Final Transcript
NEW MEDIA STRATEGIES: The Law & Order Criminal Intent
Conference Call with Jeff Goldblum
March 23, 2010/2:00 p.m. EDT
SPEAKERS
Chrissy Fehskens
Andrea Epstein
Farrah Hersh
Jeff Goldblum
PRESENTATION
C. Fehskens Ladies and gentlemen, thanks again for standing by and for joining us for
the Law and Order Criminal Intent Conference call. This is Chrissy
Fehskens of New Media Strategies, and I’m joined by both Andrea
Epstein and Farrah Hersh of USA Network publicity. And as you know,
we have Jeff Goldblum with us for today’s Q&A session. Law and Order
Criminal Intent will premiere season nine one week from today on
Tuesday, March 30th at 10:00/9:00 central on USA Network.
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In the interest of getting to as many questions as possible during today’s
call I’m going to turn things back over to our moderator to begin the
formal Q&A session.
Moderator Thank you. And we also ask that you limit yourself to one question and
one follow-up.
Our first question is from the line of Jamie Steinberg from Starry
Constellation Magazine. Please go ahead.
J. Goldblum Who’s it from?
Moderator Jamie Steinberg.
J. Goldblum Jamie Steinberg, yes.
J. Steinberg I appreciate your time.
J. Goldblum Thank you, Jamie.
J. Steinberg I was wondering what continues to challenge you about your role?
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J. Goldblum Well, let me see, it’s very challenging because the writing is wonderful
and the people around me are the best in the world. So I’m just trying to
live up to that and to make the most out of what are wonderful scripts and
wonderful acting opportunity it is. Plus, my character is always kind of
evolving, and it’s challenging to try to do my best with it.
J. Steinberg Social media has become a big part of promotion for TV shows and for
movies and things like that now. How does it play a part in your life and
with your show coming on …?
J. Goldblum Well, Andrea and Farrah could tell you better how it plays a part in the
show. You don’t mean the content of the show? You mean the marketing
of the show?
J. Steinberg Yes.
J. Goldblum Oh, the marketing of the show. So I know nothing about that. They can
tell you. This is the first time—I’ve been doing it since last year in this
kind of way. But I’m sure they’re doing much, much more, and they can
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tell you all about that because I don’t really—I’m so busy, consumed with
making the show right now I’m not really staying up to speed on all
manner of and forms of marketing that they’re doing.
J. Steinberg You don’t have your own account or anything like that?
J. Goldblum I do not. No.
J. Steinberg Well, thank you very much.
J. Goldblum Thank you, Jamie.
Moderator Thank you. We go to the line of Sheldon Wiebe from
eclipsemagazine.com. Please go ahead.
S. Wiebe You have a new partner who is going to be challenging. She’s clearly as
intelligent as Nichols—
J. Goldblum Yes.
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S. Wiebe --and she has a fairly wide ranging network of contacts. And it’s totally
different skill set. How do you see them working together?
J. Goldblum Well, I now know. We’ve done several cases together. And we work
beautifully together, very dynamically. I think she’s great. You’re right.
She is brilliant and has her own skill set and we just work very creatively
together. And it’s, as much as anything, even given the dark and horrific
and nightmarish circumstances that we’re always faced with, dead bodies
and gruesome places and gruesome events, we seem to both get a thrill out
of the fun and the adventure of the hunt, hunting down the bad guy.
And then, of course, I sort of—we get enrolled together and she gets
enrolled in my by and by, in my other peck agenda, which is not so beside
the point, which is, of course, finding out what the whole story was and
why, criminal intent of course, that’s why it’s named that. Why,
psychologically speaking, the person has done it? Not only who did it, but
why they did it? And like I said, and I say it’s not beside the point
because when we finally take it to court, that’s very much the point. Part
of it you got to tell a jury hey, here’s the—we’re not going to get a
conviction unless they can buy and believe the whole story and the motive
and why this person might have done it.
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But it’s beside that, a personal thrill for me. And a personal kind of side
and overall contextualizing investigation to deepen my understanding of
the deeply criminal types and thereby all of us and me. I’m on a kind of
psycho spiritual investigation that fascinates me and that’s infinitely
mysterious. And she and I become partners in that. And it’s absolutely
thrilling.
S. Wiebe Thank you very much.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
Moderator Thank you. We now go to the line of Joshua Fulghum from
totallyher.com. Please go ahead.
J. Goldblum Hi, Joshua.
J. Fulghum Hey, Jeff. Hey. I have a two-part question here. First, how was it being
dead? And, how was it giving your own eulogy on the Colbert Report?
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J. Goldblum Those are great questions. Well, I love the Colbert Report. I’m a fan of
that show and him anyway, and when they asked me to do that, I was
delighted because they are smart. I get a big kick out of their sense of
humor and I thought they came up with something funny for that and it
was delightful to do it. The whole incident was bizarre and engendered a
rainbow of feelings in me, of course. It was upsetting. People called who
hadn’t heard right away or had—and would be—and called up sad.
