John Malkovich: fifty years in the profession and no plans to retire
John Malkovich protagoniza Wild Horse Nine, de Martin McDonagh, y mantiene su actividad teatral.
John Malkovich has no intention of retiring. At 72, he continues to alternate between films and theatrical tours. In September, he presented Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine in Venice and offered a straightforward explanation of his plans: he has spent his life doing something he enjoys and wants to continue.
The film, which received a thirteen-minute standing ovation at the festival, is scheduled to open in the United States on November 6, 2026. Malkovich plays a CIA officer alongside Sam Rockwell.
This year, he also returned to Buenos Aires to perform The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman, based on texts by Roberto Bolaño. Moving between film sets and stages still shapes his working life, half a century after his early seasons with Steppenwolf.
From Illinois to a theatre company
He was born on December 9, 1953, in Christopher, Illinois, into a family involved in local journalism. During his university years, he became interested in theatre and met some of the actors with whom he would later work in Chicago.
In 1976, he joined the ensemble for Steppenwolf’s first permanent season. Founded by Gary Sinise, Jeff Perry and Terry Kinney, the company worked in the basement of a school in Highland Park before moving to Chicago and expanding its activities.
Sam Shepard’s True West took him to New York and earned him an Obie Award in 1983. The following year, he played Biff Loman opposite Dustin Hoffman in Death of a Salesman. The television adaptation of that production brought him an Emmy.
Film recognition arrived around the same time. His performance in Places in the Heart, released in 1984, earned him the first of his two Academy Award nominations.
Valmont, an assassin and a door into his own mind
In Stephen Frears’s Dangerous Liaisons, he played the Vicomte de Valmont. The 1988 film brought him together with Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer and gave him one of his best-known roles.
His second Oscar nomination came in 1993 for In the Line of Fire. He played the man threatening the president of the United States and challenging the Secret Service agent portrayed by Clint Eastwood.
Another role put his surname in the title. In Being John Malkovich, released in 1999, a doorway allows people to enter his mind. Directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman, the film turned him into a fictional character in a story that played with his public identity.
His filmography also includes work with Steven Spielberg and the Coen brothers. Rather than maintaining a single character type, he has moved between dramas, comedies, action films and productions of different sizes.
A CIA officer in Chile
In Wild Horse Nine, McDonagh sets the story shortly before Chile’s 1973 military coup. Two CIA officers, played by Malkovich and Rockwell, are ordered to travel from Santiago to Easter Island.
The mission brings the characters’ secrets and conflicts into play. The cast includes Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey, Tom Waits, Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas. The film competed for the Golden Lion in Venice.
The collaboration does not follow appearances in McDonagh’s earlier films. Malkovich explained that other commitments had prevented him from accepting previous offers from the director. This time, he was able to join the project.
Bringing Bolaño to the Teatro Ópera
Theatre remains an important part of his schedule. On March 27, 2026, he presented The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman at Buenos Aires’s Teatro Ópera, combining narration with live music.
Based on texts by Roberto Bolaño, the work follows an aviator and poet connected to the repression of Chile’s dictatorship. The character writes verses in the sky and uses art to justify his actions.
Malkovich was accompanied by a piano, violin and bandoneon trio, performing a repertoire that included compositions by Astor Piazzolla, Antonio Vivaldi and Erik Satie. The music contributes to the narrative and the tension between the character’s artistic work and his crimes.
Beyond his characters
Malkovich has also directed films. In The Dancer Upstairs, he worked with Javier Bardem on a story about a police officer pursuing a guerrilla leader. He has also designed clothing through projects including Uncle Kimono and Technobohemian.
His finances suffered a widely reported setback when he lost money in Bernie Madoff’s fraud, exposed in 2008. He subsequently continued working in films, theatre and advertising.
In September 2026, he cancelled a performance of The Music Critic scheduled for April 2027 in Tel Aviv. The decision followed the circulation of promotional statements he had neither made nor authorized. The company responsible acknowledged the incorrect attribution and apologized.
With Wild Horse Nine about to open and theatre still on his schedule, Malkovich avoids setting an end date for his career. In Venice, he said he did not plan to retire: he assumes that, when the time comes, people will stop calling.
