, interesting. Do you, when you're growing up in West Homestead, yeah, yeah. Have you ever been around Pittsburgh at all? Pittsburgh, yes.

I don't think I've been to West Homestead. It's a little hamlet there. Yes, in the suburbs. It seems to me reading everything I have read about you, you knew so young that you wanted to be an actor in a place that wasn't known for, cranking out actors. You were writing in the fog of the mirror. I was let me be an actor. I was obsessed by it. But that was like in ninth, tenth,

tenth grade when I took these couple of Carnegie Mellon six-week summer courses in acting. And then I was, you know, where did that come from, that obsession? Well, good question. It was around 10. And I heard recently, somebody was talking and they said, oh, it happened to me around 10. Around 10, maybe. What happened to you? it occurred to me. I sort of have a vague memory that I got a shocking realization, hey, I've got to pick. There's life outside mommy and daddy, my mom and dad. I've got to be on my own, and I've got to figure it out and kind of do something like that. I think around 10 that happened. And it was that, you know, my dad had said if you find something you love doing, that might be a vocational guide, guide post. And And then I was in this camp that I loved that was different than the kids that I went to school with. And I loved it and came alive there.

And there was a drama course there. And I jumped on stage. And afterwards they said, well, how'd you like that? They were there. My parents were there. And I went, yeah, I like that. But I kind of kept a secret to myself that I wanted to do it. Wow.

Yeah. It's thrilling, right? It's a collaborative thing. People clap for you after you do it. Yeah, clapping is okay. But yes, it was, I remember people laughed. during this thing. I played this part. And, yeah, it was thrilling. It was, I'll tell you, I was backstage. I remember being backstage in this chapel theater. It was a kind of nice, nice,

nicey theater. And they were winging, you know, it was a proper theater and backstage. And I had rehearsed, my mom had helped me rehearse this song and, but da-da-da, this whole part. I was kind of the lead in it. But I still, I was backstage and I remember, I think even now, thinking myself, I had, I'm not prepared to do this. There's nothing, I mean, I worked on a little bit. I don't know what I'm going to do. How do I know what to do? And I had to actually leap on stage.

Like, ah, and I took that leap, and I guess it was even spiritual and psychological and metaphorical out of nothing that allowed me to have this thing and experience. And that still kind of means something to me now, this sort of leap out of nothing that for any moment of life is the way to go. I still am kind of thrilled and romantic about it. And you took a massive leap coming here to New York as a kid. You were still a kid, 17 years old.

How did that conversation go with your parents? I'm leaving home, going to New York on my own, and I'm 17. Well, okay, actually, my dad was a doctor. Yeah. And I had applied to Carnegie Mellon University. who said, hey, he was good in the summer sessions. He should apply to the regular school. I did a bad audition, I think.

I was not prepared. I don't think I could have done any better. I made bad choices in the material. I didn't know myself in any way. I was not right for the things I did. I'll tell you another time what they were anyway. They turned me down, and I hadn't applied any place else. You might be going through this in a few years, you know,

with them moving out of the house and applying to them and seeing what they're going to do. In any case, I kind of scrambled around, and my dad thought, oh, yeah, go to college, even though you're going to major in this. Because a college, that's what's, you know, an academic foundation is how I kind of made it out of poverty, you know, and it's a good way to start. And then I wound up at the neighborhood playhouse. He said, what, it's a two-year thing, and it's just acting, and da-da-da. But in fact, my mom helped me get in a part. went near, not far from here, so I could walk to the neighborhood playhouse. In fact, both my dad and mom, but my dad had toyed, flirted with the idea of being an actor themselves.

And they were kind of enthralled with theater, and they would drive to New York, come back with the cast album, a fiddler on the roof, or whatever else, other things. And so were they thrilled. And, but they didn't wind up being actors. So I think they were a little titillated by the idea that I might be an actor. And my dad, I told you he said, find something you love to do. I remember in ninth grade in the summer when I came home kind of all jazzed up and talking about what I'd learned, whether we were taking a mime course, believe it or not.