Nobody, thankfully, ran their car off the road or had a heart attack or
anything, but there was some trauma. And for that, I would dissuade
people from doing this. And I’m sorry that it happened and all of that.
But it was not of little interest to me to get in touch with, in some cases,
people I hadn’t been in touch with for a while. And said oh, my gosh, is it
true. …I’m glad you’re alive and it made me think of you and all that kind
of stuff. And it was trippy, trippy.
The first movie I ever remembered getting moved at was a movie called
Gigot. I don’t know if anybody will know this. It’s a little known movie, I
think, from the early 60’s probably when I was a kid. With Jackie
Gleason, and he plays a sort of a mute village poor soul and at the end of
the movie, everybody sort of mistreats him. And at the end of the movie,
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they think mistakenly he’s dead. And then realize how much they cared
for him, in fact, and give him a big funeral. And he, in fact, is alive and
shows up secretly for a moment, peaking from behind a tree and seeing the
funeral and getting teary and weepy himself. And then they see him and
the whole movie ends in this sort of light-hearted way.
But I remember crying at that. It was the first movie I ever remember
getting very moved at. So there’s something in that whole situation that’s
kind of--I’m sensitive to, I think.
J. Fulghum Well, we’re all very glad to hear you’re still alive.
J. Goldblum You’re so sweet. Thank you very much.
J. Fulghum My pleasure, Jeff. Thank you.
J. Goldblum Thanks, Joshua.
Moderator Thank you. We now go to the line of Troy Rogers from thedeadbolt.com.
Please go ahead.
J. Goldblum Hi, Troy.
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T. Rogers Hi, Jeff. Thanks for taking the time.
J. Goldblum My pleasure.
T. Rogers I read that Ralph Macchio is going to be on this season.
J. Goldblum Yes.
T. Rogers Can you tell us who else we can expect to see?
J. Goldblum Well, let me see. I wish I had a whole—I should have been prepared with
a whole lineup. Just combing my memory. Now, he was great. He was
lovely and what a great actor. And what is—Kevin Conway is in an
episode that I think will play sort of shortly end of the season who was
absolutely wonderful. Gee, many—Karen Olivo, who was on Broadway In
the Heights and West Side Story. She was in this last episode that we did
and just a ton of other people.
That’s one of the lucky things about doing this show. It feels to me you’re
like in this anthology series and you get--the casting people are fantastic.
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And you get the cream of the whole acting community showing up. It’s
just great.
T. Rogers Thanks.
Now, with the Law and Order franchise, there’s always a turnover of cast
members. I wanted to know what do you think the loss of Vincent,
Kathryn, and Eric will—how will that affect the show or how will that
affect the way you see the show?
J. Goldblum Well, let me see. How will it affect the show? I mean, I think they’re the
best actors around. I love the show with them and I love their characters
and I’ll miss them. It won’t ever be the same. All three of them were
spectacular and irreplaceable.
So it’s a different kind of—There’ll be a different kind of show, although
the flavor is something of the Law and Order flavor. It will be—follow
something of the same flavors. But I’ll miss them. I think they’re just
great.
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I can talk about Saffron and her character and Mary Elizabeth
Mastrantonio and her character. And how excited I am about them.
But it will very different. But I love these two new actors and characters. I
feel lucky to be working with them and I’m thrilled about the characters
that they wrote for them. And what they’re doing in the show and how we
all play together.
T. Rogers Thanks.
J. Goldblum I hope people like them.
T. Rogers Thank you, Jeff.
J. Goldblum Thank you.
Moderator Thank you. We now go to the line of Christine Zimmer from All Things
Law and Order. Please go ahead.
C. Zimmer Hi, Jeff. Thank you so much for taking my call.
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J. Goldblum Thanks, Christine.
C. Zimmer I have a question. Last season, we saw that like yourself, Zack Nichols is
very talented playing the piano. What other “Goldblumisms” shall we see
this season or what would you like to incorporate into the character of
Zack Nichols that are a part of you?
J. Goldblum Let’s see. Gee, I don’t know if I have any other show business tricks up
my sleeve or any other talents. I’m just trying to play, be as smart as I can,
and bring what I know is passion in the writing and in the character and in
the real lives that we’re trying to depict.
We have a great guy named Mike Struck, who’s on the set all the time,
who’s a real and a masterful detective and police person. And I realize all
the time that to really do that job would be very difficult. You have to
have a very particular skill set for it, talent for it, and appetite for it. And
I’m just trying to pretend in a way that is at least believable. Boy, that
would be a tough job, I tell you.
C. Zimmer Yes. The other question I have is we’re almost about the same age and
I’m just curious, if they had an iPod, a thing like an iPod when you were a
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teenager growing up, what kind of music would you have had on it? You
have a very interesting musical background. I’m just curious what
influenced you as a kid.
J. Goldblum Well, I remember the school, the earliest stuff I can remember is when—I
mean, the Beatles were introduced when I was a kid. So I was very thrilled
about the Beatles, including the first couple of—I Want to Hold Your
Hand and Love you, yeah, yeah, yeah. All that. When those came out on
45s, the world had changed in some way and I was very thrilled about it.
