Jeff Goldblum opens up about the personal items that mean the most to him. From his copy of 'The Great Gatsby' that he read to his wife on his first date, to the glasses he wore in 'The Grand Budapest Hotel', Jeff shares the stories behind the possessions he holds dear, revealing the memories and emotions they carry. As he reflects on his life, career, and the people who have shaped him, his passion and deep connection to these objects become clear. Join Jeff as he takes you on an intimate journey through his most prized possessions, explaining why each one holds a special place in his heart. Watch as he gets candid and emotional while talking about the items that have left a lasting impact on him, and gain a rare glimpse into the man behind the iconic roles.
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00:00This is, of course, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
00:03I think this is the one that I read to Emily on our first date.
00:08Chapter 1.
00:10In my younger and more vulnerable years,
00:13my father gave me some advice
00:16that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
00:21Quote, whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me,
00:24just remember that all the people in this world
00:30haven't had the advantages that you've had.
00:34Isn't that great?
00:36And then I proceeded to, on our next several meetings,
00:39finish the whole thing.
00:40I read the whole book.
00:41Today we're talking about my most prized so-called possessions.
00:46Yes, I'm going to look at some and tell you why they're prized.
00:48Let me see.
00:49Well, this is a piece of rope.
00:51And you get it from a magic store.
00:53This is green because I thought I might use it as The Wizard of Oz,
00:56but I didn't.
00:57Or I did, and they cut it out of the movie
00:59because I've tried to use it in several movies
01:01after I learned it as per the instructions of Robert Altman,
01:05with whom I worked four times.
01:07He said, it's not in the script, but you got,
01:08do you know sleight of hand?
01:10I said, no, never did any of that.
01:11He said, we're going to set you up with a teacher in New York.
01:13And by the time we finished,
01:15I've had a bag of tricks to bring to Nashville.
01:17I'm going to show you what the rope tricks are.
01:19Ready?
01:19Watch this.
01:20Now you have to watch closely.
01:21Watch closely.
01:22You get it on the same.
01:23Now see this?
01:23That's a knot, of course.
01:25And that's a good knot that is not.
01:30Here's another knot that's also not.
01:36What?
01:37When I was a kid, I got my shoelaces all tied up,
01:40trying to learn how to tie them.
01:42And they would get like this.
01:43Oh, God.
01:44Oh, my God.
01:45What have I done?
01:45I've done it again.
01:46But because I'm a magician, here, what happened?
01:53What?
01:54Thank you very much.
01:55That's it.
01:56These glasses I rather like.
01:58When I did the Wes Anderson movie called The Grand Budapest Hotel,
02:03and at this fitting, the whole team was there,
02:06and they followed his drawings and fitted me into this tweedy three-piece suit
02:11and this interesting thing.
02:12And he had something like these glasses pictured.
02:15Tried on a bunch of glasses, and Wes was there.
02:18Said, no, not those.
02:20Maybe those.
02:21I don't think so.
02:21No, no.
02:22I don't think we've found it.
02:24Well, we'll keep looking.
02:25This was now a few months before we started to shoot.
02:27Let me look around.
02:28I think I know what you want.
02:29I went to Jack's.
02:30I found Jack's.
02:31I don't think I'd been there before.
02:32He brought out many things.
02:34I put them on.
02:35I took pictures of them.
02:37I sent them to Wes.
02:38And Wes, when he saw me in a picture of me in these, he went, those are the ones.
02:44That's it.
02:45You found them.
02:46We made it through the chute.
02:47Without them getting lost or broken, I took them home.
02:49They're mine.
02:50I bought them.
02:52I don't think they reimbursed me for them.
02:55I don't know when I'll ever wear it again.
02:57So I keep it around in this little case, and it's prized.
03:01Because it's close by me, I have a watch here.
03:03Now, this is a real Rolex watch.
03:05It's kind of heavy, but I never in my adult life until a couple of years ago really made
03:10a serious investment in any watch.
03:13And now I have like four watches.
03:15I've got two Cartier watches.
03:18And in fact, I should show you this too.
03:19This is my go-to fashionable, presentable watch.
03:22I like it a lot.
03:23We've got two little boys, Charlie and River, now seven and nine.
03:27And in fact, they go through my closet and go, ta-da, you know, when you die, can I have
03:33this?
