Wicked star Jeff Goldblum reveals that once celebrity he was 'very starstruck' by
The 72-year-old actor has worked with A-listers such as Julia Roberts, Matthew Broderick and Ariana Grande over the course of his decades-long career in film, but admitted that he was very taken aback when he got to see the Ticket to Paradise star backstage at his Broadway show Good Night, and Good Luck alongside Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney.
Speaking on Late Night with Seth Meyers, he said: "I was very excited. After the play, I was looking and [McCartney and I] both got a chance to go backstage and meet George and the cast.
"I saw him in the flesh for the first time ever, and there he was.
"I just thought 'My golly, I'm very starstruck,' because he means a lot to me."
The Wicked actor described George as being "very nice" to him and couldn't help but "brag" in revealing that it was the former ER star who asked him for a picture, as opposed to the other way round.
"He was very nice.This is bragging, I shouldn't do it.
"But he said, 'Jeff, Jeff Goldblum. I love Jeff Goldblum. Come here, Jeff, let's take a picture,' and all that stuff.
"It made my life and my year."
Meanwhile, Jeff was full of praise for the Beatles and recounted discovering the rock band - which also consisted of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison - in his early teen years.
He added: "Everybody, you've all got stories like this."
"But I was a kid when I Want to Hold Your Hand and 'She Loves You, came out.
"And I remember Suzy Connolly ... in her cut-off jean shorts, and I was like 12, 13...
"And they went, 'Here, come and listen to this song.' It's all mixed in my nostalgic bosom in a way that's very, very exciting and meaningful."
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CNN
37 minutes ago
- CNN
Are we living through an Andrew Lloyd Webber renaissance?
Andrew Lloyd Webber is American theater's favorite punching bag. It's easy to hate on the enormously rich British lord whose musicals, despite their commercial success, are frequently considered among the emptiest and most confounding shows in the canon. He's written musicals about Jesus Christ, Cinderella and anthropomorphic trains, and they've all attracted some degree of critical hostility. So when did Lloyd Webber get cool? A string of new, drastically different revivals of Lloyd Webber's most famous shows are dragging his work into the present — and inspiring his many detractors to reappraise the divisive composer. On the West End, Rachel Zegler is leading a younger, sexier 'Evita' whose Broadway transfer seems inevitable. A recent revival of 'Cats' set in the downtown ballroom scene is rumored to return to New York soon. 'Sunset Boulevard' just completed its celebrated run that won its Pussycat Doll leading lady a Tony. And earlier this month, Cynthia Erivo assumed the title role in a one-night-only performance of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' that was lauded by the composer himself. And the Phantom of the Opera is already haunting New York City again in 'Masquerade,' an immersive new take on 'Phantom,' formerly the longest-running Broadway show before its 2023 closure. The recent revivals have succeeded artistically because they're 'fairly radical reimaginings from the original text,' said Amanda Eubanks Winkler, a professor and musicologist who leads Rutgers University's department of music. 'It's taking, weirdly, this avant-garde theatrical toolkit and applying it to the most mainstream popular theater,' said Eubanks Winkler, who's also writing a book on Lloyd Webber's work. These revivals are challenging expectations of what depth a work from Andrew Lloyd Webber can achieve — even a piece about dancing cats — though, for the most part, the score and text remain unchanged. Maybe the striking profundity these new interpretations have uncovered has been there all along, suggested John Snelson, an associate lecturer in musical theater at Goldsmiths, University of London, who wrote a book on Lloyd Webber. 