And then a little later, when the White Album and Sergeant Pepper and
Magical Mystery Tour came out, it meant a lot to me. It was a big deal.
Early on, too, Motown stuff was big in those days. Stop in the Name of
Love. And all the Motown stuff around then was big with me. Then, my
parents, we had a hi-fi and—
C. Zimmer Yes.
J. Goldblum --they had—they were jazz lovers and they had a couple of—they had
some Erroll Garner records, a jazz pianist who’s active, who’s also from
Pittsburgh as I am. That made an impression on me. And I remember
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hearing Thelonious Monk. And then, my older brother was a big jazz fan
and got the Modern Jazz Quartet—
C. Zimmer Yes.
J. Goldblum --and was into that. And some Brazilian music. I remember Stan Getz, this
album he had from Stan Getz from the Astrud Gilberto records. That made
a big impression on me. All of those.
C. Zimmer Interesting. Very interesting.
J. Goldblum Yes.
C. Zimmer Well, thank you.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
Moderator Thank you. We now go to the line of Stefan Blitz from forcesofgeek.com.
Please go ahead.
S. Blitz Hey, Jeff. How are you?
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J. Goldblum Good, Stefan. How are you?
S. Blitz Good. I’m a huge fan of yours for all the work you’ve done.
J. Goldblum You’re so nice. Thank you.
S. Blitz First question I have for you is the premiere actually was pretty unique
because—the jump-off premiere because it felt like a setup for a spin-off
series. A spin-off of actually the series itself.
J. Goldblum Hmm. Yes. Yes.
S. Blitz Does the atmosphere on the set feel like a new show or does it just feel
like a continuation of the show that you’d previously guest starred on?
J. Goldblum Well, let’s see. I mean, I know I did eight of them last year and you’re
right, it was different. It was all different cast members that year. But the
stories and the quality of the writing and the high quality of the production
and the crew is still the same. So it feels familiar but—and I miss the cast
members who are gone. I adored them.
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But it does feel like a new show in a lot of ways. And I’m crazy about
Saffron Burrows and the character. They wrote it for her and the way she’s
doing it. And Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is spectacular and I love her
and her character, too. So yes, it feels kind of new to me.
S. Blitz Awesome. And the second question is a real fan question, which is was
the end martian sequence in Life Aquatic a deliberate homage to the end
martian sequence in Buckaroo Banzai?
J. Goldblum That’s so funny. At the time that we were doing it, I remember Wes
Anderson talking a little bit about that and saying—let me see. Did he
have another—was there another—He mentioned a couple of movies that
he’s—because he’s a hipster and a sophisticate and archivist and knows all
kind of movies. But yes, he talked about Buckaroo Banzai. He said that it
was a little bit—He really related to that in some way. That’s right.
S. Blitz …about the single skip you do in both.
J. Goldblum I do?
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S. Blitz Yes, you kind of do like the martial skit. It was very much an intentional
fan in both films quite a bit and there was—
J. Goldblum That’s funny.
S. Blitz That you were in both of them made it perfect.
J. Goldblum Oh, thank you so much. Yes, I liked both of those movies. I’m glad to
have been in them.
S. Blitz Well, thank you so much for your time today.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
Moderator Thank you. We go to the line of Jay Jacobs from popentertainment.com.
Please go ahead.
J. Jacobs Hi, Jeff. Nice to talk to you.
J. Goldblum Nice to you, Jay.
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J. Jacobs I actually just last week got in the mail your first series Tenspeed and
Brownshoe, which has just been released on DVD.
J. Goldblum No kidding?
J. Jacobs Yes.
J. Goldblum I didn’t know that.
J. Jacobs Yes.
J. Goldblum That’s hilarious.
J. Jacobs It just came out last week. It just came to me. But—
J. Goldblum It did? Where is it available? Where do you get it?
J. Jacobs You can get it through Amazon.com or I’m sure it’s probably available
through stores and everything like that.
J. Goldblum I’ll be a ring-tailed monkey.
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J. Jacobs So I’ve got to ask you, it’s been many years and you’ve certainly done a
lot of films since then and a lot of TV work, but it was recurring. But it
wasn’t until Raines a few years ago when you actually went back into a
regular TV series as a regular character. And of course, Law and Order
CI. How is it different working on a series than doing films and recurring
roles and stuff like that? And do you enjoy one more than the other?
J. Goldblum I’m having as good a time as I’ve ever had right now. And there are some
obvious differences that I’m sure you’ve heard about before. I mean, first
of all, for me this is the longest, now, the longest job I’ve ever had. I’ve
never had—
J. Jacobs Yes?
J. Goldblum Yes, I’ve never had a movie that lasted this long and I never did a series
this long. So now, into the second season, it’s the longest job of any kind
that I’ve ever had.
