The Venice Film Festival, which came to an end this weekend, is usually seen as an early indicator for awards season, leading up to next year’s Academy Awards. It has frequently launched successful Oscar campaigns, and this year’s 83rd edition has kickstarted plenty of early awards buzz for John Malkovich.
The veteran actor won the prestigious Best Actor award at Venice’s closing award ceremony on Saturday for his role as Chris in the dark comedy Wild Horse Nine by Martin McDonaugh (In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Banshees of Inisherin).
The film follows two CIA officer who are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup d’etat that overthrew Salvador Allende. It also stars Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey and Tom Waits.
Malkovich was unable to attend the ceremony in person due to filming commitments in Montreal, but sent a video message to accept the accolade.
“I am humbled to be chosen for this award, which has been given to so many wonderful actors,” said Malkovich.
Beyond significantly increasing his chances of winning an Oscar next year, Malkovich has made headlines for cancelling his upcoming trip to Israel over a fabricated quote – something many have interpreted as a blatant act of artwashing.
Malkovich was set to appear in the theatrical-musical satire play titled The Music Critic, composed by the Jewish violinist Aleksey Igudesman, in Tel Aviv’s Charles Bronfman Auditorium next April.
The actor has cancelled his performance over an an unauthorised press release that falsely attributed quotes to him. It quoted Malkovich saying he was “thrilled to return to Israel” and looked “forward to meeting the warm Israeli audience once again, to whom I feel a strong closeness and solidarity.”
The press release was published in The Jerusalem Post, and when learning of the quotes via The Hollywood Reporter, the actor said he never authorised them.
In a statement to the publication, Malkovich said that a “PR company hired by the Israeli promoter drafted a quote for the article that was attributed to me, though I never made the statements that were quoted, nor was I consulted before they were printed.”
He added: “I did not utter these phrases, and they most certainly are not approved by me, nor do they reflect my feelings. The fact that they were printed as direct quotes from me is unacceptable and untenable. For this reason, I have decided I cannot participate in the Tel Aviv performance.”
Malkovich went on to distance himself from any implied endorsement of any of Israel’s actions. He said: “Throughout my long career, I’ve been lucky to perform across a quite wide swath of the world – in countries with governments whose values or culture I do not share and in front of audiences of many differing faiths and ideologies.”
“Travelling to places whose view of the world may not align with mine has given me a chance to observe and to listen and learn and to share my idea of what makes good storytelling and what makes beautiful music and how they can compliment each other and illuminate the human condition.”
He added: “My appearance in any country, even my own, does not constitute approval of said country’s policies, nor actions, nor its elected or unelected leaders. My appearances would also not condone nor mean that I am in supposed ‘solidarity’ with any particular political cause, nor with the killing of innocents, nor with any acts of terrorism, nor any other kind of barbarity.”
Organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have described Israel’s actions as “genocide” – as well as a report published in June by a UN independent commission which found that “Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank.”
The Israeli PR firm behind the false quotes subsequently apologised for “incorrectly” attributing quotes to Malkovich.
“Mr. Malkovich did not make, provide, authorise or approve this statement, nor was it approved by his representatives,” they said. “We sincerely apologise to Mr. Malkovich and his representatives for the incorrect attribution and regret that this occurred.”
Malkovich last visited Israel in 2013 when he appeared on stage in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions Of A Serial Killer.
Wild Horse Nine is seen an early frontrunner in this year’s and 2027’s awards season, especially for Malkovich’s performance, and will screen next month at the BFI London Film Festival. It will be released in cinemas on 6 November.