The two-time Academy Award nominee has attracted fresh awards attention for his role as a CIA operative in Martin McDonagh’s Venice contender Wild Horse Nine.
John Malkovich has played down growing Oscar buzz surrounding his performance in Wild Horse Nine.
Insisting the attention being lavished on Martin McDonagh’s new CIA thriller matters more to him than another chance at finally winning an Academy Award, the 72-year-old spoke out after wrapping filming on the project, which also stars Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi in Martin’s latest dark comedy, which premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday (03.09.26) and is competing for the Golden Lion.
Set shortly before the 1973 Chilean military coup, the film follows CIA agents Chris, played by John, and Lee, played by Sam, after they are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island by their bureau chief MJ, played by Steve.
John, who has previously received two Academy Award nominations without winning, was asked at the film’s Venice press conference whether he had already begun preparing an acceptance speech.
He said: “That is incredibly kind. I’ve had a long career, and I’ve had spectacular collaborations with writers, directors and actors. I never feel in competition with any of them.”
John added: “For me, it’s a very nice thing. But the nicest thing is the film getting attention. And the film has several terrific performers, and it’s beautifully written and directed. That’s what matters to me.”
The film, written and directed by Martin McDonagh, also stars Mariana Di Girolamo, Ailín Salas, Tom Waits and Parker Posey.
Its story unfolds amid the political turmoil surrounding the coup against Chilean president Salvador Allende, with John and Sam playing longtime CIA partners confronting their own histories while on the remote Pacific island.
Martin told the Venice press conference his interest in the history of American intelligence operations helped shape the film.
He was quoted by Variety saying: “I’ve been interested in the truth of what the CIA is doing in the past 50 years, and the awful things they’ve been doing around the world.”
Martin referred to historic American interventions in Guatemala, the Congo and the Bay of Pigs, adding: “That’s something that’s not talked about enough. We know what the KGB are like, but we don’t question the CIA’s activity as much as we ought to.”
John described his and Sam’s characters as “two jacka****” and said agreeing to appear in Martin’s film had been an “easy decision”.
He said: “I had been sent a couple of things that Martin had written before, which I was unable to consider because of other commitments.”
John added: “When this came around, I decided absolutely I’d do it. Thankfully, I didn’t have anything standing in the way.”
Wild Horse Nine marks Martin’s latest trip to Venice following the festival premieres of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin.
Both became major awards-season contenders.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri earned Academy Awards for Sam and Frances McDormand, while The Banshees of Inisherin received nine Oscar nominations.
Wild Horse Nine is among 21 films competing for the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice festival and will be released theatrically by Searchlight Pictures on November 6.
The role adds another distinctive character to John’s five-decade screen career.
He famously played a fictionalised version of himself in Spike Jonze’s surreal 1999 comedy Being John Malkovich, alongside John Cusack and Cameron Diaz.
His other best-known performances include the sinister assassin Mitch Leary opposite Clint Eastwood in In the Line of Fire, which earned John his second Oscar nomination, and the manipulative Vicomte de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons.
John also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, Con Air, Burn After Reading, Red, Of Mice and Men and television series The New Pope.
His latest performance is also bringing another festival honour. John is among the recipients of a Silver Medallion at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival, which begins on Friday.
Despite having worked on stage and screen for decades, John said in Venice that he has no plans to bring his acting career to an end.
He said: “I’ve been doing what I love my whole life. I plan to keep doing that.”
John added: “I don’t plan to retire because I think they’ll retire me when it’s time. That seems to be the natural course of things.”
John Malkovich brushes off Oscar buzz around latest dark comedy performance