J. Jacobs Yes.
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J. Goldblum So that’s a little different. I see the same people, happily, every day. That
feels familiar and family like. And I’m enjoying that. And the character,
you’ve heard people talk about this, but I think it’s a very nice creative
opportunity where in a series where there, where you get great writers,
too. And as Paul Schrader told me at the time a couple of years ago when
we were doing Adam Resurrected, he thought the best writers in writing
was now on TV.
But if you get great writers and people who want to, who care very much
and want to do good things, and you kind of write as you go I think that’s
a very viable legitimate creative way to sort of see what works and kind of
make it up as you go and kind of elaborate on it and make it more and
keep writing the whole novel and the whole huge screenplay as you go.
And act it that way. It’s kind of like life a little bit.
It’s kind of like making a journey on a dark highway road in a car with
only your headlights ahead of you and you can’t see the road, but you can
see the road in front of you, but you can make the whole trip that way. I
like that idea. And so, I’ve found it very creative so far, but maybe I’m in
a relaxed and creative spot myself. I’m always trying to get better. And I
do like that.
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I have a work ethic that I think I inherited from my father in a way. He
used to get up early every morning and routinely and put in an honest
day’s work and I kind of like that. I like having a place to go and feeling
like this is not just something I got to get through and make the best out of
and hopefully, do my best with. But it’s my way of life. I still want to do
my best with it, but it’s what I do every day. It’s part of the daily, my daily
routine. I really like that. I really like it.
And this particular show, the actors are so good and the writers are so
good and the producers caring. It’s a very nice, nice thing for me. I like it
a lot.
J. Jacobs Perfect. And could you talk a little bit about your memories of doing your
first series that I just mentioned Tenspeed and Brownshoe? How is that
different?
J. Goldblum Let’s see. Let me see. I enjoyed that. We only did—what did we do?
Seven, thirteen. What did we do?
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J. Jacobs I don’t remember exactly but I think there were like two or three disks in
the DVD.
J. Goldblum Yes. I think we did like 13 of those. So fewer already than I’ve done of
this. Well, Steve Cannell was great. And I think he’s talked and feels like
talking. He thinks highly of—he’s proud of what we did there and Ben
Vereen was fantastic. And I remember having a good time with it. I liked
it. I remember Bill Clinton. I met him a couple of times. He came up and
said you know you’ve done a lot of things, Jeff. But my favorite thing was
Tenspeed and Brownshoe. I never missed an episode.
J. Jacobs Perfect. Well, thank you very much, Jeff.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
Moderator Thank you. We go to the line of Lena Lamoray from lenalamoray.com.
Please go ahead.
J. Goldblum Hi, Lena.
L. Lamoray Hi, Jeff.
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L. Lamoray You have a very unique acting style. So how does it come in handy on
Law and Order and do you get to ad lib at all?
J. Goldblum Oh, that’s funny. Well, I’m trying to do my best on it. And I feel like I can
make use of the way I am learning, still learning to tackle things. And yes,
it’s very—they have wonderful writers. It’s meticulously written, but here
and there, we can and are encouraged to do little tweaks and additions and
be loose about it in one way or another, yes, which I enjoy also.
L. Lamoray Can we expect to see more piano playing by you this season?
J. Goldblum Let me see. Did I play with—well, see, less so far. We have a few yet to
go. So I don’t know what they have in mind for me, but there’s less piano
playing so far, except I’m thinking of one episode that we just finished,
what did I do? Oh, yes, I just—I lean over. There’s a young student, piano
student, girl, at a performing arts college and she’s playing something and
I say oh, I get interested in it. And while she’s still there, I lean over and
play a few notes of something. And I think, hum along with it. And do
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some humming and playing. But that’s about all I’ve done musically this
year.
L. Lamoray Great. Thank you so much.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
Moderator Thank you. We go to the line of Kristyn Clarke from
popculturemadness.com. Please go ahead.
J. Goldblum Hi, Kristyn.
K. Clarke Hi, Jeff. So which one of your character’s traits are you best able to relate
with?
J. Goldblum Traits? Traits, traits. Which character’s traits?
K. Clarke Yes.
J. Goldblum Let me see. Let me see. Well, I’m thinking of this character Nichols, and I
wish I were as smart. Boy, it would be tough. I don’t think I could do that
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job really as effectively as he does it. After many years on the—trying to
do it, he’s a very—like our consultant, Mike Struck. They’re eighth degree
black belt practitioners. And they’re so smart and then, intuitive and
creative about it. I like to think there’s some kind of parallel, at least in
even what I’m trying to do as an actor, although I still feel like a beginner
every day in many ways. But I aspire to getting as proficient and smart
about and creative with and I do share a passion with what I think Nichols
feels for his work, for my work.
Let’s see. What else? What else? I think he has fun. I think my character,
Nichols, has a lot of—has a kind of a grand time and an inner secret.
Funny fun with it. And I—that’s also true of me here and there. At least, I
aspire to that also. To always finding the enjoyableness in my activities.
But I have. Luckily, I’ve found things to do. Acting, for instance. That I
do find a blast. So there’s a couple of things.
