Yes, That’s Jeff Goldblum at DreamHack Esports Con Shooting Footage for His Latest Project

The folks at last weekend's DreamHack, the annual esports gaming convention held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, had something to marvel at besides virtual warriors trying to punch each other's faces in with their fists.

A good portion of them spotted actor, writer and film star Jeff Goldblum getting down with the gaming crowd.

The 66-year-old star of countless beloved films such as David Cronenberg's The Fly, the sci-fi shooter Independence Day and the underrated The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, made an unscheduled public appearance Friday on the floor of the esports conference's main expo hall.

Attendees shot several photos and videos of Goldblum being all Goldblumy. The most memorable is a video of the Jurassic Park movies and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom star trying to keep up with the beat on a Dance Dance Revolution machine in the throwback arcade area.

Melissa Sanders, a spokesperson for the DreamHack convention, says Goldblum was at the game conference filming footage for "another project he is doing."

According to Goldblum's filmography on his Internet Movie Database page, he is working on three projects, including an Amazon Prime Video series with Danny DeVito, a film called The Price of Admission with Michael Sheen and Michelle Monaghan and a documentary TV show for NatGeo called The Curiosity of Goldblum. Attempts were made to reach Goldblum's publicist to confirm which project was tied to his appearance at the convention, but emails were not answered as of Monday.


Jordan Taylor, the studio head for the indie game publisher Hitcents from Bowling Green, Kentucky, says he was manning his booth in the exhibit hall when he got a text from a friend that led to his short but memorable celebrity encounter.

"There are a few of us standing around the booth and someone else sent a group message to everybody saying, 'Did you see Jeff?'" Taylor says. "I said, 'Who is Jeff?' So I thought for a minute. Then he sent another message saying 'he's right over there' and I looked that way to see if I could identify anyone who was a Jeff and I just happened to turn to my right to the main walkway of the convention center and there was a big crowd."

Taylor says he first spotted Goldblum's recognizable face sticking out from the top of the crowd.

"Jeff who is very tall was the tallest guy in the group," Taylor says. "I had that moment where I was like, 'That's not Jeff Goldblum. No, that's Jeff Goldblum.'"

Taylor says he raced to the growing group to snap a picture of Pittsburgh's favorite son and spotted him near one of the viewing areas during the convention's Rocket League tournament. He snapped a couple of pictures and Goldblum left almost as fast as he arrived but stayed just long enough to give him the total Goldblum effect.

"I wish I had kept taking photographs because after my last one, he noticed me and pointed at me in a Jeff Goldblum way," Taylor says with a laugh. "I don't get freaked out often but when Jeff Goldblum points at you ..."