An Engaging Enigma

Even without his Tyrannosaurus rex co-stars from “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (which opens tonight with sneak screenings starting at 10), Jeff Goldblum can bring plenty of drama to a simple conversation. His eyes can fix on a point somewhere above your shoulder, as if he’s spotting a prehistoric intruder; his voice drops to a near-inaudible whisper before sailing up to a top-register giggly squeal.

Words tumble out in praise of his co-stars and many passions, sprinkled with Goldblum’s trademark pauses. Language truly slows down when the subject of his on-off relationship with Laura Dern is broached. But even then, Goldblum, 46, remains the engaging paradox viewers expect from “Jurassic” and “Independence Day”: a lanky, almost alien life form with a very human sense of the absurd.

Question: First question. Do we get to the dinosaurs any sooner this time?

*

Answer: [laughs] We do. [Screenwriter] David Koepp tells a story about a fan letter he got from a kid--”Nice movie, Mr. Koepp, but please, this time, skip the boring part, get to the dinosaurs quicker!” And David kept that letter on his desk as he was writing. I think the characters are plenty interesting . . . [pause] with dramatically conflicting agendas . . . but there are more dinosaurs. A mixture of wondrous and highly dangerous dinosaurs. And more dinosaur-people encounters and, as we know, the people . . . don’t . . . do well.

I think this one might be a little darker in tone. Janusz Kaminsky [“Schindler’s List”] shot it. . . . Musically there’s not gonna be [sings to the tune of John Williams’ stately “Jurassic Park” theme] “Ohhh boy, look at this. . . .” This time there’s no park, no electrified fences, no sense of order.

Q: After the real hurricane that hit the set the last time, you said you experienced “an unstoppable natural occurrence of power and primal magic.”

A: Did I say that? Wow!

Q: Anything like that when you went back to Hawaii for “Lost World”?

A: This time I was the designated cast member who took part in this Hawaiian ritual, blessing the set, that I didn’t know about. . . . [Steven Spielberg’s] done it every time he’s been over there, to bring in the good spirits. There was a native Hawaiian couple dressed, er, very native . . . , wearing some plant life. We were shooting near some old Hawaiian burial grounds. They gave me a bowl of water to symbolize . . . something. . . . They did some singing and we did some sprinkling.

Q: And last time this happened, you got a hurricane.

A: This time, there was some bad weather that stopped us from doing a scene . . . right . . . where . . . we did this blessing, in fact! [laughs] But we made some changes in the scene, and I think it came out better. So maybe the problems were the blessing.

Q: I heard David Koepp did some of the directing in L.A. for a couple of days while Spielberg watched on a monitor from his home in New York.

A: Steven’s a devoted family man. . . . He has . . . what, seven children and a wife, and he had to be in New York. So he had a hookup. . . . We had him on a TV screen. . . . There’d be a little camera pointed at us so he could see us. And I think he had playback so he could see the shot being set up.

Q: Wasn’t that a bit strange?

A: It’s strange! Heh heh heh. . . . But it was fine. He has a collection of old toys, and for this camera pointed on him, he would set up little shots. . . . He’d do creative things with the camera and a toy car. His son has Legos, and Steven started to build something with them. He was just lost in this while we were waiting, not needing him. I was so impressed.

He doesn’t see dailies. He says, “Oh no, I’ll come the first day, for celebratory purposes. But I know what I have.” He storyboards, then leaves a whole element for the invention of the day. [Some days] we haven’t rehearsed, we haven’t read it through. . . . He’ll say, “Let’s start rolling film on it.” I felt more par-ti-ci-pa-tory, thanks to him.

Q: You’ve said your father was an influence on the character of Ian Malcolm. . . .

A: He was a doctor, an internist, so he was scientifically oriented.

Q: And he’d sometimes draw intestines on napkins?

A: Yeah! All the time. Whatever the question, we’d always seem to be answered with another demonstration of the intestines! “Here’s the stomach, of course. . . . Here’s the small intestine.”

Q: Even though you’re a man of science and technology on the screen, you’re not actually a computer person. Do you own one?