'What has changed is an understanding, or shall we say an appreciation, of the type of musical theater that Andrew Lloyd Webber has put together,' he said. Tastemakers and theater snobs have long turned up their noses up at Lloyd Webber's 'megamusicals,' once a pejorative term for the composer's massive productions and their lavish setpieces, operatic scores and a general disconnect from reality. Even in mostly positive reviews, critics reduced his work to 'mindless fun' without an 'idea in its head.' With a Lloyd Webber musical, Snelson said, 'what you get is sensory overload. It's a big show that just throws the kitchen sink at it, and sometimes, your senses are left almost not able to take it all in.' These new interpretations trim the excess, leaving only the scores intact. There was no grand staircase for Norma Desmond to descend in the new 'Sunset Boulevard,' nor was there feline face paint to be found at 'Cats: The Jellicle Ball.' The sparse staging of those productions is a far cry from the original 'Phantom,' which famously opened with a massive chandelier swinging over its audience set to a pipe organ. When the score is strong and its stars can successfully scale it, new Lloyd Webber revivals can soar. In 'Evita,' Zegler delivers 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' from an actual outdoor balcony to a crowd of adoring, real-life Zegler fans. Nicole Scherzinger earned a nightly standing ovation by belting 'As If We Never Said Goodbye' on an empty stage to an invisible Cecil B. DeMille. 'This music is eternal,' said Zhailon Levingston, who co-directed the acclaimed revival of 'Cats' last year. 'It can live through reimaginings, reinvention, new audiences, this new sociopolitical moment we're in.' The reinventions have even won over skeptical fans of Lloyd Webber's originals. When Kathryn Yelinek, an author, librarian and devoted 'phan' of the original 'Phantom,' visited his new off-Broadway lair in 'Masquerade,' she 'wasn't entirely convinced' it would work: 'I just hope that this new production doesn't ruin it in some way,' she remembered thinking. It took two performances to sell her. Without spoiling too much about this very secretive show, which began previews last week, Yelinek interacted with a character she's loved for decades in a way that would've been impossible in the original production. 'It had to have been one of the meaningful experiences in a theater that I have had,' she said. 'It just blew me away.' These new productions dare to ask a question, posed by Levingston, that would see some of Lloyd Webber's harshest critics sooner ascend to the Heaviside Layer than dare to answer it: 'What does an Andrew Lloyd Webber score have to say about who we are right now?' Beneath the bombast, political and social themes are 'very much built into Lloyd Webber shows,' Snelson said. The new 'Cats' cast was entirely composed of queer and trans people of color and ballroom legends whose unflappable joy and resilience felt especially poignant in a less literal interpretation of the material, Eubanks Winkler said. 'The material is speaking to the times today differently,' Levingston said. And 'Evita' was already about a quasi-fascist first lady so charming she's able to win people over even as she's squashing them. The timing of this 'Evita,' which is 'commenting on celebrity culture, the cult of personality and how that's used to promote authoritarian leaders,' makes it upsettingly relevant, Eubanks Winkler said. 'I've never thought of him as a less intellectual composer,' Yelinek said. 'I've certainly heard other people say that. I've heard the critics say it.' Many of Lloyd Webber's detractors believe his musicals have about the same depth as a scrape. That supposed vacancy may attract directors, Eubanks Winkler said, who see holes in plot or character development as opportunities to show off their style or mine for new relevance. 'There's an openness to them that allows for his own creative interventions,' she said. Perhaps that's what motivated British director Jamie Lloyd, who helmed the new 'Sunset Boulevard' and 'Evita.' He's dusted off the musicals for the 21st century by leaning heavily on giant screens and meta celebrity casting: Scherzinger may have been an unlikely choice to play has-been Desmond, but after years spent judging fellow B- and C-listers on 'The Masked Singer,' her casting felt inspired. And Zegler, at only 24, has already starred in Steven Spielberg's 'West Side Story' remake, a 'Hunger Games' prequel and a Disney tentpole. Like the scheming Eva Perón, she's accomplished a headspinning amount in her short life, becoming an idol in the process. 'There's this interesting slippage between the character and the person playing the role,' Eubanks Winkler said. Even without the favor of critics, Lloyd Webber is one of the most successful composers of his era. 'Sunset,' 'Phantom,' 'Evita' and 'Cats' have all won the Tony for best musical. 