For almost three decades, off and on, Jeff Goldblum has played Dr. Ian Malcolm with particular Goldblumian panache. As the stylish chaos theorist of the 'Jurassic Park' and 'Jurassic World' films, Goldblum is voice of reason and comedy relief in one, an auger of nature's unpredictability who can't help marveling at seeing his theories in action, even if that poses immediate danger to himself.
There is only one person who, in the middle of a massive dystopic dinosaur movie, can utter a line like "That's bananas" with just the right timing and inflection.
In Colin Trevorrow's "Jurassic World: Dominion, " which opens in theatres Thursday, Goldblum -- along with original cast members Laura Dern and Sam Neill -- returns to close out the franchise's second trilogy of films in a sprawling adventure set in a near future where dinosaurs have spread across the world, as has ecological imbalance and a plague of giant locusts.
Satisfied that he's perhaps arrived at a kernel of truth, Goldblum concludes, "Hey, what about that?" "Water is life, isn't it?" says Goldblum. "If they ever wanted to drop the Goldblum and just go with River Joe, that sounds evocative to me, that sounds like a good character. Or Charlie Ocean. I like both of those. Nothing wrong with Goldblum, but if they want to change it, fine with me."
After co-starring in "Jurassic Park" and its 1997 sequel, "The Lost World," Goldblum returned to Ian Malcolm in 2018's "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" during which his character testifies to the U.S. Congress. Malcolm recommends letting the exploding volcano determine the fate of the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar. Goldblum relished it.