Malkovich embraces months-long Wild Horse Nine awards push
John Malkovich is ready to spend months selling Wild Horse Nine to awards voters, even though he says the process does not suit him at all.
The actor discussed the campaign at a Screen Talk at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday afternoon, 11 October, two days after the film's Friday night premiere in London, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He described the 2026 awards trail as lasting "months and months and months". It is now "the only way to get people to go to the theaters", he said.
The attention that comes with it is an "onslaught" that does not fit his "native personality". Campaigning is "a part of the business now", he added.
Malkovich knows the circuit well. He was Oscar-nominated in 1985 for Places in the Heart and in 1994 for In the Line of Fire. He recalled going to his first and only Oscars ceremony in 1985 after that first nomination.
Wild Horse Nine is his latest collaboration with writer-director Martin McDonagh, whom he called a "great writer". The Searchlight film stars Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as Chris and Lee, longtime CIA partners stationed in Santiago, Chile.
Steve Buscemi plays their bureau chief, who sends the pair to Easter Island. Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas play two rebellious Chilean students who bond with Chris. The story is set shortly before the 1973 military coup in Chile.
The film debuted at Telluride before arriving in London for its UK gala premiere at the 70th edition of the festival, with Malkovich, Rockwell and McDonagh in attendance. Early awards watchers have taken notice. The Hollywood Reporter's post-Venice and Telluride forecast ranked Malkovich No. 1 for Best Actor, and he has been tapped for the Performer of the Year Award at the Santa Barbara Film Fest.
Asked if changes in cinemagoing broke his heart, Malkovich was blunt. "No, because I'm 72 years old," he said.
What makes this stand out is how openly he linked the campaign grind to keeping films in cinemas. For fans, this means expect to see a lot of him in the coming months, like it or not.
He also touched on one of the film's wilder threads. His character Chris is implied to have played a major part in the death of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Asked for his own view of the assassination, Malkovich replied: "I know what didn't happen is what they said happened."
