Chilean Actress Mariana di Girolamo Makes Her American Film Debut in Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine
Chilean actress Mariana di Girolamo is stepping into American film for the first time, as the third lead in Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine. The Hollywood Reporter reported the casting on October 25, 2026, and the film is scheduled to reach cinemas on November 6.
Di Girolamo is a native Spanish speaker. Before this project, she had never worked on an American production. Her best-known earlier work includes Pablo Larraín's Ema, where she starred opposite Gael García Bernal.
In Wild Horse Nine, she plays a leftist student who draws the attention of John Malkovich's character. The story follows two CIA agents sent to a remote Chilean island on the eve of the 1973 coup. Malkovich and Sam Rockwell play the two spies, and Parker Posey plays Rockwell's wife.
Di Girolamo is not the only Chilean performer in the cast. Ailín Salas plays a rebellious Chilean student alongside her, according to Variety's coverage of the Venice premiere and earlier Hollywood Reporter trailer reporting. The wider ensemble also includes Tom Waits and Steve Buscemi. Carter Burwell wrote the score.
The film has already been on the autumn festival circuit. It was shown at Venice, Telluride and Toronto, and it was announced as the opening night selection at the Mill Valley Film Festival in California. Variety reported that Di Girolamo, Salas and Posey took part in the film's press conference in Venice. The Zurich Film Festival had also planned a gala premiere of the film as a tribute to McDonagh, according to Variety.
For a film set in 1973 Chile, the cast has a notable mix of nationalities and languages. Di Girolamo's move from Chilean cinema into a large English-language production is the story here, and it shows how international casting now works on films about the history of a single country.
What comes next is the release itself. The film's theatrical date of November 6 places it in the run-up to the end-of-year awards season, when studios and distributors push their films for attention from voters and critics. Whether it finds a large audience will show in the weeks after opening.