And I was thrilled about a lot of things. And he said to my mom in front of me, look at that. The kid is stimulated. And I remember the way he said it. I thought, oh, that's important to him. And yes, I get, you know, it was important to me. It became important to me. So anyway, he was okay, and they were okay with it and supported it.

And then before long, I started to get jobs and, you know, make a living at it. And there you go. That turns out to be a gift because if they could have said, no, you must go to college, you must do this the way we did it. But they allowed you to do the thing you wanted to do, and here you are. You're absolutely right. And thank you to Shirley and Harold. And they did well, they did well, didn't they? Yeah.

Yeah, from the start of now I'm seeing raising kids myself and now placing in perspective what they did, you know, in another way, you must experience that. I see now that our, you know, we were guided early on in this sort of approach to honor and respect them as kind of seedling, but whole individuals and who have opinions and curiosities and interests. and you just have to kind of, you know, keep them safe and then, you know, expose them, you know, see if you can allow them to develop their interests. So you're here, you start finding jobs. You were great as Freak Number One in Death Wish, your first movie. Yes. Yes.

Annie Hall, then the Big Chill. Which movie felt to you like, this is my break? Well, that's like the same question as before. You know, I'll tell you, in retrospect, I say, suppose we can say, well, it was good professionally. That was kind of a break. You know, whatever it was, you know, between the lines, I think, Nashville. I was lucky to be in Nashville. Paul Mazzarski movie, next up, Branch Village. 78, it takes us to Phil Kaufman, invasion of the body snatchers. That was a good thing to do. But nothing felt like the day after or, hey, I got my

break or, and I wasn't focused. I wasn't, that's not my sensibility. I wasn't going, I need a break. I need to break into, you know, get a break. I was continuing to learn happy that, gee, I hope nobody finds out that I'm not an actor yet, because Sandy Meisner, the other side of the coin of this nice idea he had, is, I'm not really an actor yet. I'm just practicing and trying to become an actor. So I was happy to, and I think it was lucky, that I got little chances to kind of see what I could do. So it was like that. But as we look at it now, yes, all those things kind of led to each other and then the big chill and the 83 and da-da-da-da

I did 10-speed brown shoe. Last time I saw Ben Vreen was in this room, believe it or not, where we were playing here. Yeah, yeah. He came, very wonderful guy. And, you know, and then, da-da-da-da-da-da. And then that's 83. Oh, the fly. Oh, the fly happens in 86, 87. Is the fly the one, though, where now I know

who Jeff Goldblum is, for sure. Me or his name? No, other people. Other people? No. Yeah, he's a... I hope you knew it before then. He's a... I know what Jeff Goldblum is. He's a Monster of sort is a half, a heart, barely human. Yes. But the success of that movie obviously impacted the way people saw you. Yes, I think so. And, you know, professionally. But still, the main thing for me is that it was a creative landmark and working with David Cronberg,

terrific. And on that material, gee, I had a juicy and growth-producing time of it. And then, yeah, yes, it was nice for me, wasn't it? it maybe had led to other things. But even now, I don't know that I could connect the dots and say, that led absolutely to that. If it hadn't been for that, I would, I don't know. It's tough, tough to measure. How about you?

It must be the same thing a little bit. Yeah, I mean, there's, I've rarely spoken to an actor or actress who has said, yes, I calculated my career this way, and then I'm going to do this, and then it ended up the way exactly as I planned. You just sort of take good things as they come along, try to, do a good job. Maybe somebody notices you and it leads, we're just hopping around on these lily pads, aren't we? Kind of like that. And you hope to develop at the same time. And yes, that's right. And that's kind of like life, no matter what you're doing, I suppose. Right? Yeah.

No, I think so. You know. And if you could, you wouldn't want to have it any other way. I think that's the talented viewpoint. If I could really write it before and order my life, my days, my career to be what I figure out? No. That's no good. So after the fly, about seven years later, comes the first Jurassic Park movie. That's right.

That's right. Well, you've got, there's obviously some work in between there, but this is a next step. I mean, I know you downplay how it changed your life and all those things, and that's fair, and you don't think about the commercial success of it, but it was a big deal. It was a big deal.