'Phantom' and 'Cats' have both held the title for the longest-running show on Broadway, and they're both among the highest-grossing musicals of all time. But when 'Cats: The Jellicle Ball' opened last year, Lloyd Webber needed the stateside win. His last new musical, 'Bad Cinderella,' closed less than three months after it opened, marking the first time in 44 years that his name was missing from a Broadway marquee. The 2019 film adaptation of 'Cats,' despite its Taylor Swift cameo, was widely considered a crime against humanity and feline-kind. His stock, critically and commercially, was low. With the critical and commercial success of 'Sunset Boulevard,' there's a clear appetite for remixed Lloyd Webber onstage. Now there are murmurs that 'Cats: The Jellicle Ball,' which earned raves last year, could return to New York. And 'Masquerade's' initial run is limited, but hardcore phans have already bought up almost all the tickets for its first two months. It only took a few revivals for the Lloyd Webber holdouts to be convinced that maybe there's something to his success. 'There's this perception that 'Cats' is crappy, schlocky, commercial — or 'Sunset,' or 'Phantom,' or 'Evita,' maybe,' Eubanks Winkler said. 'But then this director comes along and proves us wrong. Is it Jamie Lloyd's fabulosity? Is it Lloyd Webber's fabulosity? Is there a special alchemy that makes it transcend these notions of being schlocky?' Maybe 'Cats' resonates more deeply when its stars feel like humans ('And who doesn't want a second chance at life?' Yelinek wondered). Maybe 'Evita' makes more sense now that authoritarianism is not so much creeping as it is flooding everyday life. But the powerful music was always there, and so was something of a soul. 'He wears several hearts on his sleeve,' Snelson said of Lloyd Webber. 'It does produce quirks, and it does produce oddities, and it does produce some unfortunate things. But hey, when it works, it really does have that extra integrated something.' And for that, his critics must give the composer some credit.
Elle
2 hours ago
- Elle
Why ‘Freakier Friday' Director Nisha Ganatra ‘Would Do Anything' to Work With the Cast Again
Nisha Ganatra was a Lindsay Lohan devotee long before she learned she'd play a pivotal role in the Lohanissance. 'I wanted to be Lindsay Lohan,' the Freakier Friday director jokes. 'All of us were Lindsay Lohan. We all probably had some bad version of our own girl band because of Lindsay Lohan!' Freakier Friday does, indeed, feel like a movie made as much by a Freaky Friday super-fan as by an accomplished indie-film and television director—one who has since helmed comedy projects big and small, from episodes of And Just Like That... and Welcome to Chippendales to 2019's Emma Thompson-led Late Night and 2020's The High Note, starring Tracee Ellis Ross and Dakota Johnson. When Ganatra first met with Freakier Friday producer Kristin Burr in 2024 and Burr mentioned the project, it was all Ganatra could do not to jump out of her own skin. 'I immediately went home and called my rep and was like, 'Oh, my God,'' she says. Once she officially signed on, the pressure to do right by Lohan—and the entire Freakier Friday cast, not to mention the fans—set in. 'I didn't want to be the one that came in and botched the whole thing for everyone,' she continues. 'I mean, it's a core memory for most of us, watching this movie.' But it didn't take long for Ganatra to feel as though the stars were, literally, aligning. Original Freaky Friday co-stars Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis had already committed to reprise their roles as Anna and Tess Coleman, respectively. Other returning cast members fell in behind them: Mark Harmon as Ryan, Tess' husband; Rosalind Chao as restaurant owner Pei-Pei; Stephen Tobolowsky as high school teacher Mr. Bates; Christina Vidal Mitchell and Haley Hudson as co-members of Pink Slip, Anna's former band; and even Chad Michael Murray as Jake, Anna's high school boyfriend. Alongside these familiar faces, Ganatra helped usher in newcomers Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons as Harper Coleman and Lily Davies, the teen girls who inadvertently switch bodies with Anna and Tess in a four-way swap. Their constant bickering as soon-to-be step-sisters steers them into trouble, particularly as Anna (like Tess before her) prepares to marry her new love: Lily's father, Eric Davies (Manny Jacinto). Desperate to navigate the blended-family drama, Lily, Harper, Anna, and Tess consult Madame Jen (Vanessa Bayer) for a palm reading, soon triggering the magic that mixes up their bodies. The experience of filming Freakier Friday was, in Ganatra's estimation, nothing short of a thrill. 'I feel like I made my own indie film with total creative freedom within Disney,' she says. 