The Fly was not only an example of a superior remake, but it launched the world’s love affair with Jeff Goldblum. Seth Brundle was the quintessential Goldblum character, a wacky scientist who gets in over his head. There was a sequel to The Fly following Seth’s son (Eric Stoltz) but that was the last film. If everything else is being remade and rebooted, they might as well give The Fly another shot. If anyone ever did, Goldblum would support it, and even try to be involved.
“I don’t think my character would be involved because of course I got tragically mutated with the fly and then the machine, oh boy,” Goldblum said in a phone interview promoting Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. “But maybe I show up as a grandchild of the original Seth Brundle, or Seth Brundle had a brother. Had a brother that emerges in some ways! Who knows, I don’t know but David Cronenberg was a thrill to work with. Boy, if he was involved I’d like to work with him again, I’ll tell you that.”
Cronenberg did adapt The Fly to the stage. Goldblum felt gratified that the franchise continued in that form. “I wish I could see that opera that David Cronenberg directed,” Goldblum said. “I never saw that so people seem to still have fun doing something with that material. Oh, you know, who knows?”
Goldblum is also now a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having played The Grandmaster in Thor: Ragnarok. There’s always a chance for a Marvel character to return.
“Well, I’d love to,” Goldblum said. “That character, if you look at all those decades of Marvel comics, is immortal along with his brother The Collector. I think I had a game with Death once, won both our immortality and he has more superpowers than anybody so he could do a lot more interesting, entertaining things. I know he’s been satisfying himself with having games. He loves games and he’s the best at games but he can do a lot of things. I love Kevin Feige and Victoria Alonso, the people at Marvel. They’re spectacular to work with. They’re brilliant and lovely.”
The last appearance of The Grandmaster was actually at Marvel’s press conference for Avengers: Infinity War. However, Goldblum sort of broke character and played himself picking questions for stars of the film and calling on reporters.
“[When they asked] I said, ‘What, what-what?’ Oh, because I’m the Grandmaster and I like games, they set it up for me so I was sort of game oriented. It became not just questions but ping pong balls. I love any kind of games and I love that whole cast. I love Kevin and those guys so it was lovely to do that.”
