John Malkovich Could Finally Win an Oscar as ‘Wild Horse Nine’ Emerges as First Major Academy Awards Contender of the Fall

Going through great pains not to be hyperbolic, “Wild Horse Nine” is the first world premiere at a fall festival that feels destined for a Best Picture nomination. Keep in mind, it is not that risky a bet, as its director Martin McDonagh’s last two films were nominated in that category at the Academy Awards, with both even seen as dark horses to win those two years.

But the sentiment around “Wild Horse Nine” is also coming from reports that there were standing ovations at even the press screening of the film starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA agents stationed in Chile in 1973, headed to an important mission on Easter Island. In fact, the first question at the film’s Venice press conference was basically asking Malkovich “how do you feel about being destined to win the Oscar next year for this film?”

The two-time Oscar nominee’s answer was very humble. “I’ve had a long career and I’ve had really spectacular collaborators and collaborations with directors, writers and actors. So I never feel in competition with any of them because generally I love what they do. So for me, it’s a very nice thing, but the nicest thing is that the film gets attention and the film has several terrific performers in it and it’s beautifully written and beautifully directed and that’s what matters the most to me. But thank you for your kindness.”

Despite the Best Actor race being so packed this year with major stars like Ryan Gosling, Matt Damon, and Tom Cruise, who have all not won an Oscar for acting before, Malkovich is the rare contender who can garner just as much momentum, especially since he has never won one either, and — even crazier — his last Academy Award nomination was over 30 years ago, before he had even become an icon with “Being John Malkovich.”

Time will tell if enough of McDonagh’s peers believe “Wild Horse Nine” is beautifully directed as well. Only one of McDonagh’s seven past Academy Award nominations was for Best Director, and this is a big year for epics and international films, which are more likely to draw attention from that crowd.

But this is more likely the year that McDonagh finally wins a screenplay Oscar. The Irish playwright and filmmaker has three Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominations for his films “In Bruges,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and “The Banshees of Inisherin.” Interestingly, the latter two lost to “Get Out” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which along with recent winners like “Anora,” “Parasite,” and “Promising Young Woman” are representative of how the Academy has been interested in dramatic films with a darkly comedic edge to them. “Wild Horse Nine” delivers just that, and does not currently have a lot of competition in the category right now, outside of films in a different language (and some would argue “Obsession”).

“Scripts like this don’t come along very often, if ever. And so everything I think we needed to know and study was in those hundred or so pages,” said Malkovich, when asked at the press conference about the research he’d done for “Wild Horse Nine.” “The script analysis is really everything. As you get older, it’s really about the script. It’s all there. It’s really all there,” said Rockwell.

Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich in ‘Wild Horse Nine’Diego Araya Corvalan /Searchlight Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

Speaking of the Oscar-winning “Three Billboards” star, Rockwell is likely to find his way back into contention for Best Supporting Actor, despite the film being a two-hander. The same was said of “The Banshees of Inisherin,” and the Oscar nominations resulted in both co-lead Brendan Gleeson and breakout Barry Keoughan receiving nods. Steve Buscemi as Malkovich and Rockwell’s CIA boss is delightful as well, but is not the Oscar shoo-in the way the latter two seem to be.

“Wild Horse Nine” has options for Best Supporting Actress, between the young Chilean women that Malkovich’s character develops a bond with, played by newcomers Mariana Di Girólamo and Ailín Salas, or Parker Posey reteaming with her “The White Lotus” co-star Rockwell over the phone. However, all three actors could’ve benefited from one more scene to land a firm place on voters’ radars. But who knows, McDonagh’s films tend to overperform in the acting categories come Oscar nominations day.

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” were also both nominated for Best Film Editing and Best Original Score, so Mikkel E.G. Nielsen and Carter Burwell will be ones to watch in those respective categories. But the below-the-line artisan who got a special shoutout during the “Wild Horse Nine” Venice press conference was cinematographer Ben Davis, who had the pleasure of working on the second film to ever shoot on Easter Island. There are many creative shots of the UNESCO World Heritage site and its famous moai.

In terms of why “Wild Horse Nine” deserves attention outside of its craft, and it being entertaining, McDonagh can already see viewers drawing parallels between the film and current events. “When I wrote the film and when we made it, it was to talk about 1973,” he said. “It does seem to have a bit of a commentary on the present day and geopolitics.”

He added, “It wasn’t necessarily deliberate, but I guess a lot of these things just naturally come in when you’re open to this subject matter. So I think it’s going to be fascinating to see how an audience takes it, to take something that’s seemingly a historical piece, but has tentacles and connections to what’s going on today. I think it’s going to be fascinating to see how it’s received.”