6 iconic Jeff Goldblum roles for his 66th birthday
Jeff Goldblum is 66 years old today, and his career has spanned decades. How hard can it be to find six iconic roles? The answer: not very.
It seems impossible that Jeff Goldblum is 66 years old. After all, every interview with him seems to reveal something new and delightful (like how he knows that people draw fanart of Loki and the Grandmaster), and the man has a jazz album on the way of all things.
However, it really is his 66th birthday, and you may want to celebrate by watching some of his cinematic exploits. With all of that in mind, let’s recount six of his greatest roles — and help you find them for streaming purposes.
Hey, who’s to say that a Goldblum double (or triple) feature isn’t a great way to wrap up an October Monday?
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Let’s start with some really early Goldblum here. Even in his mid-twenties and in one of his earliest films, you can already see — and hear — some of his calling cards. In this remake of the 1956 movie, he plays Jack, one of the four people who start to notice that things are getting a little strange with bodies and plants popping up everywhere.
Also, this movie features — and I’m not kidding here — Leonard Nimoy, Donald Sutherland, and Veronica Cartwright, all with acting pedigrees of their own (Cartwright plays Goldblum’s wife, and appeared in Alien the next year).
It’s available via Amazon Prime Video.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
We go from early Goldblum to a more recent effort, featuring possibly the best facial hair that he has ever had on screen. The Grand Budapest Hotel has him playing the role of Deputy Kovacs, looking into the death of Madame D, who frequents the hotel; the concierge is thus framed up for her murder.
It’s a bit of a strange film — the score alone and the visuals should tell you as much even in this brief introduction — but it suits him perfectly as an actor.
Rent it on Amazon.
Independence Day (1996)
Even though Goldblum appears in the long-gestating sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, you can safely skip it. Besides, this one has Will Smith. Not to knock Liam Hemsworth, but Smith in his late-’90s prime is way better than the second-best Hemsworth brother.
But we’re here to talk about Goldblum; you can spot his character, David Levinson, using a very advanced laptop (for the ’90s) in this clip, where he figures out that “time’s up” and the alien attack is about to begin. Sure, he might not really fight the aliens — that’s not his job — but he’s the one who figures out how to defeat them.
Besides, he doesn’t need an iconic speech declaring that “this is our independence day” or anything like that to make an impression.