Jeff Goldblum Was 'Shamed' on Death Wish Set After He Stopped Bathing to Play a Thug: 'You Stink!' (Exclusive)

Jeff Goldblum had just started shooting his first big movie when someone on the set lashed out at him with a negative criticism: “You stink.”

No, it wasn’t Goldblum’s performance, it was his body odor. Convincingly playing a menacing street thug in Charles Bronson’s 1974 thriller. A death wishthe normally picky Pennsylvania native thought he should stop bathing in what he calls Method’s “flawed” attempt at acting.

“I didn’t shower to play this street thug. Because I was a nice kid from Pittsburgh, I was 19 or 20, something like that. And I was brought up pretty well. I had to be this dangerous street criminal,” he recalls to PEOPLE.

“The assistant director came up to me and said, ‘Jeff, we’re in a small space here. You smell. Can you do something about it?’ “, recalls the Jurassic Park actor, 72. “Please, please go home and so on and so forth.”

“I was ashamed, but it was a good lesson: in show business or any close field of cooperation, maintain your hygiene.”

Jeff Goldblum’s life in photos

Hope Lange and Jeff Goldblum in ‘Death Wish’.

Courtesy of the Everett Collection

It’s one of many nuggets of wisdom from the proudly quirky actor, who now stars as The Wizard of Oz in the blockbuster Wickedlearned over the years.

Asked to live by his own rules, Goldblum, who has sons Charlie, 9, and Rivero, 7, with his wife, former Olympian rhythmic gymnast Emilie, 41, offers a few more.

Among them: If you are not the boss, trust the boss. “I don’t mean Bruce Springsteen,” Goldblum jokes. He thinks of directors, like the greats he worked with: Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park), Wes Anderson (Hotel Grand Budapest) and more recently, Jon M. Chu (Wicked).

Jeff Goldblum. Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“You can’t be good if the movie isn’t good, and it’s hard to make a good movie even if you have a good director,” continues Goldblum, who says he’s “happy everyone came out” because he had experience on The Wizard of Oz prequel.

“Jon made a very beautiful film that I am proud of,” he adds.

For more on Jeff Goldblum, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

Wicked it’s in theaters now.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education