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John Malkovich was likely to be nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Martin McDonagh’s dark CIA comedy “Wild Horse Nine,” for which he won his first Academy Award in 30 years. The 72-year-old actor was previously nominated for Best Supporting Actor for A Place in the Heart (1984) and In the Fire Line (1993), but has never won.
“I see a different buzz from the awards shows than I probably did back then because the film business existed,” Malkovich said during a screen talk at the London Film Festival on Sunday.
“I think it holds a very, very high place in the culture, and when I say ‘undeserved,’ I mean there’s not that much ‘Chinatown’ or ‘The Godfather’ or ‘Godfather 2,’” Malkovich said. “Now, this is the only way to get people to go to the theater, and it’s been months and months and months.”
Recalling the last time he was nominated for an Oscar 30 years ago, Malkovich said the campaign wasn’t as intense. “When I was nominated for an Academy Award, someone said, ‘You’re nominated for an Academy Award.’
However, Malkovich was not a huge fan of the awards show and only attended the Oscars once, when he was nominated for “A Place in the Heart.” He told the London crowd that he was quite overwhelmed by the experience.
“We had a manager named Phyllis Carlyle, and on the way to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, she seemed a little… arrogant. She said, ‘Honey, there’s going to be a lot of people when we get there,’” he recalled. “And I said, ‘Okay, but you can just go in through the side door, right?’ And she got in my face and said, ‘Honey! It’s the Oscars and there’s no side door!’ So, I mean, that’s just my nature in the face of that kind of onslaught.”
Malkovich acknowledged that Hollywood as a whole has changed quite a bit since he last attended the awards show, with streaming taking over theaters. He often said that a film campaign was the only way to get the public to see a film in theaters.
“I think both of the 1984 Oscar movies, ‘The Killing Fields’ and ‘A Place in the Heart,’ have already been released, have already made money, and have already been successful. The same goes for ‘In the Firing Line,’” he said. “It was such a different world. Now it seems like it’s the only way to get people to actually go to the theater.”
But he doesn’t really care about that. “I’m 72 years old. Things change,” he said. “I don’t really like to think that things are not what they used to be. They just change and you either change with them or die. And I prefer to change with them. I’m going to die anyway.”
‘Wild Horse Nine’, in which he plays a CIA agent opposite Sam Rockwell, had its British premiere at the London Film Festival last Friday. Set on the eve of the 1973 Chilean coup, the pair are sent to Easter Island, where they must confront their dark past and a conspiracy in the present.
‘Wild Horse Nine’ premiered at the Venice Film Festival last September and received rave reviews, with Malkovich winning the Best Actor award. At the Venice press conference, Malkovich humbly brushed aside the praise, saying, “It was incredibly kind. I have a long career and great collaborations with writers, directors and actors. I don’t feel competitive with any of them. That’s very good for me. But the best thing is that the film is getting attention. And it has several great actors, and it’s beautifully written and directed. That’s what’s important to me.”