K. Clarke Good things. And as my follow-up, what do you feel it is about the show
going into the season nine now, that resonates well with viewers? What
has kept it going?
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J. Goldblum Gee. Well, they’ve all--Dick Wolf is a brilliant guy and a passionate and
caring guy and attracts terrific people around him, the whole producing
team and the writers that he gets. They just do high quality things. And
then, there’s something about solving crimes like they do, and New York
City. That at least would appeal to me. I can’t speak for everybody. And
what it is, they know more than other people, I’m sure, have thought about
it more and know more about it than I do.
But I know for me, I kind of am in love with New York stories and New
York City. I saw recently this documentary that Ric Burns did called New
York that gives you 400 years of history about this very unique place
where people are put together in the closest proximity from the widest
ranging places. The most diverse people stuck together. And it creates, not
only a hot bed of creativity and spiritedness of all kinds. But trouble, too,
and problems and challenges and the need to solve them, and these New
York stories, these crimes and criminal life and trying to keep the streets
safe are a part of these New York stories. And I love that myself.
And of course, the reason I think it’s also been successful is because the
great actors they’ve had, too. I’ve always wanted to watch Michael
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Moriarty or Sam Waterston or Vince D’Onofrio or Katie Erbe, all those
people. Jerry Orbach. I’d tune in to see them any time.
K. Clarke Great. Thank you so much.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
Moderator Thank you. We now go to the line of Patty Grippo from pazsaz.com.
Please go ahead.
J. Goldblum Hi, Patty.
P. Grippo Hi, Jeff. Thanks for talking with us today.
J. Goldblum Thank you.
P. Grippo Okay. I’m going to start out by telling you, I’m a huge fan. You need to
know this because I need to ask you a question about what’s going on out
there, though. Apparently, there’s a lot of strong feelings within the fan
communities since you’ve joined the cast of the show, and they seem to—
a lot of them seem to feel that it’s kind of lost its edge and become lighter.
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They’re sort of addressing it as the Jeff Goldblum Hour. So here’s your
chance, if you will, could you—I mean, what would you say to these
people?
J. Goldblum Oh, well, gee. First of all, I don’t—it’s news to me because I kind of don’t
stay very in touch with all the—I’ve been consumed with making the
show.
P. Grippo Right.
J. Goldblum I don’t know. I mean, everybody has their own opinion. I’m doing the best
that I can and I know the writers are trying—there are some very heavy
and gruesome episodes that we’ve done. But it’s true. I think part of their
idea about my character is that I have a—I love. I’m very passionate for
the work, for solving these crimes and for particularly investigating the
intent, like the title says of having to do with why these criminal people,
these people so far off the rails would have done what they’ve done and
what that means for knowing about the human being generally and for
myself.
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I think I’m on a very passionate and mysterious and infinitely interesting,
at least in my own character kind of mission. But that along with it, I have
a great time, too. Whatever I’ve been through before. And we’ve made up
a lot of stuff that hasn’t come to the surface, that doesn’t come to the
surface conspicuously or literally. I’m at a place where I find myself very
present, feeling very present and alive and enjoying myself no end. I think
I enjoy myself. Even in these gruesome circumstances and I guess, even
especially when there’s been shocking loss and all the physical world has
been thrown into chaos. It feels like an opportunity to Zack Nichols to find
what’s important in life and find the deeper meanings in life in a very
enjoyable way. And I like solving the puzzle, too.
P. Grippo It’s obvious, actually. I personally enjoy it. It wasn’t from me.
Now, the other question that a lot of people seem to want to know is
you’ve been involved with a lot of things and not in just making films as
an actor, but producing different things or being on the festivals, judging
and things like that. What are you doing now that you’re working on
outside of the show? Anything?
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J. Goldblum Well, let’s see. This is so consuming that I feel like my plate is kind of full
and we’re going to keep filming till May, mid May. Let’s see. What else
am I doing besides this? Well, I play my piano all the time.
P. Grippo Yes.
J. Goldblum I like to keep up with that. And there are things that I am considering after
we finish, but nothing that’s really worth talking about at this point.
P. Grippo Okay. Well, thank you very much.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
Moderator Thank you. We now go to the line of Icess Fernandez from Character
Playground. Please go ahead.
J. Goldblum Hello.
I. Fernandez Hello, Jeff, how are you?
J. Goldblum Good. What’s your first name?
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I. Fernandez Icess, like the goddess.
J. Goldblum That’s fantastic. Hi, Icess.
I. Fernandez Hi. My first question, and I’ve been wanting to ask you this for a very,
very long time actually. You’re known for playing quite quirky characters
and definitely characters of a different point of view. And among my
favorites is the very short-lived, but quite awesome Raines. Could you talk
a little bit about how you approach a character and how you use the script
to aid in your approach?
J. Goldblum Well, how I approach the script? Okay.
I. Fernandez Yes, how you would approach a character and then use what’s in the script
and then maybe bring something to the table from your own references to
create a character.