03:33Can I have that?
03:34You know, so we have that conversation.
03:35It doesn't seem to be any big deal to them, at least.
03:39So I like the idea of possibly having them, the recipients of a Cartier watch, a piece.
03:50And here's the other inheritable Rolex watch.
03:53It's a real Rolex watch, but it's customized.
03:55It says, I am Ian Malcolm.
03:58It's for Ian Malcolm.
03:59And how can I show you this?
04:01It's got a T-Rex.
04:02It's got the Jurassic logo right here inside it.
04:06Milgauss.
04:06And you Rolex aficionados will know that that was originally invented for people who needed
04:12to be around electrical equipment, I think.
04:15Yes, yes, it's all coming back to me.
04:17And so we thought, hey, Ian Malcolm might be a person of that kind and might have a thing
04:21like that.
04:22But I'd rather prize this.
04:23And I believe if the children come to appreciate me in the Jurassic Park series and understand
04:28that I'm what's called an actor, maybe they'll like that idea.
04:31Hey, my hand is reaching for this.
04:33I'm a little bit of a piano player and I have a band called the Mildred Schnitzer Orchestra
04:37and we're coming out with our fourth album.
04:38And I like to play.
04:39I've played for years.
04:40My parents gave all us four kids lessons.
04:43I didn't know discipline, really.
04:46So she'd show up, Tommy Emel, for the lessons once a week and I would go, oh, and he'd be
04:51miserable and I'd be miserable.
04:52He'd say, you didn't practice, did you?
04:53And I go, no, no, Mr. Emel, I didn't practice.
04:57But then there's something in my system that likes jazz.
05:03He gave me a piece of music as an exercise, as homework of this, Alley Cat.
05:08This, I kind of remember, was the first one and it was jazzy.
05:11If you don't know, it goes, and I was like, I love that so much.
05:19I need to learn to play that.
05:20And I'm just going to sit here and now, I don't know if it's called practicing, but
05:23I'm going to sit here and play until I know how to play that.
05:26And I learned to play it and it changed my life.
05:29This is a crazy thing.
05:31For a while, I kept a kind of a red-lettered day and date page that had my big events.
05:39Because otherwise, how do you remember, hey, when did I move into this house and when did
05:44I do that job?
05:46And, you know.
05:471970, the fall of 1970.
05:50Autumn.
05:51I graduate high school and I move to New York City.
05:53New York City, just like I pictured it.
05:57Living just enough, just enough for the city.
06:01Anyway, that's that.
06:03And I won't continue with the last 40 years after that, but what a lucky life it's been.
06:10Gah, gah, gah, gah, gah.
06:11There you go.
06:12There's my red-lettered days.
06:14And it, uh, I meet Emily Livingston, now Emily Goldbloom, my wife, some 13 years ago.
06:22I can tell why I stopped doing this because that's all I ever wanted from my life is to
06:27get to that point.
06:30Speaking of Charlie and River, they paint.
06:32They like to paint.
06:33So, I do prize these.
06:35They give me things all the time.
06:37Ta-da, this is for you.
06:38They make things.
06:39And River, particularly, is passionate about it, focused, and makes a lot of things.
06:46And is enterprising, is entrepreneurial, likes to sell them.
06:50He wants money for them.
06:51And he goes, hey, he says, you know, and I've bought a couple of his paintings for a couple
06:55of dollars.
06:56And, you know, they're both playing piano.
06:57This picture is, kind of impressionistically, our piano at home.
07:02It's really good.
07:02So, that's his painting of not only the piano, but I think whatever musical vibrations are
07:09coming out of it.
07:09And he's signed at River.
07:11And then, I think he, it's 2024, he didn't want to put Jeef on it or Jeff, so he crossed
07:15that out and he put River.
07:16When they make things for the two of the works, spectacularly adorable and maddening and challenging
07:22and primal and feral and wonderful, but totally adorable and hilarious.
07:28And their painting is fantastic.
07:30I love their painting.
07:31This other one is from Charlie.
07:33It's for Maman.
07:35They're French.
07:36You know, my wife is French and devoted to our French culture.
07:39She talks French to the kids.
07:41Now, Maman, she was in the Olympics, you know.
