June 16th. Bloomsday. A day of Ulysses readings, landmark visitations and general celebration of James Joyce, one of Dublin’s most famous sons. There’s never any shortage of things to do for Joyce fans on June 16th, but what about those that want to spend the day, or indeed every day, celebrating Jeff Goldblum? Worry not Goldblum lovers, as the Light House have been sufficiently preoccupied with whether they could, and correctly arrived at the thought that they should, host ‘Jeff Goldblum’s Day’ that same Friday.
See Goldblum perform as only he can under the directorial eye of such greats as Wes Anderson, Steven Spielberg and…Roland Emmerich. The first film on offer as part of Jeff Goldblum’s Day is of course Independence Day, Emmerich’s big, loud, Aliens vs American monuments blockbuster. Goldbulm plays scientist David Levinson, the man who devises the cockamamie scheme to take down the alien invaders with a computer virus. Independence Day will be screened at both 5.30pm and 10.45pm.
Also part of the day is The Lost World: Jurassic Park, showing at 8.15pm. The 1997 follow-up to Jurassic Park saw Goldbum take centre stage, with Dr. Ian Malcolm eschewing sitting around open-shirted in favour of more conventional heroics, venturing back into dinosaur-infested lands to save Julianne Moore and protect his daughter of considerable, velociraptor-kicking gymnastic skill.
Rounding off the day’s events is a showing of The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou at 10.45pm. Part of the Wes Anderson film’s ensemble cast alongside the likes of Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Cate Blanchett and Owen Wilson, Goldbum plays Alistair Hennessy, regarded by the self-important Steve Zissou as his arch-nemesis.
Intelligent, charming and unconventional, to celebrate Jeff Goldblum is still in keeping with the Bloomsday spirit, even though Jeff never shifted Nora Barnacle in Ringsend. No doubt he would if he could.