The timing was well over due, but the location could not have been better. Today, actor Jeff Goldblum received the ultimate Hollywood recognition of his fame and contributions to the entertainment industry in the form of a star on the Walk of Fame. The prolific actor accepted the honor in front of the FilmOn Hologram USA Theater at 11:30 A.M., which is where it will reside from now until time immemorial.
Since the Walk was completed in 1961, there have been 2,637 stars laid down on the Hollywood Boulevard landmark. Jeff’s marks the 2,638th and coincides with the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, in which Jeff reprises his role as the mathematician Ian Malcolm from the original film.
Jeff was accompanied by his friends and fellow actors Ed Begley Jr., who starred with him in the 1985 horror-comedy Transylvania 6-5000, and Norm Eisen, a former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic who inspired Jeff’s character in the 2014 comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The ceremony follows on the heels of another Hollywood event that took place a few feet from Jeff’s new star. Over the weekend, the Hologram USA Theater premiered its latest and most ambitious hologram show—a tribute to the great and influential singer Jackie Wilson. Much like Goldblum’s star, the event drew celebrities and press to honor innovations in storytelling. The show experiments with a new narrative structure that departs from the theater’s other offering, Billie Holiday Alive. Whereas the former builds the experience around performances of the singer’s catalogue spaced out between biographical information, the newest show frames the music within a broader, fictional plot that still ends up telling Wilson’s story.
To say that Mr. Goldblum has built an impressive career discredits both Mr. Goldblum and the word impressive. Across his 40 years of acting, the 65-year-old has wracked up a list of credits as long as both Testaments and the Koran. He has stared in some of the highest grossing films of all time, including the original Jurassic Park and Independence Day.
He shows no signs of quitting. Just within the last few years, he has appeared in both popular television shows like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Portlandia, and Inside Amy Schumer, and continued to play parts in hit movies like Thor: Ragnarok, Isle of Dogs, and, of course, the Independence Day sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence.
Kill two birds with one stone. Check out both the star and then take in a hologram show. It’s what Jeff would want.