Oh, yeah. The Jurassic Park, you know, there are a lot of good actors who have good, careers who never get, if they care about it, are in things that are popular. Yeah. This is popular and kind of notable like that. There are other ways, you know, anyway. Yeah.

So that doesn't know, it's a great, it's a very lucky thing. And like I said, well, we've already talked about it, Steven Spielberg, and the people with whom you work and doing this stuff. But yes, people coming up to how the fans feel about it is nice. And that's a big deal. That's a sweet thing. And, yeah. It's a nice thing for an actor for me to have gotten to do.

That's true. Are you aware of the endurance of your line life finds a way? You still hear it? I like it. Yes, yes. Yeah. You know, people I see on, you know, people use that as, you know, the caption to a little, you know, flower coming out of two improbable cracks of stone.

of concrete or getting pregnant or, you know, life finds a way. It's a little bit of a good resonant phrase. So, yeah, that's nice that I got a chance to utter that. Isn't it funny to think you delivered it the way you thought it would sound right 30 years ago, and here you're still seeing it on posts online and people saying it as they go about their lives? Yes, you know, it'll be forgotten soon enough and all this, all our activities here will be fleeting and we'll turn to dust. Now we're getting real deep. Eventually. Well, We know that. It's not a secret. But for now, fleetingly, it's sweet that, you know, it's not entirely disposable and that 30 years as quick as that really is on the cosmic calendar, it's nice and

interesting and crazy that, yeah, things pop up and, you know, you see things. That's cute. People watch you from the outside, and I get to see you up close in a way most people don't. And it feels like you move through life with joy, absent of cynicism. You just sort of appreciate all the things that come through your life. Is that how it really is? Is the Jeff Goldblum we believe to exist, the one who is? Well, I'm not pretending in any way. You know, I try to be authentic, even in my presentation here.

So, yes. So, yes. I mean, I have moments and all different people. parts of me that can, you know, get, you know, chew on some miserable bone, you know, that's fun to chew on for a second. But no, I, you know, I'm still a humble student. And however it happened, I'm lucky my life with these kids and Emily, it seems to be full of vitamin A and possibility. But I still, yes, like to, I'm a student of and was listening today to some wisdom of one kind or another about how to be creative and live creatively and how to live

optimally. Is that the word? Sure. I want. You know, and that's a good question. And I'm still engaged in it and trying to do today better than I did yesterday with leaping into life and and and and and appreciating it being grateful for it and seeing, what I can give to it, and what's here, you know, which will be gone soon enough to appreciate. I think what's special about you as well is your curiosity and your presence. The fact that you know I did Summerstock in fifth grade is kind of stunning, actually. But it's true. I didn't know that. I'm glad we had this talk.

But you said I had acted and written books and all the rest. But I mean, you do seem to whoever you're with, you're in that moment. Or wherever you are, you're in that moment. that space. That's the, I aspire to that. And, you know, my life studies, uh, it's overlapped with my acting technology. Sandy Meisner was a good teacher. And like all other good teachers, too, he had a particular, um, particularly effective, an interesting way of teaching how to be in the moment. That's what actors talk about. That's the cliche. But, but you, that's what you got to do. Because you're, you're pretending. So like life, you have to infuse it with a little bit

acceptance of the and receptiveness to spontaneity and then creating the illusion of spontaneity. So you've got to be entirely available to hear the other person's line, which you may know in part of yourself what it's going to be, but you've got to be particularly available and engaged in, besides the line, the deeply interesting, mysterious, infinitely fascinating that is the other human mechanism that is that person over there. Likewise with your wife or somebody

even with whom you think you've been together a long time and no. No, I think you got to, I don't, there's something today and right now that I could find out about them, that I don't know, and experience them, especially once I get a fixed idea

