Jeff Goldblum offers his own explanation for why he needed to be shirtless in ‘Jurassic Park’

Jeff Goldblum has shed some light on why his chest became one of the main characters in Jurassic Park.

When one thinks ’90s heartthrobs, Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park has to feature somewhere on that list. His character Dr. Ian Malcolm has become synonymous with Jurassic Park as one of the franchise’s most iconic characters, both for his clever one-liners and signature sex appeal.

Now the actor has shared why his character was randomly shirtless in the middle of a dinosaur attack during the film on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The host pulled out a figurine of Dr. Malcolm in his famous shirtless pose and asked whether the idea for it had come from director Steven Spielberg.

“No, no. I don’t remember how that happened, actually. It was 30 years ago,” Goldblum started, before offering up his own kind of explanation.

“I think in the, you know, actorly way, I think my character – even though you see this thing on the leg, my leg, of course, had some difficulty – I think I had an injury that is not depicted here.”

The actor, who was 39 in the iconic film, said his character was supposed to be injured around the stomach and that’s why his shirt was torn open. When Jimmy Fallon tried to spot the injury on a blown-out picture of the scene, there was but a scratch on Goldblum’s belly.

“That’s barely anything, you don’t need to take your shirt off for that,” Fallon joked. But Goldblum, who will reprise his role in this year’s Jurassic World Dominion, stuck to his story, explaining the tiny bit of blood was excess from a bigger wound elsewhere on his torso.

Wounded or otherwise, that Jurassic Park scene featuring a shirtless Dr. Ian Malcolm has already carved its place in movie history. Sequel Jurassic World Dominion is out in theaters now, but will Goldblum steal the show again?