Honored this weekend at the Deauville American Film Festival, Jeff Goldblum also rewarded us with a press conference full of good humor. Putting himself in the posture of showman, Jeff Goldblum answered with humor to the questions of the enthusiastic journalists.
Arriving in the conference room with his big smile, Jeff Goldblum did not give those present time to ask their questions by starting the conversation right away. One of his first amusing reflexes was to apologize for not speaking French:
"I would have liked to speak French, I'm sorry… My wife speaks French! She speaks exclusively French to my two-year-old and four-month-olds. Whoever is two years old is starting to be bilingual."
The tone is set! By immediately telling us about his family in this way, Goldblum plunged us into the bath and the press conference had started before we even knew it. He continued to talk about his wife, whom he seems to particularly admire:
"My wife voiced Emma Stone in La La Land. And if you've seen Valerian, she's the one who choreographed Rihanna's entire dance scene and lent her body for the understudy. In fact, she was on Canada's Olympic team in 2000 for rhythmic gymnastics."
After some amusing reflections and a spontaneous exchange with the audience, the conference could really begin. The first question asked mentioned his participation in Thor – Ragnarok :
"I was really happy to do that. We had a great time in Australia. […] During the shooting, we improvised a lot, which I really like, as does the director. I think the film will be quite different from the previous two."
The second question brushed our showman in the direction of the hair, since the person present asked him what it was like to have become a pop-culture icon:
"I don't know… I don't even know if that's true. But I feel especially lucky to spend my life playing. I am very grateful to have worked with so many directors on great and beautiful films. I feel today as I have always felt: like a humble student. I try to become better and do the best job possible. "
The following question particularly amused the audience as well as the main interested party. It mentioned a so-called garden house in which the actor would regularly practice acting. The question was whether this was true or not. Tac-for-tat response, coupled with hilarious mimicry from the comedian:
"I have a garden house?! (Laughter)."
"I have a garden shed?! We have a guest house (Guest House) and we have a beautiful garden but no garden shed. […] But it's true that I like to play and rehearse in this house for friends, whether for theater or cinema. In this house there were also many rehearsals of music. But today it serves mainly as a playroom for children."
After this interlude rich in bursts of laughter, Goldblum continued to talk about his daily life and developed his relationship with music mentioned above. Indeed, he has been playing the piano since childhood and is not a little proud of it:
"I'd like to tell you that, if you come to Los Angeles, I'm in a jazz band and we play every Wednesday in Rockwell if I'm not working. It's very nice and I invite you to listen to us play."
No doubt we had to go to this Jazz club if by chance we took a vacation in Los Angeles. After this detour through music, a question was asked about all his films: if he had only one with him to advise us, what would it be?
"I don't know. There are four of my films screened during the festival, probably the ones that are the most viewed. But recently I re-saw a movie I made a long time ago and it's always hard when I see old movies where I am. I look at myself and tell myself that I could have done better. I feel like I prefer newer movies. But frankly I don't know what to advise you. My wife saw almost nothing of what I did. I met her six years ago at a gym and she didn't know who I was (laughs). […] She often asks me if there is one she should see absolutely and I tell her no. As for what I should show my children, I don't know either. I think it's going to end up in dust anyway like this building and everything else (laughs)."
After that, a woman spoke up about the fact that he was a movie icon, but it would be amazing to see him on One Man Show. The approval of the public was total. And we can only agree with him: it would be incredible to see Jeff Goldblum alone on stage to make us laugh like this, as his comic fiber seems natural. After that, the actor played the audience in a game related to cinema, then continued to make the audience laugh both by his facial expressions and by his small reflections.
Excited, endearing and full of humor, it is a Jeff Goldblum at the top of his form that we were able to discover in a press conference. If it does not reveal much more about his past or future career, it will at least have the merit of lifting the veil a little on this superstar of the cinema. We can only thank the Deauville American Film Festival for honoring him for this 2017 edition.
