Jeff Goldblum talks Jurassic World, #MeToo and why he would still work with Woody Allen The idiosyncratic actor’s new jazz album features vocals from Miley Cyrus, Anna Calvi and Sharon Van Etten

Early risers at London’s Corinthia Hotel could be excused for executing a double take at the fastidiously-attired gentleman tinkling the ivories in the lobby over breakfast. Yes, that really is Jeff Goldblum, the mythically charismatic, meme-generating star of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters – and now touring jazz musician – keeping his hand in on the hotel piano.

“There weren’t too many people in the lobby, I didn’t disturb anybody,” insists the actor, famed for his charm and impeccable manners in a business where ogres are too often rewarded. “They let me play on the electric keyboard in the hotel bar too. I don’t mind taking requests, it’s fun to play for people and fool around.”

Goldblum, 67, is enjoying an unlikely second act as leader of his own jazz troupe, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Their second album, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This, features guest vocals from Miley Cyrus, Sharon Van Etten, Fiona Apple and Anna Calvi, all of whom responded to a personal appeal from Goldblum to place their imprimatur on a swing standard.

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Perhaps the sartorial elegance of the lobby player might have alerted guests that they were in the presence of Goldblum. He provides a tour or his early-morning outfit. “This is a Saint Laurent signature musical note skinny tie, the shoes are Saint Laurent Chelsea boots, this shirt is Prada and my jacket is Acne Studios, it’s stretchy so I can play piano.”

“I have a stylist for this trip which is a luxurious necessity,” the Los Angeles-based performer adds. “That’s either embarrassing or exciting for me. A fella in my line of work needs to show up and feel confident about presenting myself and not frighten little children.”

Goldblum, who mastered the piano when he was a Pittsburgh teenager but found the lure of an acting career too tempting to resist, is equally invigorated at the prospect of returning to the screen in the £2.3bn Jurassic World franchise. A third dino-saga starts shooting in the UK next Summer, with Goldblum reprising his role as Dr Ian Malcolm.

His adherence to the offbeat, allowing Goldblum to move seamlessly between Wes Anderson’s quirky productions and CGI spectaculars such as Thor: Ragnarok, gives the actor a privileged perspective on the row generated by Martin Scorsese’s dismissal of Marvel superhero movies as not “cinema.”

“I just know that I had a very creative, juicy, delicious time of it with Steven Spielberg on the two Jurassic Park movies,” he reasons. “Likewise with (Thor director) Taika Waititi. He comes from the independent world even though the operation was big.



“Disney want to make movies that are popular of course but I also think they want to make quality movies and give people their adventures. They way they shoot these films is kind of creative.”

“I feel the same way as my friend (Avengers director) Jon Favreau who said he has so much admiration for Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola that they can have any opinion in the world and I would not want to argue with them.”

The aspiring Goldblum won an early role in Annie Hall and it was the jazz-loving Woody Allen who first suggested that he pursue his love for music on stage. Allen is persona non grata in the film world since renewed accusations – which he denies – that he molested Dylan Farrow, his adoptive daughter. Would Goldblum work with Allen again?

“I think there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty,” he says. “I know I enjoyed working with him many years ago and I sat in with his band once too.”

‘I know I enjoyed working with Woody Allen many years ago and I sat in with his band once too. I also admire his body of work. So I would consider working with him again, until I learned something more [negative]’

“Even though I feel like this cultural shift [the #MeToo movement] is very, very positive and long overdue and I support it wholeheartedly and take it very seriously, I also admire his body of work. So I would consider working with him again, until I learned something more (negative).”

As well as the jazz shows and movies, Goldblum is fronting his own series for Disney’s new TV streaming platform, The World According To Jeff Goldblum, in which he makes typically askew observations on everyday household objects.

However Goldblum’s freewheeling lifestyle has made way for new priorities with the arrival – after approving discussions with his therapist – of two children, Charlie Ocean, four, and River Joe, two, with his third wife, the Canadian Olympic gymnast and contortionist Emilie Livingston.

Goldblum is determined to maintain the strict work ethic he adopted after the death of his brother Rick, from dysentry, when Goldblum had just arrived in New York to study acting. “I’ve always been disciplined and focused but now this is an enhanced and challenging cycle,” he admits. “I’m a humble student of time management and how to make every day as effective as I possibly can.”

“I get up at 5am before the kids. I start to write, at the moment I’ll gestate over the new Jurassic World script, let it slow-cook and get some ideas for that. Then I workout in the gym in our house and I play the piano every morning. Then I get the kids up and take them to school.”

The final track on I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This, “Little Man, You’ve Had a Busy Day”, a lullaby to send Charlie to sleep, is Goldblum’s first vocal performance. He can be a strict father. “We’re going with a ‘no screen-time’ approach – No TV, phones or iPads. I know some babies are already zombified on their screens and we gather this way is better developmentally.”

He is fighting his better instincts however. “I haven’t taken them to the movies yet but I’m chomping at the bit. I’ve shown them some Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy short clips and they love it – too much because now they want more.”

The walk-in wardrobe of fantastical outfits at his Hollywood home will be the star’s legacy for his children. “I hope so. They’re already interested in the clothes,” he enthuses. There’ll be no designer outfits for the young ones yet.

“We’re trying to steer clear of that sort of overly privileged yucky life of the bourgeois,” he asserts. “They’re at that age where everything they wear looks cute anyway.”

Goldblum was pleasantly surprised when his wish-list of musical collaborators signed up for I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This. “I had done Independence Day: Resurgence with Liam Hemsworth when he was together with Miley Cyrus. She was top of our list and I just wrote to her on Instagram and she said yes to the song and the arrangement.”

Van Etten’s “smoky” take on Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” is a highlight. But the lounge lizard will perform a more sombre, vocal-free version with his orchestra in front of the Queen at Saturday’s Festival of Remembrance concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

“It’s a great honour to be asked. I’m wearing my Tom Ford tux I got for my wedding (in 2014). I haven’t worn it since. It has been dry cleaned,” Goldblum promises. “Will I meet the Queen? Wes Anderson’s coming too, he asked me for tickets.”

In his mind, Goldblum is already flexing his piano-playing muscles. “I was dreaming last night that I was playing piano and we did some kind of improvised new song. Or at least, I think it was a dream?”

‘I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This’ is out now on Decca Records; Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance 2019 is on BBC1 at 9pm, on Saturday