John Malkovich on Wild Horse Nine, Oscars buzz and why he will never retire
The actor on great scripts, bad business – and the perks of having a big head...
RII SCHROER/EYEVINE
- James Mottram
Add Wild Horse Nine to your watchlist
Ad
From thwarting Clint Eastwood in the film In the Line of Fire to directing opera, John Malkovich has one of the most varied creative CVs there is. Now the 72-year-old Illinois native is back as a CIA agent in Wild Horse Nine, a brilliant black comedy from Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). The role has already won Malkovich the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at this year’s Venice Film Festival – but after two previous nominations, will this be his time to win at the Oscars?
Wild Horse Nine is a very original script by Martin McDonagh. Is it harder to find films like this now than it was 20 years ago?
I think it would be hard to find films like this even 40 years ago, because most things are not that well-written. That’s always been the case. And then sometimes, if it’s very well written, it can still be waylaid by various things. Really excellent scripts, where I wouldn’t quibble with a word, come no more than every 10 or 15 years.
You and Sam Rockwell are CIA agents on Rapa Nui [known as Easter Island] ahead of the 1973 coup in Chile. How do you see their relationship?
Old married couple. Theatre queens. Just people who know each other very well and that means the things that irritate you are not going to change at all. They’ll just become more heightened.
John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as agents Chris and Lee in Wild Horse Nine. Searchlight Pictures
How would you describe Chris? For a CIA man with a dark past, he can be very childish...
Chris is on a certain level…very capricious. He has a way of looking at things. For example, it’s fine to kill people, but not when you’re eating. Don’t shoot at him, because then he’s going to shoot you. It’s a lot of things normal people would look at and say, ‘Well, I’m not sure that’s fine! Do you really think it’s fine?’. He can be like a big child and be very suspicious. He says he didn’t have friends until [Rockwell’s] Lee came along; I think that’s probably true.
Did you learn much about the CIA and how they work?
I’ve worked a lot in different projects in this area historically. Not so much with CIA things, but arguably the best literature on the Kennedy assassination is by the great American writer Don DeLillo and I adapted and directed his novel Libra for the stage 30 or so years ago. I also do a one-man theatre piece from Roberto Bolaño’s book Nazi Literature in the Americas, which covers aspects of the Pinochet regime in Chile, so it’s something I knew about already.
You’re considered monumental, like the carved stones of Rapa Nui, because you had a film called Being John Malkovich...
And I have a big head! I saw a picture of myself from childhood and my head is so big!
I'm not really interested in retiring, because the world will retire you when it's time
Do you think that has had a positive effect on your career?
Actually, it does because if you look at people who succeed in movies… I took a plane ride with Bette Davis once – her head was this big, her eyes were this big! So it helps. The camera likes that.
Was it strange for your image to be so central in the film Being John Malkovich?
I don’t know. I mean, for me, Being John Malkovich was a brilliant piece of writing which I wanted to direct when it was sent to me, and I asked Charlie Kaufman [the writer] if he would make it about somebody else. He said no, that wouldn’t interest him. I said ‘OK, well, good luck. All the best.’ And it had a lot of success. But I think the success is wholly attributed to [director] Spike Jonze and Charlie. Spike assembled a terrific cast: Johnny Cusack and Cameron Diaz and Catherine Keener and the great Charlie Sheen.
Artwork for the 1999 film Being John Malkovich. Alamy
Was Charlie Sheen your pick to cast as your character’s friend?
Yeah, because it was written for Kevin Bacon, and Kevin didn’t want to do it. So I said suggested Charlie Sheen, but Spike was like, ‘He’s in lockup’ and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s OK. You can visit him.’ One of the first things he says in the film, I’m telling him about this coven of lesbian witches that I’m all mingled up with, and he says something like, ‘Hey man, give me their number when you’re through.’ Not everybody could deliver that line!
Alongside the theatre, you’ve got a great side hustle in winemaking. What has that given you?
It’s just another way to lose money, as far as I can tell! It’s not a great time for the wine industry worldwide. Tastes change and young kids prefer craft beer and mocktails and cocktails and etc. So yeah, it’s not an easy time around the world. I don’t know where anyone is doing very well with wine.
How do you feel about being 72? Are there still things you would like to achieve?
Ad
Work-wise, I’ll just continue on with work that interests me as long as I’m able to. I’m not really interested in retiring because the world will retire you when it’s time. That’s the way it works, and always has worked. And that’s OK.
Authors
James Mottram
James Mottram is a London-based film critic, journalist, and author.
Ad
Ad
Get the Christmas double issue
Too much to watch at Christmas? Let Radio Times do the choosing to find something the whole family will enjoy.
Ad