J. Goldblum I see. That’s a very interesting question. Well, I love writers and good
writing and literature and stories and a good script. So I try to, as much as
anything, figure out what they meant, what this thing is about, and there
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are many nuts and bolts issues that come up in that vein, in our show or a
lot of scripts and stories.
What exactly and specifically? That’s an important question in the
theatrical dictionary, an important word. What specifically do they have in
mind for this, are they trying to depict for this? What reality are they
trying to depict here? This is nothing new. Everybody’s done—and
anybody’s trying to do this, but it constantly fascinates me. And more and
more, I try to give myself over to and serve what they’re doing. And not
only that, but who the writer is and what their whole spirit is, and inner
dynamic and what the message they’re trying to, and feeling that they’re
trying, and song that they’re trying to sing?
And I’m, in many ways the concierge delivering the message up to the
room. And I try to do that as faithfully as I can. And then, beyond that, just
use my own instincts because there’s nothing—it’s not math. It’s not a
science. There’s nothing empirical. Is that the right word? Measurable.
And finally, there’s no foul line that you can either hit the ball within or go
out of. You have to, and everybody’s going to have their own opinion
about it. But you have to use your own taste and instincts about what it is.
And as long as it gets your—once you’re serving the script, if you can, and
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you must, get your own mojo working. And however that takes place. And
it’s different every time. The adventure is kind of a little different every
time. That’s what needs to happen, too. Whatever interests you.
It’s kind of like what my character, Zack Nichols, does in an
unconventional way. He comes to a crime scene and doesn’t really go
well, this is what you are supposed to do. This is what you would do. This
is what logically leads to a deduction from A to B. But as much as that,
and he does that too, but as much as that, it’s kind of hm, what interests
me? What do I notice and what in my stomach and blood and soul and
fingertips and taste buds am I attracted to here? And I trust my
individuality there. He does. And I do in the same—I try to in the same
way that I act. And something like that.
I. Fernandez Ah. Wow, that’s a lot to think about for a writer on this side. I guess,
writing the script or writing the story. So like to think about the process
and to actually translate it for—to help the actor out or help the reader out
with the interpretation.
J. Goldblum Yes.
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I. Fernandez So follow-up question. Let’s get back to the show now. Since earlier you
said it feels like a new show. How will this season continue with what fans
enjoy? And there’s lots of little aspects our fans enjoy of CI. While
documenting and exploring a sort of changing of the guard. I know that
has to be pretty fascinating.
J. Goldblum Yes. Well, who knows for whom it will be fascinating? It fascinates me.
And I love these characters that they’ve written for Saffron and Mary
Elizabeth Mastrantonio. They’re great actors and great people. It’s fun to
hang out with them all day because we work 12, 13, 14 hours some days.
And you spend your whole life together and doing these characters and
telling these stories. I think people can still enjoy, I would hope the stories,
the creative kind of crimes that are depicted. And they’re interesting in a
way.
And the criminals have interesting intents and the whys and wherefores
and inner motives and configurations, endlessly unique configurations of
what makes a killer do what they do and how they’ve gone off the rails.
And what it means for us human beings and what lessons we can learn
from it. That’s, I think, in the same vein and endlessly interesting to me.
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And then, these are new cops, seem to be, however we’re doing it
stylistically, a horror in a personally different way. We’re certainly
effective. And each week, we seem to not give anything away, but we
certainly seem to be—to catch them. And then, with my particular interest,
does seem to sort of uncover at least, the beginning of who these people
are and what makes them tick and what made them tick in this situation
and what that endlessly and infinitely and mysteriously means for who we
are.
I. Fernandez Wow. Well, thank you very much for answering my questions today.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
Moderator Thank you. We now go to the line of Jennifer Williams from
blogcritics.org. Please go ahead.
J. Williams Hi. How are you?
J. Goldblum Hi, Jennifer. Good, Jennifer. How are you?
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J. Williams I’m good. So actually, in relation to a couple of the previous questions, as
you may or may not be aware of, a lot of the fans are actually really upset
about Goren and Eames leaving. So I’m just wondering if you can give the
fans any reassurances or encouragement, reasons to keep watching the
show.
J. Goldblum Well, let’s see. I mean, I totally under—First I’ll say to them, I totally
understand you’re upset. Those were as fantastic a bunch of characters as
I’d ever seen. And fantastic actors as we’ve ever had individually or
together. And I’ll be watching for all of them wherever they go. I know
Eric Bogosian is in a play right now here in New York and haven’t had
time to see it, but I look forward to seeing it. And likewise, Vince and
Katie.
As for what we’re doing, I’m doing my best and I’m enjoying it no end.
And I think the writers, who are terrific, have written different characters
but fascinating characters, at least to me.
I know in Saffron Burrows’s case, she’s such a special actress. I would
encourage anybody—I would recommend and as part of this grief
counseling of the loss of the old show and the old characters, I would
recommend that they consider appreciating Saffron Burrows and Serena
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Stevens, her character. Saffron is such a uniquely beautiful actor inside
and out. And wildly intelligent. Wildly intelligent. And so that they know,
has passions, if they look her up a little bit, politically and having to do
with the world that are very interesting and compelling to me. So fun to be
around for me.