of who they are. Or if you've been in a play or know the script too well, I got an idea of who this is. No, no, no, no, you have to be open to really live optimally under imaginary circumstances or in life. You've got to be interested and available, perhaps, to some new, interesting, infinitely, because you're part of the cosmic, the big bang is in you. And I don't know everything about you, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And then you got to pretend moment to moment. That's the acting part of it. But, yeah, that's a little, riff on me and these studies. You know about this. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree with you. I think there's

infinite knowledge out there for us to grab onto and know and learn about so you can't ever just sit back and not pursue it or at least be curious about it. You're wasting your time. Don't waste your time. If we were in that play, Our Town, maybe you did it. You'd be right in that. I didn't do Our Town, but that's a good one. You would have been right for that. You're a handsome boy next door type. I would like to have seen you and bye-bye, Bartham. party is. Oh, one boy, one special boy, one boy to joke with, to have coke with you. Yes. And all the ladies fainting, as I sang, yes. Good, but I like you as the only boy in the school. Scrubing the floor. That's really good. But what were you say, the fascinating thing that we were saying...

To have curiosity, there's infinite knowledge in the world. Oh, yeah, our town, no. She comes back after she's dead, as we all will be, and goes, look, I didn't approve... Look, look, there's the last time I saw, I didn't realize that it was the last time I was going to see my grandfather. Yes. Why didn't I take it in more? Why didn't I? This is the last time I was going to taste peach pie. Isn't that good? There's something about here on earth. You know, we live on a special that we can easily take for granted. We live as part of this movie, the Jurassic series. This earth is pretty magnificent. And the other creatures with whom we share it are,

forget dinosaurs, are various and magnificent. and deserve equal safety and liberty as we have. And our wonderful coexistence. There's opportunity in that, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So, yeah, that's the way we've got to be. I could talk about this all day with you. They're going to throw us out of here eventually, though. Before I ask you to play a tune on the piano, if you don't mind.

Oh, sure. The reason we've had to see so much more of you lately is because of your reality show. A successful two seasons was Jeff Goldblum. How much fun do you have with that? I did have fun. You know, I did have fun with that. Disney Plus, you could go see the 22 episodes. The World Corridger and Jeff Goldblum.

Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, it was fun. I got a chance to talk to people like this. And then amongst the wheat and the chaff, they nicely, you know, like hopefully you will do, too. They cut out the stupid parts and make me look as good as possible. We all count on that, by the way. It takes a good producer. You don't need it.

You're ready, Judge. You're ready for the live show. So, you know, so I had a good time. Yeah, yeah. They were very good, and we made nice little documentaries. Do you keep doing it? Do another season of it? Or we don't know yet? We don't know yet. I don't know what we're going to do. There could be more. But I had a nice, you know, belly full of satisfying portion of it. 22 episodes. Can you imagine? We went all over it. You know, it keeps you. It keeps you busy. I know you've got an extraordinary constitution. But, you know, it's an investment. So how does music fit into your life then? You've played this room. by the way, many times?

Not many times. No, for one week. You were a week. We played for one week. Okay. It was a special week. It was a fun. And like acting, your love of jazz and your love of music goes all the way back to your childhood, doesn't it?

Yeah, around 10 or so. I forget. We had, there were four of us kids. Our parents gave us lessons. My brother played the clarinet. I played the piano. It was bad for the first couple of years. Didn't want to practice.

You know, didn't know what discipline was like then, doing your homework, you know. And then he gave me a jazzy piece, and I was like, I like this. Something about me that just kind of responded to syncopation and something like that. So I practiced and learned how to play that. And then around that time, I had my heart set on acting as a career. But I got it into my head to, because I didn't have summer jobs or anything like that, to get the telephone, the yellow pages and look at cocktail lounges around Pittsburgh. I was 15 and go and call up, cold call them, and say, you know, I hear you're looking for a piano.

