Last January, Prada broke an unwritten rule when presenting its clothing collection for this fall season.
Designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons had prepared a repertoire of garments and outfits designed for a cold post-pandemic winter dedicated to business: large dark-colored coats, angora fur and voluminous suits that were intended to give an image of authority and respectability.
And to show them off, the firm chose two men who doubled – or even tripled – the usual age of the models who walk the catwalks.
Between very young top models like Kit Butler and Erik van Gils and actors like Asa Butterfield and Damson Idris, two mature men opened and closed the parade: Kyle MacLachlan and Jeff Goldblum, star of this season's campaign.
About to turn 70, the official age that the UN considers the beginning of old age, the
Jurassic Park
actor is practically a dinosaur compared to the young people that the brands choose to wear their clothes.
But Prada has chosen Goldblum as one of his reference male models.
He takes his outfits to television interviews, talks about his collaboration with the brand wherever he goes and has become its spokesperson: at the recent presentation of the spring/summer 2023 collection, the actor, already as a guest instead of a model of catwalk, became the center of the show with his comments and closed the event himself instead of the bosses of the firm.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Rami Malek, Damson Idris, Jeff Goldblum and his wife Emilie Goldblum at a Prada show in Milan last June. Jacopo M. Raule (Getty Images for Prada)
He has been working as an actor for almost five decades and far from going out of style, Jeff Goldblum seems to be at his best.
It would seem that in each decade a milestone reveals it to a new generation:
The Fly
in the eighties, the
Jurassic Park
saga in the nineties, Wes Anderson's muse since the 2000s, regular
memes
and sex symbol of maturity since the 2010s. He also has his own documentary series on Disney + (
The world according to Jeff Goldblum
) and is a recurring character in the Marvel universe.
He is one of those stars who doesn't need an Oscar (he has never been nominated as an actor) because he already has the sympathy of the public.
On social media, he has become one of the few celebrities, alongside Keanu Reeves, to enjoy unanimous adoration.
“Do you ever wonder if Jeff Goldblum would like you as a person?” asked a fan on Twitter.
“If we ever find out that Jeff Goldblum is bad either way I will never trust or hope again,” another user wrote.
It's rare for a man his age to be considered a
sex symbol
and beacon of style, but he is.
More than 26,000 people follow the Twitter account @goldblumlooks, which collects photos of the actor, and it is easy to find leggings or cushions with his face stamped on them.
There are also prints, t-shirts and notebooks for sale with phrases like "Sorry I wasn't listening, I was thinking of Jeff Goldblum" or "Just a guy/girl who loves Jeff Goldblum."
In 2018, a statue of almost 8 meters and 150 kilograms appeared next to Tower Bridge in London: it was a giant Jeff Goldblum reclining and with his chest in the air, one of his most iconic images from
Jurassic Park.
“Why is Jeff Goldblum so attractive?
He is about 30 years older than me and I am a lesbian, but he turns me on, ”a tweeter confessed.
What does this man have to raise so many passions?
"We perceive him as someone authentic, as if he is being himself," summarizes Travis M. Andrews, journalist and author of the book
Because He's Jeff Goldblum: The Movies, Memes and Meaning of Hollywood's Most Enigmatic Actor
.
(
Because He's Jeff Goldblum: The Movies, the Memes, and the Sense of Hollywood's Most Enigmatic Actor
.)
According to Andrews, Goldblum always seems to be honestly interested in what his interlocutors tell him and often appears comfortable and calm.
“Add to that a keen eye for fashion and the fact that he is in great shape for his age, and you have the complete package.”
Jeff Goldblum was already stylish in 1984: in this publicity photo he appears dressed as comedian Ernie Kovacs in an ABC television movie.Walt Disney Television Photo Archives (ABC)
At a time when Hollywood stars seem terrified of showing an iota of personality, he oozes it.
He mixes between “
cool
” and “weird” according to Vulture, as early as the nineties he was listed as
Hollywood's favorite
outsider in
The New York Times
.
According to the New York newspaper, the actor from
The Fly
creates characters as intelligent as they are sexy and has the same "excess of personality" that Richard Attenborough lamented in
Jurassic Park
referring to his character, Dr. Ian Malcolm.
A shaker of spontaneity and predisposition to the game that has made him a prolific source of memes.
Unlike many other actors, who do not hide their boredom when it comes to doing interviews and promoting their films, Goldblum lends himself to everything, whether it is commenting on tattoos with his face, reading bawdy tweets about himself, watching imitations or trying out travel gadgets.
Andrews finds several reasons that make the actor a perfect mold for viral moments: "His quirky taste in fashion, a wide range of facial emotions, and a general quality of weirdness make him a living meme."
They say that he remembers the names of the workers on the set, which makes him a being of light alongside most of the Hollywood stars.
He likes to flirt, but he does it with respect and grace, as if it were a child's mischief.
The American edition of
GQ
magazine dedicated an article to him in which thirty people told wonders about him, from Glenn Close to Woody Allen, through Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe or Liam Hemsworth.
He likes to read aloud to other people, and that's apparently how he won over his current wife, Olympic gymnast Emilie Livingston: He read her
The Great Gatsby
and
The Catcher in the Rye
on their first dates, something only Jeff Goldblum could. do without sounding like a pedantic.
Jeff Goldblum in Prada Men's Fall/Winter 2023 Campaign.Prada
It enjoys such a good reputation that it seems immune to criticism.
No one seems to care that he dates women much younger than him (he is 40 years older than his wife, with whom he has two children ages 5 and 7).
In 2020 he starred in a controversy after participating as a guest judge on
RuPaul's Drag Race
and point out homophobia and misogyny within Islamism: many criticized him for perpetuating xenophobic stereotypes, but his image has not been damaged.
Maybe it's because his naturalness and his closeness seem really sincere.
“I think it is impossible to have a realistic image of any famous person.
His fame acts as a distorting mirror that, by its very nature, distorts our image of them even minimally, ”says Andrews.
"That said, I think the Goldblum we see is much closer to the real thing than other celebrity cases."
Although he has participated in box office milestones such as
Jurassic Park
(1993) or
Independence Day
(1996) and in prestigious films such as
Annie Hall
(1977) or
The Grand Budapest Hotel
(2014), much of his current popularity is due to something as simple as being himself.
That was exactly what director Taika Waititi asked of him in
Thor: Ragnarok
, a film in which Goldblum improvised a role based on exaggerating his own mannerisms.
In his Disney + documentary series he is dedicated to talking about curiosities of all kinds.
“They record me meeting people and trying to surprise me.
They advance me as little as possible.
It's me running into things," he explained to
Vulture .
, "and I just do what I'm good at."
What he is good at is pleasing.
That may be the secret to being a
sex symbol
at 70: be yourself.
That, and loads of charisma, a fortune, and good genetics.
If you have all of that, age is just a number.
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