John Malkovich has been highly tipped for an Oscar nomination for his performance in Martin McDonagh’s CIA black comedy “Wild Horse Nine,” making it his first real shot at an Academy Award in three decades. The 72-year-old actor was previously nominated for best supporting actor in “Places in the Heart” (1984) and “In the Line of Fire” (1993), but never won.
Speaking at a London Film Festival Screen Talk on Sunday, Malkovich said he views awards buzz “probably differently than I did then, because the movie business existed.”
“It maintained an — undeserved, in my opinion, but nevertheless — a very, very high position in the culture. And when I say ‘undeserved,’ meaning there weren’t that many ‘Chinatowns’ or ‘Godfathers’ or ‘Godfathers II,’” Malkovich said. “So now, that’s the only way to get people to go to the theaters, the whole thing. And that’s months and months and months.”
Reflecting on the last time he was up for an Oscar over 30 years ago, Malkovich said the campaigning was not so intense. “When I was nominated for an Academy Award, someone said, ‘You’re nominated for an Academy Award,’” he said.
However, Malkovich has never been a huge fan of awards ceremonies anyway, and only attended the Oscars once, when he was nominated for “Places in the Heart.” He told the London crowd that he felt quite overwhelmed by the experience.
“I had a manager called Phyllis Carlyle, and we were on our way to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and she was a little bit… bossy. She said, ‘Now honey, when we get there, there’s gonna be a lot of people,’” he recalled. “And I said, ‘OK, but we can just go in a side door, right?’ And she, right in my face, goes ‘Honey! It’s the Oscars, there’s no side door!’ So, I mean, that’s kind of my native personality in the face of that kind of onslaught.”
Malkovich acknowledged that Hollywood as a whole has changed quite a lot since the last time he was on the awards trail, with the advent of streaming taking over theaters. Often, he said, campaigning for a film is the only way to make the public go see it in theaters.
“Both ‘The Killing Fields,’ which was a 1984 Oscars film I think, and ‘Places in the Heart,’ they’re already been out, they’d already made their money, they were already successful. The same with ‘In the Line of Fire,’” he said. “It was really a different world. Now, that kind of seems to be the only way to get people to actually go to a theater.”
He isn’t too bothered by it, though. “I’m 72 years old, things change,” he said. “I don’t really like thinking things aren’t what they used to be. They just change, and you either change with them or die. And I prefer to change with them. I’ll die, anyway.”
“Wild Horse Nine,” in which he stars opposite Sam Rockwell as a veteran CIA agent, held its U.K. premiere at London Film Festival on Friday. Set shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup d’etat, the two are dispatched to Easter Island, where they must confront both their dark pasts and present conspiracies.
“Wild Horse Nine” first premiered at Venice Film Festival in September, where it received rave reviews and Malkovich took home the best actor prize. At a Venice press conference, Malkovich humbly shrugged off the praise, saying: “That is incredibly kind. I’ve had a long career, and I’ve had spectacular collaborations with writers, directors and actors. I never feel in competition with any of them. For me, it’s a very nice thing. But the nicest thing is the film getting attention. And the film has several terrific performers, and it’s beautifully written and directed. That’s what matters to me.”
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