'It's got to be a Disney movie, but I feel like I somehow pulled the wool over their eyes and made my own movie.' Below, the director walks us through the script evolutions that brought the film to life; names the Easter eggs you might have missed; breaks down that pivotal concert scene; and teases whether she'd return for a third, freakiest Friday. Jamie's really articulate and very smart about what makes movies work and what doesn't. She told me right away, 'This is what we did on the first one, and I think is why it worked.' She called Lindsay—and I didn't even have to see them together; I could just hear them speaking—and I knew we were okay. I knew that dynamic was set. They're actually friends in real life. They took on that mother-daughter type of energy and really love each other. They trust each other. And I think that's the whole thing. If you have amazing actors that trust each other, there's nothing you can't do. There was still some getting-the-gang-back-together work that needed to be done, but everyone was super game. Most of the calls were, 'Hey, would you like to come play in Freaky Friday again?' 'Yes, sign me up.' And that's such a testament to the producers and director of the first film. They left such a great feeling in everyone that they all wanted to come back. That made my job so much easier. One fun call I got to make was, we were filming a scene, and I really wanted Elaine Hendrix [who played Meredith Blake in The Parent Trap] to make an appearance. I called Elaine, and I was like, 'Would you please do a cameo?' And she just came out and did that. I was doing my fantasy version of this movie, hoping anybody else would catch on to all the little Easter eggs of The Parent Trap and Mean Girls. It's a little ode to Lindsay's [filmography]. Elaine's character is named Blake, so—little things are hidden in there. It was just our ode to all the Y2K hits that we love. October 3rd [from Mean Girls], obviously, was Anna and Eric's wedding day. Jamie's got her dress from True Lies on. Lindsay's red guitar is the same guitar [from Freaky Friday]. We got it from the first movie, so she was [using it] in her fantasy sequence in the opening of this one. [In the record store scene], [Curtis] was the one who, brilliantly, was like, "[The Britney Spears album cover] should be for the end. When Lindsay's flirting with Jake, I should be hiding behind Britney," [referencing the '...Baby One More Time' scene from the first film]. And then MUNA had done an amazing cover of Pink Slip's 'Take Me Away.' So they're in the movie as Ella's band. We just sort of filled [this movie] up with all the fantasy star players that we could. The biggest thing that we changed from the original script was that Jake would still have a crush on Tess. Before, Jake was in the script, but it felt like Jake was in it just to have him in it. So the added dynamic was this element of him still having a crush on Tess. And we were like, 'Oh, Chad's going to be in town [while the wedding scene was shooting], so let's put him in the wedding.' I was like, 'What if he has a girlfriend that looks like Jamie's character from the first film?' And [producer] Kristin [Burr] thought that was hilarious. So she was like, 'I'm going to get the dress.' With everyone, you could say your dumb idea and they made it better and better. Harper was originally into gaming, and I had zero interest in shooting somebody in front of a computer screen. So I was like, 'What if she was a surfer?' Because she was very into environmentalism. I wanted her to have a deep reason for why she didn't want to leave Los Angeles, so that it didn't just become a little fight between the two girls about London and L.A. Instead, it was like, 'This is my identity. I spend every day in the water. It's my life.' And then I got to do beautiful L.A. surfing scenes. I also thought it would be fun, when Harper and Anna body-swapped, to have Lindsay surf. Then Jamie came up with the idea of her playing pickleball. Everyone kept bringing it. Finally, I was like, 'Manny, what's your special skill?' And he's like, "I can kind of dance.' So then we write the dance lesson. Meanwhile, Manny's totally downplaying that he's the most amazing dancer in the world. And then Lindsay upped it all by inviting Chloe Fineman to play with her in the scene. And then Manny upped it all by being the best fucking dancer in the universe. And the producers upped it by actually getting the rights to ['(I've Had) The Time of My Life' from] Dirty Dancing, so I could shoot the scene to that [movie soundtrack]. You know when you're like, 'Wow, that was just my dumb placeholder idea, and now I'm actually filming it and it's so cool'? It was just like that. Also, I really wanted to change the fortune cookie bit that was in the first film: the reason the characters swap bodies. That was more challenging, I think, because there's the lore you want to be true to. But I also wanted to do something more current than the fortune cookie. I thought, Well, why does it have to keep being the Chiangs that do this? What if there's a new version of somebody who causes the body-swapping? I had known Vanessa Bayer for a while, and I kept thinking of her as this