he Chateau Marmont was built the year
Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly were
born, in 1929. It sits just off Sunset
Boulevard in West Hollywood, a great
white relic that stands out not simply
because of its size, but because it looks so
out of place. The hotel is modelled on a
15 th-century palace frequented by French
royalty, and today it appears somewhere
between Renaissance France and modern-day Vegas; an architectural
icon ripped free of its context and supplanted in pop-culture history.
In their heyday, rockers Led Zeppelin would supposedly ride their
motorcycles through the lobby. It’s where John Belushi died, where
Lindsay Lohan was ejected after racking up a bill of over $50,000, and
where Sofia Coppola filmed a whole movie, Somewhere, in 2010. Since
1976 it has been one of LA’s Official Historical-Cultural monuments,
a list that includes the Hollywood Sign and the Walk of Fame.
It’s also where Jeff Goldblum married his third wife, former Canadian
Olympic gymnast, Emilie Livingston, in 2014. For three decades, he
has lived in a house just behind the hotel and has become somewhat of
a regular over the years. And on the kind of warm spring morning that
LA delivers most days, it’s where we meet for today’s interview.
Goldblum, who recently turned 65, is in remarkable shape. Tanned,
tall and slim, he’s a man who you might say has grown into his looks.
Handsome, sure, but his salt and pepper hair and long limbs make
him look slightly cartoonish, like a fetching caricature.
He arrives looking dapper, wearing a hat, a short-sleeved Prada
shirt and thick-rimmed Tom Ford glasses. Goldblum, who calls
himself a late bloomer in the style department, has developed a
less-is-more approach to fashion. “My closet at home is a curated,
minimal affair,” he says. “I like to get rid of stuff and I’ve never
regretted anything that I’ve given away. I’m happy to unload.”
It’s 11am when we meet, but Goldblum, who has two young
children, has been up for a good five hours.“I’m a lover of routine,” he says. “And the sooner I can get my
routine done, the more free time I can have – that’s my approach.”
The routine that Goldblum is talking about involves playing piano;
working out in his home gym; taking Charlie, his two-year-old
son, to pre-preschool; doing something he calls “acting practice”;
and making breakfast – though not necessarily in that order.
“I mixed up some eggs for me and Emilie, rustic style,” he says
of this morning’s meal. “She went to the farmers’ market yesterday
and she got these jumbo brown eggs. I put those in the pan and
then some grated cheese and just kind of mash it up. I’m very
happy with a thing like that.”
This, embellishing answers with additional details in a way that
might make an interviewer nervous the conversation is getting off
topic, is trademark Goldblum. But, equally trademark Goldblum,
is the fact he’s aware of this and leaves what he calls “mental
breadcrumbs” to assure us he knows he’s wandered off track and
will return to it. Over the next hour, he’ll do this several times. On
whether he’s ever been a partier (not really), on whether he wishes
he’d been a dad younger (essentially, no), on Trump’s attitudes
to Hollywood and on Trump in general.
Another thing you notice about Goldblum, other than how tall
he is that he is exactly what you imagine Jeff Goldblum to be like.
He looks like you’d expect, obviously, but his most distinctive quality
is the way he speaks. Watch any footage of Goldblum and it’s there;
an idiosyncratic way of pacing himself, drawing out certain words and
huddling others together. It is so striking that, in person, the effect
is almost as if he is doing an impression of himself.
A legendary celeb haunt, the Chateau Marmont has famously strict
rules about the famous. Photos are expressly prohibited, and lay-
guests have been booted for revealing details of the hotel’s celebrity
clientele. As we arrive for the interview, Sofia Coppola is actually
on her way out – a chance encounter that probably isn’t that much
of a coincidence, since the director is hardly a stranger to the place.
She apparently lived here for six months, at one point.T
PREVIOUS PAGE
Three-piece suit,
$8190, by Tom Ford at
Harrolds; shirt, approx.
$205, by SSS World
Corp; shoes, $445,
by Josephs Shoes;
glasses, approx. $700,
by Jacques Marie Mage,
worn throughout;
and stainless steel
'Octo Roma’ watch,
$8250, by Bulgari.
THIS PAGE
Cardigan, $1420,
shirt, $1040, and
pants, $2090, all by
Prada; shoes, $445,
by Josephs Shoes;
stainless steel
‘Octo Roma’ watch,
$8250, by Bulgari198 GQ.COM.AU MEN OF THE YEAR 2017