player. No, you've been misinformed me. There's no piano here. Well, yes, we have a piano, but who's this? How old do you? Well, come on down. Maybe, sure, play and see what you can do. I got a couple of jobs that way. My parents drove me. Anyway, I started to do that, and in the same vein, I kind of kept a piano with me. I did Broadway musical or two and was down in the pit playing with the musicians. I just loved it, loved musicians, and put it in a movie or two. There's my character in the fly plays for a second. And then about 30 years ago, somebody said, it was Peter Weller, in fact, who said,

come on, let's play out and about and have a little band. And a core band, kind of, I've kept it up whenever I'm not working. We made a couple albums and this and that, and, you know, we wound up playing. So it's a part of my life, and, which is very fun, unexpected, non-careerist, oriented. But my daily life includes, before the kids get up, usually always, I work out in the gym and do my little workload of piano, which oftentimes feels like I'm playing better than I ever have played before. I feel like I'm getting better. I play with these good guys anyway. That changes my day, changes my life. Music is a tonic, as you know, and it's great. Thank you to Shirley once again and Harold for giving me piano lessons. All kinds of gifts from your parents. That's correct. Truly. Yeah, that's correct. Stick around for more of my conversation with Jeff. Goldblum right after a quick break.

Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Jeff Goldblum as we move over to the piano at the famed Cafe Carlis as Jeff tickles the Ivories as he's done before in that room with his jazz ensemble. What is it like Jeff to play a room like this at the Carlisle? Sweet. You know, recently we played the Disney Concert Hall, believe it or not, 2,000 seat thing. And we did that in Houston and Washington, which is very nice. But it's particularly delightful to play a nice room like this.

And this particular room with this history and lovely ambiance. And it's great. Have you been here a lot to see people? Not a lot, but a few times I have. It's the intimacy. I mean, this is people can't see at home. But it is a tight room. It's a little room.

And I like to talk to people. And, you know, so it's nice. What do you get from playing music, Jeff, that you don't get from all the other interests. in your life? Well, well, you know, it's overlapping. It's all overlapping. Life itself is musical, and at its best, it's kind of musical,

you know, and vibrational, you know, even, and pulse-driven, and, you know, breathing in and out. And of course, it's like we talked about, a conversation and a collaboration and a connection to yourself and musically, there are parts of yourself that can only be accessed through it, through music, I think. And then you reach other people uniquely through music. And like I say, a conversation when you're playing with jazz guys particularly for me, they do something unexpected. And it makes you, if you're listening and connected

to it, makes you do something in response to it, etc. And that's overlapping in acting as we talked about and in life. But what does it give me that I don't get otherwise? Well, I have no, I've told you I'm kind of non-careerist as I like to say

about acting. But I still, you know, want to put my best foot forward and it's still my livelihood. This, I kind of is just for fun. I really don't have to try too hard to just have fun without concern for just for its own sake.

And that kind of bleeds over, actually, has bled over into my life and other activities, where I'm going, you know, there's no place to get. This is not going to get me anything. It really is just fun for its own sake or a chance to rejoice for its own sake. Anyway, music does that for me. It sounds like it's a bit meditative for you as well.

We could call it meditative. Well, if we're talking in the, you know, what we're talking about allows all of life to be meditative in the way that I think you mean, which is a chance to be present and deepen your understanding and engagement with whatever is around. But yeah, when I play music in the morning, it changes my, yes, molecules. That's right. And it is a tonic. It is kind of, you know, a sweet, pleasant thing. What will you sit down and play in the morning? Let's say you just had your personal time in front of the piano.

I'm not going to bore you with that. But I run through, I don't need any music now for it. I run through my whole thing. I start with these days. I run through that song. And then about 40 other songs, some of which I sing along. with and then I finally get to our second, the bulk of what we did on the last album, because I know that if and when we have another date at the Pendry Hotel, as a matter of fact,

you go out there as a Pendry Hotel, you're all invited to come there. When we go there, we'll play stuff essentially from the last album. So I kind of keep refreshing that and investigating it more deeply is the idea. How cool. Thank you, Jeff. You're a great, great. What a pleasure. My pleasure in time.

Our League. So much fun. My big thanks again to Jeff for a great conversation and just a great time. If you haven't seen it yet, you can catch Jurassic World Dominion in theaters now. And my thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of these conversations with my guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC.

I'm Willie Geist. We will see you right back here next week on the Sunday. Sunday Sit Down podcast.