- Who decided (Jeff chuckles) how many buttons
would be unbuttoned in "Jurassic Park"?
I can't remember.
It's all a dream, fever dream to me at this point.
Hello, my name is Jeff Goldblum
and I'm here to explain it all or whatever that means.
Anyway, that's what I'm here to do.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
My dad has a story.
He says that he was poor and his parents,
his dad came from Russia by the name Powalski
he changed it to Goldblum when he came here.
And he had a luggage and a candy store in Pittsburgh.
When he was very young, he told us
that he wanted to either be an actor or a doctor.
And he stuck his head in the back of a class
at Carnegie Tech and said to us that he told himself
when he did that,
whatever he saw, gee, that's out of my league.
Whatever you meant by that.
And he became a doctor.
I think I caught a bug maybe
or early on when I got very excited about theater
or something and started to do something
that seemed like performing or acting.
Maybe he was tickled.
I'm saying this in a new way for the first time.
And maybe that kind of sparked something.
And then I took part in a camp at Chatham Music day camp
between fifth and sixth grades when I was 10 ish.
That was it.
That was it, 'cause I, they put me in the lead of a play.
I leaped on stage and people laughed and dah, dah, dah.
After the show, they said, did you like that?
How'd you like that?
And I was like, yeah, I like that.
But from that time on, I was like, I think I'm an actor.
I wanna be an actor.
And then by the time between 9th and 10th and 10th
and 11th grades came along,
I went to Carnegie Mellon University
in between the summers.
My head exploded and I became obsessed with the idea.
I must be an actor.
And in fact, every day when I took a shower,
my hygiene was always impeccable.
I'd take a shower before school
and the glass door would steam up.
It was still a secret that I kept to myself.
I was too embarrassed or whatever was too important.
And I said, please, God, let me be an actor.
And before I left the shower, I would wipe it off.
That's a little bit about me
and little Jeff getting the idea to be an actor.
(soft upbeat music)
Look, self doubt.
Hey, if you're in the creative,
you're doing anything important in life I think,
even if it's falling in love and putting yourself out there
and making yourself vulnerable to an important relationship
of one kind or another,
you will feel doubtful about yourself.
Am I up to this?
Can I do?
All of that stuff, you'll be out of your comfort zone.
And good for you, that's just where you wanna be.
A fear can be a useful ally and an ingredient.
And it'll transmogrify itself from fear into energy
and creative energy and focus and urgency.
Of course, you know, acting is always scary
and getting up in front of people
and, you know, promising them something
and then having to deliver is scary 'cause it may not work.
And so that doubt whether, hey, can I, you know,
do my part in this makes you focus, like I say,
and prepare and work and do something
that you haven't done before.
And makes you reach further and start to sing
and start to fly.
That's that's one of the ingredients,
that's part of the engine.
So do not combat it, don't lock it in the basement.
Don't try to pretend otherwise,
be honest about it to yourself and to others.
It'll unlock something good, freedom and juice.
There you go.
Call me in the morning and tell me what happens.
I've been working for a long time.
That's the premise of the question.
And certainly, you know, a blind man could see that.
Do I have any regrets about things I have or haven't done?
♪ Regrets, I've had a few ♪
♪ But then again, too few to mention ♪
I would say, you know, I'm philosophical minded.
I have a bent toward philosophy.
So I would say, oh, you know, whether you believe
in free will or not, look, I've done all the things
I've done exactly as I've done them.
And the only posture to take at this point is acceptance.
And it's not as if I'm unfamiliar with recrimination
and self second thinking.
Because after I shoot a movie, as seen in a movie sometimes
I go home and okay, okay was that the...
Did I do, did I miss it?
Did I do it the best way I could have?
Did I miss anything?
Oh, do I regret doing it that way?
Oh, I shouldn't have done that.
Oh, I shouldn't have said that.
And then I kind of worked myself.
And so on an individual basis, I go, no, no, no,
that wouldn't have been better.
No, no, I think it was okay.
