Jeff Goldblum Recreates Classic Jurassic Park Moment
Steven Spielberg's seminal sci-fi action film Jurassic Park has it all: a lush Central American island setting, a wealthy businessman tinkering with the world's natural order by bringing dinosaurs back from extinction for the purpose of entertaining humans and making a profit, badass characters, a theme song that's been meme-d a hundred times over, chaos, danger, and, during one particular scene, a shirtless Jeff Goldblum.
Shirtless Jeff Goldblum is such a standout from the 1993 film, in fact, that collectibles company Chronicle Collectibles even immortalized the moment in a $600 limited edition polyresin statue. But even if you've never seen the movie, you've likely seen the shot in question: Goldblum's quick-witted, semi-bad-boy character, mathematician and chaos theorist Dr. Ian Malcolm, leaning back against a table, shirt unbuttoned and open wide, in quite a seductive pose following a T-rex attack. Over two and a half decades later, people are still talking about the scene — and even more so now thanks to a move by Goldblum himself.
On Friday, October 9, 2020, Goldblum took to Instagram to share a recreation of his famous Jurassic Park moment. He wasn't getting risqué for no reason, though. The actor got behind the camera to pose for an updated version of the shot as a way to "reward" fans for registering to vote, checking their registration status, and/or requesting mail-in ballots using his link on the non-profit site HeadCount.org.
"WOW! Thank you to everyone who used my @HeadCount page to make sure that you're #GoodToVote! Nearly 3,000 of you are ready for this November's election. Here's your reward...how time flies," Goldblum wrote in the caption, adding the hashtag #JurassicWorld along with a volcano emoji, a dinosaur emoji, and an American flag emoji. (The actor had, up until just days ago, been filming Jurassic World: Dominion, but production was shut down after a number of people on set tested positive for COVID-19.)
The truth behind Jeff Goldblum's shirtless Jurassic Park scene
One doesn't simply look a gift Goldblum in the mouth – neither now nor 27 years ago when Jurassic Park first dropped in theaters — but still, many may wonder how the actor even wound up leaning back on his elbow, with his shirt open, in the first place. As it turns out, the moment was entirely unscripted.
Speaking with Yahoo! Entertainment for the outlet's Role Recall interview series back in 2018, Goldblum revealed that it was his idea to have Dr. Ian Malcolm show some skin. Plus, as Goldblum noted, it makes perfect sense for Malcolm to do so given that he and the crew are on a fictional island off the coast of Central America and that he just suffered a wound from a T-rex attack.
"It's supposed to be Costa Rica, right? So things are hot and I'm sure I'm in some sort of fever," said Goldblum. "So all the logic is that we gotta get some of these wet clothes off immediately. As I remember, I don't think anybody fought me on that."
The actor later opened up to Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts during the 25th anniversary celebration for Jurassic Park about the scene, confirming it wasn't in the film's script and that he thought of it himself. As Vogt-Roberts shared on Twitter, "I asked Jeff Goldbum during #JP25 what he remembers about shooting his iconic & smoldering shirtless scene. He told me it WAS NOT scripted. The AD was on stage and confirmed Goldblum made the decision to unbutton his shirt and everyone just went with it. What an absolute legend."
So, there you have it. When it comes to Jeff Goldblum going shirtless, life, uh, finds a way.