‘Wild Horse Nine’: How John Malkovich Nailed the Role of His Career

While early “Wild Horse Nine” press screenings in Los Angeles and New York got the ball rolling, the first whiff of a strong public reaction was the Venice Film Festival, where edgy auteur Martin McDonagh, John Malkovich, and Sam Rockwell soaked up sustained applause. Then they were whisked to the Colorado Rockies to screen the movie in Telluride.

Instantly, Malkovich jumped up the Best Actor rankings for what would be his third Oscar nomination. His first two were for Supporting Actor, in 1985 for “Places in the Heart,” and 1993 for “In the Line of Fire.” Now the movie is screening at the Toronto International Film Festival ahead of its November 6 release.

I caught up with Malkovich in the back of a large black SUV parked in front of the Herzog Theatre before his first of two Telluride Tributes.

The following interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Anne Thompson: How did you first get to know Martin McDonagh?

John Malkovich: I was offered a couple things of Martin’s over the years. One, “Seven Psychopaths,” one, [the play] “A Behanding in Spokane,” but I couldn’t do it. I was busy. I love the scripts, but I couldn’t do it, and so then this came. I thought the thing was great. Beautiful piece of writing, just a perfect screenplay, and I couldn’t believe I got sent it. I couldn’t believe he asked me to do it.

It’s a juicy lead.

Yeah. So I said, “Yeah!” with no hesitation at all. I have two little granddaughters. I don’t love being away for two, three months, whatever. But it’s part of the job, so you got to do it. We met in London because I’d never met Martin. We rehearsed five to six days in London with Sam, who I love. I’d worked with him before on “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” not a long gig, but I knew Sam a bit socially. And I’d worked with Buscemi before twice because he was in our film “Ghost World,” and we worked together in “Con Air.” Sam and I hit it off, workwise, very well, very quickly.

You may not agree, but I think Sam receded slightly and supported you in an amazing way. I find it moving, actually, that he did this for you. Do you feel that’s what he did?

Yes and no. I think he played his part. And the part [of Lee] is slightly recessive in that sense. Chris is the older one. He’s the wild card. He’s killed whatever, 168 people, but apparently none while they were eating. And he’s a legend in the CIA. Sam is an exceptionally generous actor, as generous as you could ever find, you couldn’t ask for a better partner in every way.

‘Wild Horse Nine’Searchlight Pictures

You’ve been doing this a long time. Your first Oscar nomination was in 1985. That’s over 40 years ago. Both your nominations have been for Supporting Actor. Are you a character actor?

I’ve had leading roles. But people don’t understand what a role is, the general public or anybody except actors. First of all, you can be a terrific actor in anything, but if the film isn’t good, it’s utterly meaningless. You may as well not have bothered. You may as well not have done it. It’s a waste of time. For a good role to be really good, people have to not just like the way you do that, but like what the character is doing, and understand it if they don’t like it, and they have to like the arc of the character. The best performances I gave would have been on stage first of all, but secondly, those in the cinema wouldn’t necessarily be in good movies, ugh. And that, on a certain level, has precious little to do with performance X, Y, Z. That’s just one small part of a movie.

In this case, you’re given an extraordinary amount of verbiage. So you had to make the rhythm of it, the sense of it, the emotion of it. Sometimes it’s hilariously funny, sometimes sad, and you run that gamut.

Yeah, but that’s great writing. This material, I believe, causes a big wave, and you ride that wave where it’s going, through comedy, through drama, through tragedy, even if that’s the nature of a particular text, and that’s what actors do. The collision between the public and the material is caused by a recognition in their lives.

‘Wild Horse Nine’Diego Araya Corvalan /Searchlight Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

Our CIA agent Chris is messing around with Chile in 1973 as Pinochet waits in the wings.

November 22, 1963 is a trauma, as is September 11, 2001, and 1973 in Chile. For those of us who were alive at that time, it’s immutable. Doesn’t matter your politics then or now, or if you had any. Doesn’t matter anything. I directed Don DeLillo’s great novel “Libra,” adapted it for the stage with Don, and Don referred to it in the book as the seven seconds that broke the back of the American century in Chile and it was not the only place on earth: Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador.

We were bad.

And various actors have been bad along with us, and possibly not worse, but the birthday party was spoiled. What’s left, and it caused generations of pain, of nihilism, of loss of innocence, of loss of faith in a political system. People everywhere can understand that, and Martin mines that beautifully. It’s beautifully structured in the writing and modulated in the filmmaking. So the wave is there.

Your character is fun to watch because he’s unfettered, he’s unleashed, he doesn’t give a fuck anymore. He’s just going to say what he wants to say, and he’s going to tell the truth.

And people appreciate that because in this culture, it’s very odd. You say this word or that word, and the anti-social media mob goes berserk. I don’t have social media. I don’t want it designated to me in the slightest. I don’t care what they say. They can say whatever they want, and so can people who offend you. They can say whatever they want, and voila, who cares? And this idea that you can’t say that because it’s offensive to this or that, and covers everything and every topic and every subject and every blah blah blah seems incredibly dumb. It’s a dumb world.

Well, that’s one of the great things about being a certain age, right? You don’t care anymore. He doesn’t, and maybe you don’t.

I stay off [social media] because I don’t see the value. I’m doing things. If people like them, beautiful. If they hate them, beautiful. I do a [stage and short film] piece called “The Music Critic,” which is all the worst reviews of all the most beautiful pieces of classical music in the world. They were all trashed. They were all hated. So what? Get used to it. Grow a thick skin, go on with your life, do what you think is good.

That’s good advice for everyone.