I think it was okay.
So I kind of talked myself around into, you know,
accepting it, but I gotta go through a little something
to sort of do that.
But besides that, you know, that's it.
When all is said and done,
hey, look, I'm spectacularly happy
with my lucky lot and all.
Well, you know, if you go back
and you went and you pull one thread out of the tapestry,
who knows if the whole thing would have gone
to "H-E Double Hockey Sticks".
But so no.
I'm fine.
It's all gone so far very lucky.
I mean, so far lucky.
I hope I don't ruin it with something I will come to regret.
So I'm being careful.
Who in my life inspires me the most?
Well, yeah, I've never had much esteem for collectors
of wealth or position.
But I have had an enchantment with and an infatuation
and get inspired by people who make lovely things
and who follow their own creative, personal voices
and paths and make beautiful things,
and have some element of humility and non arrogance,
and perspective about themselves and are humbled,
fleeting place in a mysterious universe.
So, some of those people, you know.
You know, I've played some scientists and this and that
and gotten a chance to talk to Neil deGrasse Tyson on air,
did an interview.
And I find him terrifically inspiring.
Recently, just this day or the last days,
I'm kind of in a cycle of, and down the rabbit hole
of listening to physicists of one kind or another.
And I adore them and I'm inspired by them.
I like to hear what they're talking about.
And my kids and my wife, I find inspiring.
Well, the kids are just naturally unbelievably amazing
in a thousand ways that I can't go into right now.
But they just crack my heart wide open.
And Emily is so beautiful and brilliant and brave
and authentic and down to earth.
And the way we go through challenges is just great
and very inspiring for me.
(bright upbeat music)
Who decided how many buttons would be unbuttoned
in "Jurassic Park"?
Well, if you're talking about the scene that I'm thinking of
all the buttons were unbuttoned, it was fully unbuttoned.
As I was, you know, draping myself in dramatic pain there,
sweating and heaving.
You know, I can't remember.
Steven Spielberg was directing it.
He was there as I remember.
And he said Jeff unbutton more all of them, unbuttoned them.
I don't know that he said that.
I can't imagine that he would have, but what I have said,
Steven, Steven, before we roll (murmurs).
I don't know that I would have said that.
I don't know how it happened.
Somebody must, maybe somebody came in and just did that.
I wasn't even aware of it, I don't know.
I can't remember.
It's all a dream, fever dream to me at this point.
(bright upbeat music)
These are good questions.
What's my advice for a full and happy life?
Oh, for heaven sakes.
Well, what's my advice for a full and happy life?
Oh, okay.
I'm just gonna quote you.
I've done it before, you've probably heard me
say this before, but there's nothing better than this.
I mean, what would I say?
We're so lucky to be on this planet,
this treasure of a Ming vase of a planet, do what you can.
Albert Schweitzer said, "Only those of you who serve
"will be happy".
So do what you can to contribute before you leave
to the place being better than when you got here.
Leave every relationship, every encounter better off
than it would have been otherwise.
Let's contribute and do that.
But you're such a miraculous item yourself.
You know, there's so much to learn
about your own consciousness.
See if you can push the ball forward
and learn something about yourself
and teach us about something,
about who we all are, et cetera, et cetera.
But I'll end with this quote by George Bernard Shaw,
that goes like this,
"This is the true joy in life,
"being used for a purpose considered by yourself as mighty.
"The being a force of nature, instead of a feverish selfish,
"little clod of ailments and grievances
"complaining that the world will not devote itself
"to making you happy.
"I am of the opinion
"that my life belongs to the whole community.
"And while I live, it is my privilege to do for it,
"whatever I can.
"I wanna be thoroughly used up when I die,
"for the harder I work, the more I live.
"I rejoice in life for its own sake.
"Life is no brief candle.
"To me, it's a sort of splendid torch
"that I've got hold of for the moment.
"And I wanna make it burn as brightly as possible
"before handing it on to future generations."
That's George Bernard Shaw.
That's my advice.