And she brings all of this to the show. She’s passionate and she’s been a
movie star that I’ve been very interested in for a long time. We did a
movie together called Fay Grim in Berlin some years ago with Parker
Posey that Hal Hartley directed. And I’ve loved her in The Guitar and The
Bank Job and Troy. So I would encourage people to really get into her and
appreciate her. She’s sexy as can be and does this part they’ve written for
her. A very interesting part, this detective from Chicago who has an
interesting back story that we can only guess at a little bit and a daughter
that we can guess at a little bit. We have to imagine about. But a very
whole and multifaceted life.
And then, let me encourage them to get into Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.
And seeing her every week. I adore her. We’d done a play together some
years ago. But for anybody who’s seen her from the beginning in Scarface
or The Color of Money or an eye on the stage here in New York through
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the years. She is spectacular, as talented deeply, richly talented and an
actor as there is. Given to a rainbow of color choices in her paint box. And
they’ve written for her just the beginnings already of a character that is
very—that is not only unique, but multidimensional and colorful and
complicated.
So I would, as a fan, I would tune in to see those two. That’s for sure.
J. Williams Okay, great. Thank you.
J. Goldblum You’re welcome.
J. Williams Second question. A fan wanted me, one of my readers wanted me to ask
you if we would ever see a sequel to Mister Frost or if you would be
interested in doing one?
J. Goldblum Well, you see, am I alive at the end of Mister Frost? No, I’m dead. I’m
dead at the end of Mister Frost.
J. Williams That doesn’t mean anything.
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J. Goldblum Oh, that’s right. Sure, that’s right. Well, I don’t know. But thank you.
That’s very nice. It’s a specialty item. I don’t think a lot of people, not as
many people saw that as Independence Day or the dinosaur movies or The
Fly. But people come up to me here and there and it has a devoted
following. I loved it.
I loved Kathy Baker. Now, that’s a wonderful actor. And Alan Bates, the
late Alan Bates, was wonderful in that. Yes. We had a good time in that.
We made it in Paris. It was a pretty good time.
J. Williams Okay.
J. Goldblum I haven’t seen it in a long time. I saw it after we did it, but I haven’t seen it
since then.
J. Williams All right. Thank you so much. I have to say real quick, and you’ll laugh at
me, but my mother says hi. She was going to kill me if I didn’t say that.
J. Goldblum Tell her hello. What’s her name?
J. Williams Cheryl. Cheryl Crawford.
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J. Goldblum Cheryl Crawford?
J. Williams Yes.
J. Goldblum You know there’s—well, Cheryl Crawford was one of the founders. Not
the same Cheryl Crawford. One of the founders of the Group Theatre as
you may know.
J. Williams No, I didn’t know that.
J. Goldblum Yes. And your first name is what?
J. Williams Jennifer.
J. Goldblum Jennifer, of course. Jennifer, well, say hello to Cheryl.
J. Williams I will. Thank you so much.
J. Goldblum You’re welcome.
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Moderator Thank you. We now go to the line of Nancy Harrington from Pop Culture
Passion. Please go ahead.
J. Goldblum Hi, Nancy.
N. Harrington Hi, Jeff. Thanks for talking to us today.
J. Goldblum My pleasure.
N. Harrington We understand, I’m here with my sister Amy, we’re writing partners, and
we understand that you played a track on Lincoln Adler’s album Short
Stories. And we’re wondering if you have any plans to record an album of
your own.
J. Goldblum You’re so funny, you and Amy sitting there. I love Lincoln Adler. I love
doing that. What did we play? I think I played on Bosoco…Rosario
Rosario …Wasn’t it a song for my father?
N. Harrington Yes.
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J. Goldblum As I remember it, yes, that’s right. I have no plans to do any recording
because it’s kind of a hobby for me. If something comes up, I’d do it but
no. I just—the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra we call ourselves. As is when
I’m out of work in L.A., we gig around there. On the Christmas break, I
did a New Year’s Eve gig when I was back in Los Angeles. And in late
May, when I get back there, I’ll be looking for a place to hook up with my
band again and play. But I don’t know. We have no plans to record
anything.
N. Harrington Great. Well, we’ll watch for the gig. That would be fun. What about—
J. Goldblum So nice you could come and tap me on the shoulder. Where’s Lincoln? Is
he up in San Francisco?
N. Harrington I don’t know.
Amy Yes. Actually.
N. Harrington Not sure.
J. Goldblum Yes. He’s fantastic. Anyway, go ahead. Sorry.
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N. Harrington Yes. We also are wondering, we know that you debuted in the Tony
Award winning musical Two Gentlemen of Verona, and we’re wondering
if you would ever consider doing a movie musical.
J. Goldblum Well, yes, I would. I like the movie musical. I enjoyed this last year of
Nine. I enjoyed West Side Story that I saw on stage again. Made me think
of the movie. Yes. In fact, go see—you haven’t seen my movie called
Pittsburgh?
