Man with the golden grin
The tall figure that emerges from the corridor for the second time stops, turns limpid eyes on me and gushes a sweet hello. Hand on his heart, Jeff Goldblum - star of The Lost World, sequel to the world's most successful film Jurassic Park - continues even as his over-anxious minder hustles him back into The Peninsula hotel library: 'I'll see you soon; it's so nice of you to come.' When Goldblum turns on the charm, it can be overwhelming. It is easy to see why his co-star Julianne Moore has commented on how 'women fall for Jeff left and right . . . but he's very genuine in his attentions, flirty in an old-fashioned way', or how ex-wife Geena Davis and ex-girlfriend Laura Dern were swept off their feet after co-starring with him.
He certainly gets full marks for sounding effortlessly genuine when we finally meet almost an hour later (not his fault, journalists had been asked to turn up an hour early). 'Hi, I'm Jeff. Let's get started. You've been waiting so long,' came the apologetic welcome.
It is hard to know how to take Goldblum; he is not what one has come to expect of big Hollywood stars. He looks at you with an earnestness that makes you feel he wants to tell you his deepest, darkest secrets, but deflects questions he does not want to answer with such disarming pleasantness that you don't know whether to admire his skill or feel exasperated.
He protests good-naturedly when I mention this later in the interview. 'Oh, I've given you lots of stuff; I've been nothing if not forthcoming,' he says, turning on the charm. Only on things he wants to be forthcoming about, I add.
'That's true, that's true,' he concedes with a twinkle in those wonder-filled eyes.
Goldblum has been married twice - to actress Patricia Gaul for five years and to Geena Davis from 1986 to 1990 - and has, until recently, been engaged to his Jurassic Park co-star, Laura Dern. These are topics he parries off. 'I'm trying to keep my personal life low-key,' he says. 'I think it's nice for them as much as for anything else, and courteous of me. Nobody wants to read about themselves.' But one thing he makes no bones about: life in Hollywood is pretty good these days. He has starred in three of the biggest box-office films - Jurassic Park, Independence Day and, now, The Lost World which opened in the US at record-breaking US$92.7 million - in Hollywood history, Goldblum sports the grin of a Cheshire cat when this is mentioned.