John Malkovich's 'Wild Horse Nine' Performance Puts Him Back in the Oscar Race

John Malkovich jumped straight into this season's Best Actor rankings after the Venice premiere of Martin McDonagh's "Wild Horse Nine," positioning him for what would be his third Oscar nomination. Searchlight Pictures opened the film in select theaters on November 6, following festival stops in Venice, Telluride and Toronto.

His first two nominations were for Supporting Actor: in 1985 for "Places in the Heart" and in 1993 for "In a Line of Fire." This role would be different — a lead, and a juicy one.

How the role came to him

Malkovich had been offered McDonagh projects twice before — the film "Seven Psychopaths" and the play "A Behanding in Spokane" — but couldn't take them. When this screenplay arrived, he didn't hesitate.

"Beautiful piece of writing, just a perfect screenplay, and I couldn't believe I got sent it," Malkovich said in an interview at the Telluride Film Festival, conducted in the back of a black SUV outside the Herzog Theatre before his first of two Telluride Tributes.

He rehearsed five to six days in London with Sam Rockwell, reuniting with his "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" co-star. He'd also worked twice with Steve Buscemi, on "Ghost World" and "Con Air." "Sam and I hit it off, workwise, very well, very quickly," Malkovich said.

What does this change for his career?

The role reframes a 40-year career spent largely in supporting parts. Malkovich resists the "character actor" label, arguing the public misunderstands what a role is.

"You can be a terrific actor in anything, but if the film isn't good, it's utterly meaningless," he said. "You may as well not have bothered." A good role, he added, needs an arc the audience can follow "through comedy, through drama, through tragedy — that's what actors do."

He plays Chris, an aging CIA legend who has "killed whatever, 168 people, but apparently none while they were eating," and who meddles in Chile in 1973 as Pinochet waits in the wings. Rockwell's Lee, Malkovich said, is deliberately recessive — "Sam is an exceptionally generous actor... you couldn't ask for a better partner in every way."

History and thick skin

Malkovich drew a line from the Chilean coup to other national traumas. "November 22, 1963 is a trauma, as is September 11, 2001, and 1973 in Chile," he said, referencing his stage adaptation of Don DeLillo's "Libra," which DeLillo called "the seven seconds that broke the back of the American century." The coup, he said, "caused generations of pain, of nihilism, of loss of innocence, of loss of faith in a political system. And Martin mines that beautifully."

The character appeals, Malkovich suggested, because he's unleashed — he says what he wants. The actor himself stays off social media entirely. "I don't see the value," he said, citing his stage piece "The Music Critic," built from the worst reviews ever written about classical masterpieces. "They were all trashed. So what? Get used to it. Grow a thick skin, go on with your life, do what you think is good."

With the film now in theaters after its festival run, the question is whether awards voters will finally hand Malkovich the lead-actor recognition that has eluded him since 1985.