N. Harrington Oh, no. Missed that one.
J. Goldblum Oh. So it’s not really a movie musical, but it’s about an actor who does,
takes a part in a two-week run of a musical.
N. Harrington Yes.
J. Goldblum And it’s called Pittsburgh. And I’m in it. I play the actor so I sing and
dance a little bit. And I helped produce it.
N. Harrington Oh, we’ll be sure to look for that.
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J. Goldblum Yes.
N. Harrington Thank you so much.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
N. Harrington All right. Bye.
J. Goldblum Bye-bye.
Moderator Thank you. We now go to the line of April MacIntyre from
monstersandcritics.com.
J. Goldblum Oh, monsters. Hi, April.
A. MacIntyre Hi, Jeff. One of the beauties of being at the very end of the call is that
everyone’s seemingly asked most of the questions I had for you, but
you’re really an interesting actor to me. You’re a very analytical observer
in the way that you approach a lot of your roles, if not most of them.
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J. Goldblum Thank you.
A. MacIntyre And when you’re keyed into another actor, I’ve noticed, you become more
alive. Your energy just explodes. And it happened with Gena Davis,
obviously, in The Fly. You guys had a tremendous chemistry. And I’m
wondering, as your character in this series or in any acting ventures that
you’ve done, which actors have really keyed you up and really made you--
brought your best game out and really energized you as an actor?
J. Goldblum You are so nice. Yes. I like what you’re saying because it’s kind of the
cornerstone of the training that I got early on by Sandy Meisner. A lot of
people know, Sanford Meisner now. But I studied with him and part of
his, that some people know that’s sometimes misunderstood or
miscommunicated. But he teaches a training system whereby the early
material is an improvisation of a particular kind that focuses in a big way
on interaction. And all good actors are doing it anyway. But his is a very
good method.
And I teach a little bit myself. And enjoy teaching actors to do that with
each other, not only that but other things too. It goes beyond that. But
that’s part of his early thing. So I do like—I love the part of acting that has
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me with other actors and allows you to play with other actors. I’ve been
lucky to work with a lot of wonderful actors, but I’ll tell you the ones I’m
talking about today, these two are particularly spectacular.
And of course, that’s the great thing about Law and Order because it’s
kind of like an anthology series. Like I said before to somebody, where the
cream of New York and the theatrical crop of actors you get every week.
So where we’ve worked with great actors and it’s always fun. But Saffron-
- and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Saffron Burrows are both
spectacular. And working with both of them, I feel like I have to be
worthy of them, come up to my best that I can do and feel like they bring
something good out of me.
A. MacIntyre Are there crimes that your character, Zack Nichols—Do you think that
there are crimes that bother him more than others?
J. Goldblum Yes, I do. There were crimes—I mean, the first couple of episodes that
depict this killing of my friend that I’m personally involved with. That’s a
horrible thing. I think I’m very bothered and personally—it’s not just a
matter of—I’m always bothered in the sense that I’m passionate and
outraged and full of a fierce kind of sense of justice and wanting to solve
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this thing. But more so, I’m a very kind of a susceptible, vulnerable human
kind of guy that they’ve written. And when my friend, and old partner,
gets killed. Yes, I think it bothers me in a whole different and deeper way.
A. MacIntyre Hmm. You’re from the east coast? You work out west, but you also go
back and work in the east, too. Do you think, eventually, when that day
comes that you do retire or settle down or stop working, will you retire on
the east coast? Is that your worldview or are you an east coaster or do you
like the west coast?
J. Goldblum That’s so funny. I wouldn’t take sides with one over another. And I
don’t—now that you brought it up, I really don’t see myself retiring really.
It feels like—
A. MacIntyre Many decades from now.
J. Goldblum Yes. Well, who knows? You never know what even tomorrow will bring. I
feel lucky to be around today and if I get to work tomorrow, I’ll feel lucky
and will enjoy every moment of it. And likewise, when I find myself here,
I kind of enjoy it terrifically. And I do like feeling the seasons again,
although it’s tough. Brutal. Winter is brutal and summer gets hot. But I
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kind of like it. It reminds me of when I was this kid, speaking of this
episode, the season change—
A. MacIntyre Yes.
J. Goldblum --that happens here. But I like it out there a lot. And so, I like kind of
coming back and forth and doing things both places. I don’t know. Even if
I wasn’t acting, I imagine I would enjoy being in both places in a way.
And other places, too.
A. MacIntyre Wonderful. Thank you very much.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much.
C. Fehskens Ladies and gentlemen, that’s all the time we have for today’s session. I’d
like to thank Jeff Goldblum for joining us and remind everyone to tune
into the season premiere of Law and Order Criminal Intent next Tuesday
at 10:00/9:00 central on USA Network. Enjoy the rest of your day,
everyone. Thanks again.
J. Goldblum Thanks again.
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Moderator This does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for using AT&T.
You may now disconnect.