2007-08-25

So, so, so far behind. Jeffans, will you ever forgive me?


My dears! I am so sorry to have been incommunicado for so long. I think I have mentioned before that due to the seasonal nature of my work it is very difficult for to devote a lot of energy to maintaining the Goldblum Standard like I can outside of summer proper. I hope you have all been keeping abreast of the Jeff news without me...I know at least some of you are since you've been sending me info and links like whoa!

First off, the most exciting thing I've read all month comes to us from Metazmom, who commented recently letting us know that Raines may NOT be gone forever, but that in fact there is hope for Jeff to return to the small screen this autumn after all! Let's keep our fingers and toes crossed on that.

Secondly, Jeff apparently played another show at the Aqua Lounge last week and so I'm looking for any photos anyone has managed to take, or video, to post on the site. I've got a few from when a loyal fan attended his performance back in July that I really MUST get around to posting.

Third, how fun is this? Nigel writes:

Mystery Science Theater 3000's Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin
Murphy, have released their RiffTrax for Idependence Day!


YouTube sample http://www.youtube.com/v/cPP-o8O5vmM

Promo Poster http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2752/id4poster4forumvx8.jpg

In every single one of the 900 million aliens-come-to-earth movies
that had come before it the aliens were malevolent, bent on man's
destruction, but Independence Day changed all that. Yes, the alien's
were once again malevolent, but this time Judd Hirsch was in the
movie! Never before had this even been dreamt of, putting Judd Hirsch
in a film. It was a brazen move, one almost as stunning as casting
Bill Pullman as the president of the United States as opposed to
taking the obvious path and casting him as a guy at a Rapid Oil
Change who says, "Ahead. Little more. Little more. Okay, stop." And
never before in screen history had a person named "Vivica" done
anything let alone attempt to act credibly in a movie role.

Not only that, Independence Day dares to feature one of the most
ineffective inspirational speeches since those delivered in a bunker
in Berlin in late April 1945.

For ID4, Mike is joined by both Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, so in
the words of Captain Jimmy Wilder, Kick the tires and light the fires!*

*If it wouldn't be too much trouble. And we'd like to thank you in
advance for your anticipated cooperation in our tire kicking, fire
lighting scheme.**

**RiffTrax is to be held blameless for any damaged tires, bruised
tarsals or burnt property as a result of any tire kicking or fire
lighting engaged in by the customer.

http://www.rifftrax.com/


Nigel McNaughton
aka
'BathTub' - hey no one else was using it!


I LOVE MST3K and while I adore Jeff (obvs) and Will Smith, Independance Day ranks as one of the hokiest movies I've ever forced myself to sit through - I'm sure the commentary from the peanut gallery will be sublime.

Is anyone watching Jeff host that weekend special on Starz Cinema this weekend? We don't get it up here in the wilds and woolies of Canadia. :(

And finally, heres a great article you may enjoy reading that came to me via Google Alerts and a couple of other Jeffans who wrote to me linking to it. You may want to visit the source so that you can listen to audio of a slightly longer conversation between Jeff and the interviewer.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07225/809010-129.stm

Jeff Goldblum

Monday, August 13, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Jeff Goldblum talks about relations, religion and the real charge he
gets out of acting as the West Homestead native prepares for the DVD
release of his mocumentary, titled "Pittsburgh," next month. The mock
doc blurs the lines between truth and fiction about his two-week stint
as the star of Pittsburgh CLO's "The Music Man." He will host Starz
Cinema's World Television Premiere Weekend Aug. 24-26, which will
include "Pittsburgh." Go to starz.com for show times. He also stars in
"Adam Resurrected," a Paul Schrader film dealing with a
concentration-camp survivor's struggle to heal, due out in 2008.


Q: At one point in the film "Pittsburgh," you say, "I don't want to
act anymore. I just want to retire. It's sheer misery." Is that a
common emotion for you?

A: It's fiction, so I'm acting there. But no, I never wanted to quit
acting. In fact, it's often challenging and sometimes there's a nice
delicious kind of struggle to it but, um, it makes you delightfully
uncomfortable at times. Just the kind of adventure you're looking for
if you're an actor. But I always was deeply romantic about that and in
love with it. I've never wavered from my commitment to do it.

Q: You've never suffered from major stage fright?

A: No, not in the way I think conventionally and classically [stage
fright is] referred to. Part of acting for me has always had some here
and there ingredient of what I now think of as a kind of excitement
and heat and internal turbulence. You know? Sometimes what can feel
like trepidation or "Oh gosh, I don't know if I can do this" ... but
that's what you want.

Q: What did it mean for your family when you became famous?

A: That's an interesting question. You know, I don't know. I'm very
close with my sister Pam, who is a wonderful painter and an artist. I
think she was, you know, as everybody else was supportive of me and I
think delighted. But essentially I don't think it made any real
difference in our relationship, which has always been substantial. Not
based on anything as fleeting as success (laughing) or show business.

Q: In the film your mother is married to someone a little older than
you. Is that fiction or is it true?

A: There are many things in the movie that are fictional. There are
some elements that are taken from real life. I like it when people,
especially before they see it, are a little in the dark. In fact, I
can tell you that was my real mother, and that was Harvey Tyson, who
is in fact married to my mom. That's right -- the ages they refer to
in the movie are correct. He is 20 years younger than she is.

Q: An interesting dynamic with the family.

A: You think so? Really. Yeah, I've always been inspired by those
Cassavetes movies. It was obviously a fictional story but he would
sometimes cast [his real-life wife] Gena Rowland's parents as her real
parents and other non-actors and use them in such a way that their
acting had some extra surprising elements to it. Even though we're not
seeing it all conspicuously and prominently and dominantly told on the
surface, there is something underneath that seems real authentic and
multidimensional and complicated. That's what I was inspired by and
kind of after. I think we got that.

Q: You've been married twice and engaged a couple of times. Would you
say you are more cautious with a woman now, or do you fall quickly?

A: (Laughing) Funny question. I am, you know, I think, I know more
what I want and what I don't want more quickly these days, probably.
That's probably true. But I'm as open as I've ever been. As receptive
and easily stimulated and kind of wildly romantic.

Q: You are doing a film about the Holocaust, "Adam Resurrected."

A: Yes, well, it has something to do with the Holocaust. You know,
Paul Schrader who wrote "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver"... and many
interesting things, directed it. He likes to describe it as "a story
about a man who was once a dog, who meets a dog who was once a boy."
In fact the central event in the movie is how this man (played by me)
with plenty of past wounds and personal, psychological trauma ... goes
through a healing process with a young boy, and they both share a
troubled association with the dog thing. It takes place in Israel in
1961 in a mental institution. A rehabilitation center exclusively for
concentration camp survivors.

Q: Since you were raised Jewish, did it make you want to delve into
your own roots?

A: My parents sent all of us to a Hebrew School at a local synagogue.
It was kind of traditional. It was small. I had a bar mitzvah, but
then we weren't encouraged to participate much in anything. I knew
about the movie a year before I did it, and I immersed myself for that
whole year as much as I was able into all sorts of facts about the
Jewish experience in Europe during World War II, of course. I talked
to many survivors here. I went to Israel for the first time (I'd never
been) to do some research. It was very personal and personally
enlightening and disturbing and provocative and educational.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

CEE-CEE, Jeff on Conan Tues August 28-see local listings.

Cindy