Topic: The Jeff Goldblum Appreciation Thread.

[Captain Z]

I have never watched The Fly so I might put that right tonight. I don't really get invested in actors the way I would with musicians but old Jeff is one of those I do always have time for. Loved his cameo in Friends too.

[icehaven]

I saw the episode of Friends where he has a cameo the other day, and it's great but I don't get why he, Gary Oldman and I think there was at least one other famous actor, cameoed as fictional famous actors working with Joey when they really are famous actors so it'd still make sense in the show's world if they were just supposed to be themselves. Maybe they didn't want to blur the line as the characters have huge personality faults (alcoholism, pretention etc.) but it'd have been better.

[Avril Lavigne]

I have never watched The Fly so I might put that right tonight.

You really should, in my mind it's his best performance and the film is one of my favourites ever for a wide variety of reasons.  A lot of folks seem to just focus on how gross it is and miss how well-done the tragic romance side of the story is or how the whole thing is an effective allegory for the destructive nature of drug addiction.

[Kelvin]

I saw the episode of Friends where he has a cameo the other day, and it's great but I don't get why he, Gary Oldman and I think there was at least one other famous actor, cameoed as fictional famous actors working with Joey when they really are famous actors so it'd still make sense in the show's world if they were just supposed to be themselves. Maybe they didn't want to blur the line as the characters have huge personality faults (alcoholism, pretention etc.) but it'd have been better.

Actors playing exaggerated or grotesque versions of themselves was just much less of a thing back then, I think. It's something that really became commonplace in the Noughties.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

He doesn't seem to have been that overexposed since achieving living meme status. Obviously he's had some high profile gigs - revisiting his two big '90s roles and going full Goldblum in Thor Ragnarok - but he could easily be all over the place, taking a Mayor Adam West type of role in some animated sitcom, or having his own comedy special, like Bill Murray and Michael Bolton. Maybe he's wary of outstaying his welcome, or he's just content to potter about with his jazz music.

the whole thing is an effective allegory for the destructive nature of drug addiction.

I've seen it loads of times and I'd never considered that reading. It being the '80s, people mostly seemed to view it as an AIDS metaphor. Perhaps another viewing is in order.

[Avril Lavigne]

I've seen it loads of times and I'd never considered that reading. It being the '80s, people mostly seemed to view it as an AIDS metaphor. Perhaps another viewing is in order.

I think Cronenberg has said a few times that it can be read as representing anyone dealing with a disease so the AIDS thing is right, but I've always felt the drug metaphor works a little better because there's the initial period where he has all of that extra energy and vitality, running around rambling on about how amazing it feels, and he's convinced Veronica and everyone else should join him and experience the same high.

[St_Eddie]

I have never watched The Fly so I might put that right tonight. I don't really get invested in actors the way I would with musicians but old Jeff is one of those I do always have time for. Loved his cameo in Friends too.

You "might" watch it?  You bloody well will watch it, young man.  You'll watch it and bloody well love it, or it's off to bed with you, with no supper!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yeah seriously, watch The Fly.

Then watch Videodrome. Doesn't have Jeff in it, but it's still important.

[St_Eddie]

I think Cronenberg has said a few times that it can be read as representing anyone dealing with a disease so the AIDS thing is right...

David Cronenberg has gone on record as saying that it was never meant as a AIDS metaphor but as you say, it is a metaphor for disease in general and so AIDS certainly fits in with that.  Cronenberg has also stated that it could be viewed as a metaphor for aging, which is becoming ever more relevant, every time that I rewatch the film.

I've always felt the drug metaphor works a little better because there's the initial period where he has all of that extra energy and vitality, running around rambling on about how amazing it feels, and he's convinced Veronica and everyone else should join him and experience the same high.

That's a great take on it!

Then watch Videodrome.

My second favourite Cronenberg film.  Took me a couple of viewings for it to really click but yeah, it's outstanding.

[Sebastian Cobb]

My introduction to Videodrome was at a sleepover round my mates when I was about 14. He'd fell asleep and I was channel hopping on his ancient Hitachi wooden-sided TV (with a less old hand-me-down sashio vcr underneath) and hit channel 4 with it on, fuzzy and ghosted to fuck, I knew I was onto something brilliant and in a way it added to the experience.

The best part about it is how it predicted YouTube and the Internet in a backwards looking way, 'Of course, O'Blivion was not the name I was born with. That's my television name. Soon all of us will have special names, names designed to cause the cathode ray tube to resonate.'.