EXCLUSIVE: Jeff Goldblum will provide the mood music for a doc series about the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
The actor is on board to narrate the five-part Exit Stage Right, a doc series from The Cliburn and Framework Productions, with the latter’s founder, Steven Pierce, directing. Filming is complete and distribution is being sought.
Jurassic Park and Wicked actor Goldblum, an accomplished jazz pianist, will provide the context for footage from the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth Texas, where young pianists competed to be crowned champion.
The likes of Aristo Sham, Vitaly Starikov, Philipp Lynov, Carter Johnson, Angel Stanislav Wang, Chaeyoung Park and Yanjun Chen are featured, with the series running through the opening draw through preliminaries, quarter finals and semi finals, to a final in which six pianists each play two concertos with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of American conductor Marin Alsop.
“I’ve loved the piano since I was a boy, so being a part of this was a delight,” said Goldblum. “The work these young musicians put in, the discipline, the devotion, is just staggering. And then to watch them walk out on that stage with the whole world listening and take their shot at a real career? Thrilling. Truly inspiring stuff.”
In the doc, he will be heard saying, “The only thing standing between them and the career they all dream of is what they do on that stage.”
Past Cliburn winners including Beatrice Rana, Haochen Zhang, Yekwon Sunwoo, Olga Kern, Jon Nakamatsu and Anna Geniushene also contribute, with more contributions coming from Alsop, Stephen Hough, Leonard Slatkin, Wu Han, Anne-Marie McDermott, Carnegie Hall’s Clive Gillinson and Wigmore Hall’s John Gilhooly.
The doc is positioning itself in the same lane as competition docs such as Drive to Survive, Cheer and Last Chance U. It is the first series to be made about the piano competition, though Cliburn has produced 12 feature-length docs about it since 1977.
Goldblum, who recently hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live UK, has a voice role in Bennie Safdie’s Dwayne Johnson-starrer Lizard Music for Amazon MGM Studios. The pic launches theatrically on Christmas Day. Off screen, he is well know for his jazz musicianship and tours globally with his band, the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.
Pierce, director and co-creator of Exit Stage Right, said: “Jeff is a pianist, he has a life-long love for music, and he cares about young performers. He understood straight away what these artists put on the line, and his voice carries viewers into a world most people have never seen from the inside.”
Jacques Marquis, President and CEO of the Cliburn, added: “Every four years, our goal is to launch and prepare exceptional pianists for the rigors of an international touring career while providing a global stage for them to share their art.
“This series tells their stories, their struggles, and their aspirations, giving audiences a first-hand look beyond the stage at their passion, commitment, and drive. We are overjoyed to have Jeff Goldblum, a world-renowned artist who shares our love for the piano, join us in telling these stories.”
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