Because He’s Jeff Goldblum is an irreverent yet deeply researched biography about the always offbeat, suddenly meme-able, and wildly popular actor. Want to hear how Goldblum saved a script supervisor from an amorous baboon? Or what he would write on the mirror after taking showers when he was a teenager? How about his feelings on various brands of throat lozenges? (That one could be an entire book unto itself.) Then this is the book for you!
But first, we had the pleasure of chatting with Travis M. Andrews all about what led him to dive into everything Goldblum, as well as writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Travis! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’d be happy to! I’m a features reporter with The Washington Post, where I primarily cover the Internet, culture and the ways we live now. I’m primarily interested in how the Internet intersects with and helps shape various facets of life from pop culture to politics to just everyday living.
Before working at The Post, I was a travel and culture editor for Southern Living magazine, where I would take road trips around the American South and seek out its most interesting attractions.
Let’s see what else. Hmm. I’m originally from New Orleans, a fact that nearly anyone who speaks with me quickly learns, though I now live in Washington, D.C., with my sweet puppy Stevie Nix.
How is your 2021 going in comparison to that other year?
Honestly, I feel beyond blessed. Last year was tough, and this year hasn’t been easy so far – has it for anyone? But my family and I all have our health, I have steady work and I’m lucky enough to have a book coming out. I’m trying to spend these months truly feeling grateful. Tough as things might have been at times, I know how much easier I’ve had it than so many others.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
First book I remember reading is easy: Crictor by Tomi Ungerer. It’s a goofy little children’s book about a French woman and her boa constrictor. I absolutely loved it as a child. My mom would read it to me almost every night, doing this funny little tongue-roll every time she’d pronounce “Crictor,” the snake’s name. Eventually I learned to read it on my own, but it was never quite as fun as laughing along with mom.
I’ve wanted to be an author as long as I can remember, but the book that made me want to write about pop culture in a sort of off-kilter way was Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman. He was working at Spin magazine at the time, and he pitched a story in which he’d visit the places where every famous rock musician died in the U.S. The result is a travelogue of sorts, which finds Klosterman driving a Ford Taurus across America and ruminating on rock music and the price of fame but also on his own life. A sort of semi-memoir, semi-cultural criticism, semi-romp. I was instantly hooked, and I reread it more times than I can remember. I just so loved the idea of writing about one subject while ruminating on so many other things – while being funny.
What book I can’t stop thinking is definitely a constantly shifting target. During quarantine, I’ve been tearing through the novels of Tana French, one of my favorite contemporary writers. I just finished her Dublin murder squad series, and I just can’t get the fourth installment, Broken Harbor, out of my head. As with all her books, it’s centered around a murder investigation but is really about a plethora of other, weightier topics, including obsession, how we think about ourselves and how society’s idea of success can twist us into unrecognizable shapes. It’s not necessarily my favorite of the six-book series — I have trouble choosing! — but it’s the one that’s stuck its claws in my brain.
Because He’s Jeff Goldblum: The Movies, Memes, and Meaning of Hollywood’s Most Enigmatic Actor is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
The best book ever written!
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Ok, I’m joking. I’d say: A biography that’s actually fun.
What can readers expect?
First and foremost, I hope they have a great time reading my book. That’s what I really set out to do. My instinct was that when you’re reading about someone as wacky, fascinating and charismatic as Jeff Goldblum, you’re looking to have a good time — while learning along the way. And that’s why I structured the book as I did: 11 chapters and an equal number of “interludes.”
I interviewed dozens upon dozens (upon dozens) of Goldblum’s colleagues, friends and collaborators and pored over nearly every — if not every — interview he’s ever given. I took everything I learned and I wrote the 11 chapters, which trace his life, are filled with funny and insightful anecdotes and also ruminate on the shifting nature of fame his celebrity exemplifies. Voices such as Lawrence Kasdan, Billy Crudup, Harry Shearer and Chuck Klosterman populate these pages.
In between the chapters are off-the-wall “interludes,” where things get kind of weird. One of them includes a few haikus about our man, along with a space for you to write your own (and to send them to me, if you’d like!). Another includes a one-act play in which a teenage Goldblum meets his adult self and one’s an imagined interview with him. I want people to have a blast reading this book, and — if it’s not too bold to say so — I really think they will.
What made you interested in Jeff Goldblum? And we won’t accept ‘because he’s Jeff Goldblum’!
One day my colleagues at The Washington Post and I were sitting around at the end of a Friday afternoon and chatting about Goldblum. At some point, I said that I didn’t quite understand how this guy who was an A-list actor in the ‘90s somehow seems more famous than ever. Everyone responded, almost together, “because he’s Jeff Goldblum!”
Well, I got curious. What on earth did that mean? I knew his big movies — Jurassic Park, The Big Chill, Independence Day, Invasion of the Body Snatchers — but I got kind of obsessed with why he is just so popular these days. I’m particularly interested in how the Internet has altered all facets of life, and it seemed like the shifting nature of fame and what it means to be a celebrity in a social media age might have something to do with it. Spoiler alert: it does, but Goldblum brings something pretty special to the table that I didn’t anticipate. I’ll leave it at that, a little cliffhanger to entice folks to read the book!
Were there any parts of the book that you really enjoyed researching and writing?
Oh, it’s so difficult to choose a particular part. This is a smaller part of the book, but I had the pleasure of chatting with Harry Shearer about working with Goldblum on The Right Stuff, and his stories were honestly sidesplittingly funny. I was cracking up throughout the phone call which is probably my most unprofessional moment in my career. It was beyond worth it, though.
Can you tell us about some fun tidbits you learned along the way?
I don’t want to spoil too much, but here’s a preview: In one chapter, Jeff Goldblum has to tame a baboon (like, an actual baboon) that has become so infatuated with a member of the crew of The Fly that he, erm, wasn’t in working condition. It’s probably the funniest story in the book, a true classic.
My big takeaway, though, and what I loved about writing the book is that no one had a bad word to say about Goldblum. These are trying times, and to speak to so many people who have nothing but gushing things to say about a celebrity … I don’t know. I didn’t expect that, and it gave me some strange sense of hope. He brings a certain joy to everyone he meets, and I found that oddly touching, oddly profound.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
The worst writing advice, probably, is that any advice is absolute. You have to do what works for you, and everyone works little bit differently. Personally, I like to go on extremely long walks with a chapter forming in my head, and I don’t sit down until a general shape has emerged. Then I just sit and type and type and type. But other writers work differently.
So, with the caveat that no advice is absolute, I would say I think one pitfall some writers fall into is waiting for inspiration. I work at a daily newspaper, where that’s just not an option. I’d be fired in a week. Learning to write when you don’t feel like it and when you don’t think you can string together a coherent sentence is one of the more important skills I’ve acquired over the years. Strangely, some of my best writing comes when I think I have something akin to writer’s block. I liken it to running: Sometimes the beginning of a run will be awful, every muscle not even aching so much as pulling toward the ground like they’re made of lead. And sometimes, those are the runs that somehow turn into personal records. So, no matter what, just keep going. Write every day, no matter how you feel.
What’s next for you?
I wish I could say more, but I think exciting things are on the horizon! Until then, I’ll keep covering the Internet over at The Washington Post. It certainly keeps me busy!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
For fans of both murder mysteries and your traditional “literary fiction,” I cannot recommend Tana French’s books enough. They’re all great, but I highly recommend working through the Dublin murder squad books.