07:44She was a rhythmic gymnast.
07:46And so, I think this is one of her, you know, she might have her tights on and she's the
07:50queen.
07:51She is royalty and that's coming out of that.
07:54And the sun is shining down on her and she's happy as a clam.
07:57They both play pianos.
07:58I told you his piano is good.
08:00And they surf.
08:01They've been surfing.
08:02Their swimming is good.
08:03He's athletic like their mom.
08:04And I'm kind of an athletic myself.
08:06Not like the mom.
08:07But they're good.
08:09Now, this is a crazy little item.
08:11Here's squiggles.
08:12Emily and I have a, to us, interesting and funny game.
08:16I put it somewhere where she hasn't noticed.
08:19And then it'll be her turn.
08:20And then I'll find it someplace by and by.
08:23I love to make her laugh.
08:24It's really fun.
08:25And she makes me laugh.
08:27My sister, Pam, she painted this.
08:31She paints many things.
08:32This is, believe it or not, taken from a photograph of me in my little Speedo, sort of high-waisted
08:39Speedo.
08:40And this was our dog named Ginger, a kind of chocolate French poodle that we adored.
08:46And then Emily and I said, hey, let's get it before we have kids.
08:49Maybe we want to try things out with a dog.
08:51So I said, hey, maybe the kind like I had when I was a kid.
08:55Maybe we'd get another French poodle.
08:56She said, okay.
08:58And we got a French poodle that we call Woody.
09:00He's the greatest dog in the world.
09:02So that's all of those things in one.
09:05My sister, our old dog, my house in Pittsburgh, the dog life that I've enjoyed.
09:12Last thing are some vinyl records.
09:15These are from my childhood.
09:18This is, this is great.
09:22This is from Danny Kay.
09:24Our parents, my mom used to play this for us, and it's so beautiful.
09:28And in the title song, which is beautifully orchestrated by Gordon Jenkins, the orchestra
09:33sounds great.
09:34He sings this song.
09:35Mommy, give me a drink of water.
09:39Give me a cookie.
09:41It's about a kid who's been put to bed by his mom already and doesn't want to go to sleep.
09:47So he keeps finding reasons musically and musically were expressed to get her back in there.
09:52Give me a drink of water.
09:54Tell me a story to the one about the year, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
09:58And then he goes through it.
09:59Many things.
10:00It's a great song.
10:01And I get very moved when I choked up when I hear this song.
10:05And it's just great.
10:05And I played it for the kids.
10:07And, you know, it's great.
10:08Now, look, this one I had when I was a kid.
10:11Basil Rathbone reads Edgar Allan Poe.
10:13So he reads a few of these stories.
10:14But you know what I would do with my sister?
10:16I was very close to my sister.
10:18But I would like to, I'd like to scare her sometimes.
10:20So at least on one occasion, I said, Pam, Pam, let's put out all the lights.
10:26And I'm going to put on this record.
10:28You hear the scratchy record.
10:30And then he starts to read, once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.
10:38I loved it.
10:39Well, it's a little bit of a seed of the current me or a little view into something of me.
10:45This is a good record.
10:46Cats puts on the dog.
10:47Joel Gray, who plays the Wizard of Oz in the original stage version that I saw and fell in love with when I saw it on Broadway.
10:54I came to know a little bit.
10:56He came over the house once.
10:58And then I've come to know Jennifer, his daughter, you know, the dirty dancing girl.
11:05I love Jennifer.
11:06Great.
11:06But you know who there, who her grandfather and his father is?
11:10Mickey Katz.
11:11And he was a performer, an entertainer.
11:13And he did these songs that were popular songs and then made novel by changing them here and there into Yiddish.
11:21So anyway, I got a big kick out of those.
11:23And anyway, I still cherish that little record.
11:27And then I would talk to Joel Gray and Jennifer about that and my life.
11:31And they would know the songs and we would sing them together.
11:33That was a big thrill to me, big, big thrill.
11:36If my parents ever would have seen me singing those songs with them, they would have gotten a big kick out of it.
11:42That's my story.
11:43I'm sticking to it.
11:44My table is empty.
11:45Those are some of my prized possessions and a little portal into my soul.
11:51That was perfect.
11:53Thank you so much.
11:55Thank you, dear InStyle people.