really bad psychic character. Vanessa took that and went to infinity with it. Had me rolling. The ending was being written all the way up until almost a week before we shot it. I had a really strong feeling about the duet: It had to be a mother-daughter duet. But I also had a strong desire to watch Lindsay get to actually play with Pink Slip on-stage, because she never got to in the original, as an adult, as herself. She got to play as Tess in her body, but she didn't get to rock out with her own band. And I think we all wanted to see that. So it was so many machinations: How do we get Lindsay out there as Harper? And then how do we switch them back so that Julia can sing as Harper? Oh, God, but she's Anna. Before the switch can happen, the lesson has to be learned. So how is the lesson going to be learned? That scene with Manny on the street in front of the restaurant had to get a lot deeper than it was written originally. The whole movie, kind of secretly, turns on Lily. Lily's the one who has to come to a realization before everybody can switch back. You realize, Oh, my God, this whole thing is all about Lily being afraid to let somebody else love her dad. When you realize that, it's such a beautiful story—because it's about chosen families. Families can break apart if you don't put the effort in to see each other, hear each other, and love each other. It takes effort from everyone to prioritize togetherness. That was the message I was interested in telling. Your chosen family can have even stronger bonds, because you're choosing each other, and you have to keep choosing each other. So, then, the concert was just icing. It's so hard because I probably would've answered that way at one point, but this cast is so fun and so special that I would do anything to work with all of them again. Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons—their talent is really exciting. So if there's a version where they switch bodies...I don't know. I think this franchise is sort of endless with all the things it can explore. This cast is dreamy. There was not one day that we didn't just laugh our asses off and have so much joy. Not one day. And that is the dream. When everyone's heart is in it, that's all you can ask for in life. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘Miracle Mile' depicts ‘the kind of apocalypse that L.A. people imagine'
'Miracle Mile' takes place in a city in the throes of chaos as Angelenos flee the threat of a nuclear strike. The film was released in 1988, but it has resurfaced in the last few years, attracting sold-out crowds at the American Cinematheque and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Written and directed by Steve De Jarnatt and made for $3 million, the film was restored and re-released by boutique film distributor Kino Lorber in 2024. In her commentary for the Blu-ray, author Janet Fitch ('White Oleander') said 'Miracle Mile' depicts 'the kind of apocalypse that L.A. people imagine.' And even though it did not make a big impression when it opened, De Jarnatt said the film has gained what he called 'cult status.' Much of the appeal of 'Miracle Mile' appeal can be attributed to the film's obvious affection for the stretch of Wilshire Boulevard bordered by La Brea and Fairfax Avenues. Featured locations include the May Co. and Orbach's department stores (now the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and the Petersen Automotive Museum, respectively), the nearby Park La Brea towers and Johnnie's Coffee Shop, which is closed and used primarily for film and TV productions. The movie, which takes place over the course of 24 hours, starts out as a lighthearted romance. Anthony Edwards plays Harry Washello, a struggling trombone player who falls for coffee shop waitress Julie Waters (Mare Winningham) after they meet cute at the La Brea Tar Pits. The couple make a date to meet after her evening shift is over. But their plans fall apart. Harry unwittingly intercepts a call at a phone booth, and the caller tells him nuclear missiles will strike Los Angeles within the hour. As the city unravels, Harry and Julie try to save their upended romance. The ending is both sad and happy. 'To be with the one you love at the end, even if it's a brand new love who you met at the La Brea Tar Pits, which is like a time portal and a museum dedicated to extinction, is as good a way as any to go out,' De Jarnatt says. (And it was a particularly happy ending for Edwards and Winningham, who bonded while filming the project. At the time, both were married to other people and stayed friends while working together on other projects — including 'ER,' in which Edwards played the lead role as Dr. Mark Greene. The two eventually became a couple and wed in 2021.)
