THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503030053
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
JEFF GOLDBLUM has had a tough life on the big screen. He's had trouble with gunfighters (``Silverado''), insects (``The Fly'') and, most notably, dinosaurs (``Jurassic Park'').
Now, he's taking on death itself.
``To come back from the dead?'' mulled the dark, intense Goldblum.
With a shrug, he said, ``It's a job.''
In the current psychological thriller ``Hideaway,'' he plays Hatch Harrison, a man whose car is struck by an oncoming truck and subsequently crashes into an icy river. He's pronounced legally dead but, via a highly advanced resuscitation unit, he breathes again some 90 minutes later.
Yet he has strange dreams. Those dreams eventually lead to a psychic link with a serial killer who may have sinister plans for his 15-year-old daughter (played by Alicia Silverstone, the cutie in those Aerosmith videos on MTV).
It's all based on the best-selling novel by Dean R. Koontz and is directed by Brett Leonard, who scored a surprise hit with his computer-generated special effects for ``The Lawnmower Man.''
Goldblum, sitting for an interview in Los Angeles, admits that he didn't quite know what to expect when he saw the finished movie.
``The effects are a mystery to the actors. We never know what these guys are doing. Then we see the movie and we're surprised. I know that they did a cyber-scan of my head. The camera moved around my head and digitized my face in a three-dimensional form. It's a little scary - more scary to an actor than all the monsters we face. What if, someday, they can punch a computer and get a performance out of it? Maybe replace the actors?''
The first thing you notice about Goldblum is his height. At 6-feet-4-inches, he's a lanky and somewhat intense figure, with deepset, brooding eyes.
He dispels the image. ``Acting,'' he said, ``is nothing more nor less than playing. The idea is to humanize life.''
When he isn't acting, he teaches acting. ``You can teach a craft, but you can't really teach acting,'' he cautioned. ``The whole idea is to create living out of a made-up situation. It's best when it can't be planned. I'm most happy when I'm surprised - when a scene didn't turn out the way I expected.''
Born in Pittsburgh, Goldblum started acting in the ninth grade. At 17, he was accepted to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York with Sanford Meisner. In less than a year, he was starring in the hit Broadway musical version of Shakespeare's ``Two Gentlemen of Verona.'' He made his feature film debut as one of the killers in ``Death Wish'' with Charles Bronson. He went on to work with Robert Altman in ``Nashville.''
His mainstream breakthrough was ``The Big Chill.'' He also appeared in ``Annie Hall,'' ``Invasion of the Body Snatchers,'' the cult favorite ``The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai'' and ``The Tall Guy.''
Of his roles in ``Body Snatchers,'' ``The Fly'' and now ``Hideaway,'' he says, ``I'm not particularly interested in science fiction. I'm interested in make-believe, but not particularly in science. These roles just happened.''
He isn't sure whether he would choose to come back from the dead. ``Playing in the film gave me no idea of what it might really be like. The movie depicts the usual light at the end of a tunnel, which some people have said they experienced before coming back. But I can't say that I have experienced anything like that.''
Death struck his own family when his brother, Rick, then age 23, died from a rare virus picked up on a North African trip.
Goldblum, 42, is divorced from Patricia Gaul and Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis. Most recently, he's been romantically linked with his ``Jurassic Park'' co-star, Laura Dern.
He's signed an option for a ``Jurassic Park'' sequel, but hasn't seen a script.
``My character wasn't killed off in the first one, so it would be nice,'' Goldblum said. He admits that starring in the most successful commercial movie of all time ``has been something of a perk, but not something you could build a career on. Since `Jurassic Park,' there have been a few unexpected offers. Things are a bit nicer.''
Next, he has a lighter, happier time of it in a romantic comedy called ``Nine Months,'' starring opposite Hugh Grant. ``I play this guy who doesn't want to accept the responsibility of having children,'' he said. ``There are a lot of us around. I break up with my girlfriend over it. At the end of the picture, she's pregnant and I'm adjusted.''
After that, he will star opposite Mary Steenburgen in ``Powder.''
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY MOVIES by CNB