BY the end of the summer holidays, Independence Day will almost certainly have surpassed Jurassic Park as the most successful film ever. Although one is full to the brim with simulated T. Rexs and the other has been described as nothing more than an exercise in chest beating, flag waving American political hype, the inescapable fact is that on its opening weekend in the USA alone, Independence. Day took $94.6 million at the box office.
If the success of both films is due, in large part, to the amazing technical wizardry of the special effects teams, a human thread linking them both is the wry, slinky figure of Jeff Goldblum.
A few years ago, Goldblum was the eccentric character actor who could be found in such offbeat roles as the Devil in Mr Frost ("disturbingly convincing" as one critic described him), or the comic extra terrestrial in Earth Girls Are Easy. Now it seems he has come full circle and is parading his unconventional sense of humour in conventional blockbuster movies. A change of emphasis that puzzles Goldblum but of which, he says, he likes the essential elements.
We are sitting on a sofa in Room 105 at Claridge's Hotel, London, on a warm Wednesday afternoon. The 43 year old Goldblum is exactly as one would hope charming, courteous and not an inch below 6ft 4in. He is ineffably polite. He is worried my pale skin will burn in the sunshine, while his, he explains, doesn't suffer from this problem "because my skin is as tawny as a brazil nut. But yours, yours is so fair, it looks like a freshly peeled apple."
Goldblum then launches into an in depth discussion of the merits of salty popcorn versus sugary popcorn. He seems utterly genuine in his passion for the subject maybe any subject. He decides he can never quite make up his mind whether it is a salty popcorn day or a sugary one, "then I just dip into one, then the other. Don't you get days like that?"
In an unobtrusive way, Goldblum has become the thinking woman's sex symbol. Even advertisers have tapped into the wonderful combination of weird style and brilliant physique. He has winked and wiggled his ears to great effect in the Holsten Pils ads, "putting the Haagen Dazs effect into selling beer", and inevitably this makes his private life a subject of some interest. The mere mention of the name Laura Dern, his co star in Jurassic Park, makes Goldblum a little cautious. They have been involved in an on off/ engaged/living separately relationship for nearly five years. "I guess you could say we've found each other again. We live separately and I still like the challenge of relationships. They're delightful and a bit adventurous I suppose."
Adventurous. It certainly is a word Goldblum likes to use he often uses it to describe the way he approached the character of David in Independence Day. "Sure it was a creative endeavour, because each part is something you have never done before. Most people call the roles I play geeky. I'm not even sure what geeky means nowadays or if it has any description of a character. I think it goes with scientist, I think people associate it automatically with scientist or computer nerd. Some of the prejudice about science and stuff comes from that. But I like the element of this part where I can do that ... not that I have a real loyalty to representing science, although I'm getting a little bit of an association with it. But I like the idea that intelligent characters don't have to be socially inept but can be passionate, adventurous, cool, take charge, be brave."
On the afternoon following the London premiere, Goldblum is relaxed if a little bleary eyed. "Yipeee, Yipeee. It's so exciting to watch, isn't it? The audience I saw it with last night seemed ebullient. It was like they were at a sports stadium or a rock concert where they wave their cigarette lighters in the air.
"Actually I'm waiting for a movie where I can do that ... and people could wave their lighters during a love scene maybe I could start a trend, but I'm still waiting.
"In this film to see people from all over the world putting aside their differences to do something so effective I loved that and as I've said before I would love if it could happen more in real life."
If Goldblum has just hinted at one of the essential components of acting that each of his characters must contain an element of his own persona, then are we seeing something of the real Goldblum in David, "the geeky scientist" from Independence Day? Throughout the early part of the film he is seen chastising his colleagues for not putting their empty Coke cans into the recycling bin. "Yes, I would agree with what he was trying to achieve. I'm always trying to grow and develop my sense of appreciation for life. I am quite spiritual and I'm becoming clear about what my conscience tells me to do.
He is constantly inspired by acting and the characters he plays. In The Fly, Goldblum was cast again as the weird scientist who on that occasion metamorphosed into a revolting, giant blue bottle. He was a "lechery" journalist in The Big Chill and a mathematician in Jurassic Park. In The Tall Guy his encounter with Emma Thompson resulted in "lots of broken furniture."
"That's me really. I like to prepare properly for a role." I remind him of a recent interview in which said his preparation for The Fly involved trapping a blowfly in plastic bag, sticking it to the wall of his trailer and then observing its habits and feeding methods.
"It is true, it wasn't the only way I prepared for the role but I did think it was important to get some realism into the part. You see, I'd look at the flies buzzing around and then all of a sudden they'd be gone. So I put a pin on the bag and stuck it to the wall of the trailer while I was working on another movie. Then when I was finished filming for the day I'd watch it in the bag. I think I watched it for a couple of days."
He is certainly no more intense in his love for acting than any other actor. But perhaps he is something of a rarity in being able to communicate the passion.
"I don't want to do a part in a film and then say I could have done some more. I want to do everything that I could have done preparation wise . .. I want feel like I have explored this thing thoroughly. But it's not an academic thing, acting. It's not like you have to complete a task, not like a check list of things.
"I don't have a formula that's repeated every time. I do it until it feels ... it's satisfyingly full to you, until your imagination is working on its own. All the time, I'll try something. Part of it is grace, part of it is the mystery of talent. You know whatever extent it operates on, you can do certain things with it. You can coax it encourage it and prepare and design yourself and it kind of emerges, through luck in a way.
"Practising the craft of acting can familiarise you with this whole process of encouraging something, unmanipulated and human and spirited."
It seems that second to practising the craft, Goldblum's joy is teaching it to other people. When he is at his home in Los Angeles whet her or not he is making a film in the city he tries to teach at least two acting classes a week. Since 1985, he has worked as a "freelance teacher" at Playhouse West, an independent, private acting school which originally began life as a group of young actors meeting once a week. It is now a highly regarded school, and Goldblum is clearly proud of it. "Part of it is about giving something back. It's something I'm very passionate about. If I can take a class, I do, but I also have a deal with my friend who runs the school that I can just call him up when I'm back in town or at the weekend and then I can take on any group and work with it."
THIS afternoon, the man who admits to being a touch obsessive about the contents of his kitchen drawers ("I throw everything out unless I'm using it, and clothes I don't wear, books I've already read, out they go") is reading a biography of the screen legend, Dean Martin. He says the book is "kind of poetically written".
"But I must tell you, my favourite song today is one called Invitation." Goldblum sings a few lines, but I say I'm afraid I don't know that one. Who sings it? "Apart from me, no one. It's a very samba-ish, jazzy thing that I play on the piano.
"Oh, I remember the first line." Goldblum is still singing as I leave the room. "You and your smile/ There's a strange invitation/ Somehow seems we've shared some time/ But time after time/ And we're still strangers.