A: Well, I have one. . . . I’ve been given. . . . [whispers] It’s in a box! [laughs] It’s laziness, it’s my nature. . . . Am I missing out on anything?

Q: Well, for starters, the Web sites devoted to you. I recently found the “Shrine to Jeff Goldblum” or “Jeff Goldblum, my reason for living,” which begins, “I love Jeff Goldblum more than life itself.”

A: Jesus God. . . .

Q: “I can’t get through a day without watching him in a movie.” How does that make you feel?

A: [beat] Fabulous! It’s . . . it’s flattering, of course. I pray for all of us to have . . . have balance in our lives. [removes jacket] It’s making me hot. . . . [laughs]

Q: But you seem pretty comfortable with fame. I’ve heard you actually wave to tour buses when you’re driving.

A: On occasion. If I’m feeling giddy, I can . . . make myself known to them. I might wave. And it’s fun for people going . . . [looks down, bored] “All right, where’s Van Johnson’s house?” [looks up, amazed] “Hey! Look, look, look!” And for the driver it’s good, because he’s, y’know, “Yeah, you’re gonna see some things, gimme the money.” [sudden, sleazy grin and bullhorn voice] “And look over here on the left, we have Jeff Goldblum! Hello Jeff!” Like he knows me. It’s the least I can do.

Q: It’s also been a month of Laura Dern sightings, from “Ellen” to her several public appearances with Billy Bob Thornton. Care to set any part of the record straight?

A: [beat] No. Ha ha! No. I’m . . . fine. . . . I’d rather be. . . . You know. It’s not for me to contribute to. . . . I’m the biggest Laura Dern fan in the world. She’s just a wonderful actress and person.

Q: You once said “Marriage is like a shuttle mission. There are 100 ways to make it go wrong.” A year after saying that, do you feel any closer to the idea of marriage?

A: Ha ha. . . . Right now. . . . [long intake of breath] In principle . . . there’s nothing wrong. I love all the outlets one has for, um, for loving another person. I’m not sure what form my nature wants to invent for itself right now. But I love . . . people. Relationships are worthwhile, as any 100 shuttle missions are. And as challenging.

Q: Recently, one magazine called you a “latter-day King Midas,” pointing out that your last six films averaged 126 million dollars.

A: Yippee!

Q: They also said you should be earning $14.6 million as a result.

A: [grins] There’s still . . . there’s still a gap. But I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. People go up to me and say, “My 5-year-old has to watch ‘Jurassic Park’ every night. I’ve seen it 100 times.”

Q: It’s a long way from your first movie role in “Death Wish.” [Goldblum appeared in 1974 as Freak Number One, who rapes Charles Bronson’s wife and daughter.]

A: Yep yep yep.

Q: I heard for that audition you had to mime a rape scene?

A: Yeah. Nothing like [imitates wide-eyed mime at a window]. Three by three they had bad-lookin’ characters present themselves to [director] Michael Winner. He said [in a florid British accent], “Imagine that the women are the-uhre, where the chair is, they are the chair. Rrrrape her! Rrrrough her up!” So we did some raping . . . and that was the audition.

Q: You molested a chair.

A: Mm-hmm. I did. It’s like the dinosaurs; they weren’t there.

Q: Finally, tell me about the night you played keyboards at an Aerosmith concert.

A: The story starts when I hosted “Saturday Night Live.” They were guests, and when they were rehearsing I played with them. Later, when I was doing “Nine Months,” Tom Arnold says to me, “Hey, my girlfriend and I have a helicopter. Let’s go fly to see Aerosmith.” So we go to the concert, we say hello before the concert. . . . Steven Tyler says to me, “Why don’t you stay on the side of the stage?” So we do. We’re watching this outdoor concert, with 40,000 people.

Toward the end they’re playing “Sweet Emotion”--I’d practiced that with them--and Steven Tyler turns and says, “Jeff, when are you gonna come up on stage with us!?” So I ran out on stage. . . . The piano player quickly taught me something . . . and I played in front of 40,000 people.

Q: And how’d that feel?

A: Fffffabulous!

Steven Smith is a frequent contributor to Calendar.