Yahoo Movies Wicked is forcing Jeff Goldblum to reckon with the peaches-obsessed witch of his childhood nightmares
At the tender age of 70, Jeff Goldblum is finally overcoming his childhood fear of witches by starring in Wicked.
The actor, who was previously reported to be in talks to play the Wizard, confirmed that he was recently on the set of Jon M. Chu's film series with his two sons — Charlie Ocean, 7, and River Joe, 5 — and that being surrounded by so many spellcasters dredged up one deeply spooky memory.
"I'll tell ya," Goldblum said on Thursday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. "I shouldn't talk about it, but I was shooting one day and I found myself tearing up in fear. A childhood fear came back to me and I told Cynthia Erivo, I said, 'You know, I'm remembering my first dream that I ever had.'"
"My first dream was that I was tied to a tree stump and a witch — because I'd seen Snow White, also with a very scary queen witch — had tied me to this tree stump and I thought was going to chop off my head," he recalled. "I must've been four or something like that, and she went, 'peaches, peaches.'"
Goldblum noted that, for weeks after the nightmare, his older brothers would ominously chant "peaches, peaches" to frighten him just before bedtime.
Earlier in the interview, Goldblum noted that he had recently attempted to show his sons The Wizard of Oz, but that they had all deemed it "too scary" to watch — and the Wicked Witch of the East likely didn't help matters either.
ABC Jeff Goldblum
"Witches scare me! And I showed them that movie and we didn't get through it," Goldblum said. "Charlie especially — the older one, believe it or not — when the head and the fire came out, he said, 'That's enough. I'm out.'"
He added, "The Witch is terrifying. Margaret Hamilton. Terrifying. You should see our witches, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Very good."
Alongside Goldblum, Erivo, and Grande, Wicked is set to star Bronwyn James, Marissa Bode, Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey, Bowen Yang, and Michelle Yeoh as the Shiz University headmistress Madame Morrible. Wicked: Part One is currently set for a Nov. 27, 2024 release date, with Part 2 hitting theaters the following year.
Watch Goldblum discuss all things Wicked — and Jurassic Park — in the clip above.
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