The John Malkovich Oscar buzz has arrived before the public has even seen Wild Horse Nine. At the Venice Film Festival on September 3, the 72-year-old actor politely declined to begin mentally arranging a place for an Academy Award, preferring to direct attention toward Martin McDonagh’s film and its ensemble. Awards season, never known for waiting until anyone has watched the movie, is apparently underway.

Malkovich plays Chris, a veteran CIA officer reconsidering his life in McDonagh’s dark comedy. Sam Rockwell portrays the other agent sent with him to Easter Island shortly before the Chilean military coup that overthrew socialist president Salvador Allende in 1973.

Asked at the film’s press conference whether he had started writing an acceptance speech, Malkovich called the suggestion “incredibly kind” but rejected the competitive framing.

“I’ve had a long career, and I’ve had spectacular collaborations with writers, directors and actors,” he said. “I never feel in competition with any of them.”

Why is the film already attracting awards attention?

Malkovich has received two Academy Award nominations, both for supporting performances. The first came for Places in the Heart and the second for In the Line of Fire. He did not win either, despite a career that also includes Dangerous Liaisons, Empire of the Sun and Being John Malkovich.

His latest film enters Venice with the sort of pedigree that makes awards forecasters open their spreadsheets early. McDonagh previously premiered Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin at the festival. Both became major Oscar contenders after strong Venice receptions.

Three Billboards ultimately earned Academy Awards for Rockwell and Frances McDormand. That history has placed Wild Horse Nine among the festival’s prominent potential contenders, even though its public world premiere was not scheduled until Thursday evening, after the press screening and news conference. As of September 3, no substantial public reception or major wave of reviews had emerged.

Malkovich said attention for the film mattered more than personal predictions. He praised its performers and described it as “beautifully written and directed.”

What is Wild Horse Nine about?

Written and directed by McDonagh, the 118-minute film is a British, American and Chilean production set during the early 1970s. Malkovich and Rockwell play CIA officers dispatched to Easter Island as Chile approaches the September 11, 1973 coup.

The supporting cast includes:

  • Steve Buscemi as bureau chief MJ
  • Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas as two rebellious students who befriend Chris
  • Tom Waits
  • Parker Posey

Di Girolamo is Chilean, while Salas is Argentine. Their presence, along with Chile’s role as a production country and the Easter Island setting, gives the project a stronger South American dimension than its early presentation as an American awards vehicle might suggest.

Behind the camera, Ben Davis served as cinematographer, Oscar winner Mikkel E.G. Nielsen edited the film, and longtime McDonagh collaborator Carter Burwell composed the score. Searchlight plans to release it theatrically on November 6, 2026.

Malkovich said accepting the role was straightforward. He had previously received other McDonagh scripts but could not participate because of scheduling conflicts. This time, nothing stood in the way. He described his and Rockwell’s characters with admirable efficiency as “two jackasses.”

How does the film approach CIA history?

McDonagh said he uses movies to “question authority and what we’re being told.” At the Venice press conference, he criticized CIA activity over the past half-century and cited American involvement in Guatemala, the Congo and the Bay of Pigs invasion.

“We know what the KGB are like, but we don’t question the CIA’s activity as much as we ought to,” he said.

Chile requires a more precise distinction. Declassified United States records document extensive American efforts to weaken Allende’s government, including financing, propaganda and earlier discussions about supporting a coup. A declassified CIA account, however, denies that the agency encouraged or directly supported the military overthrow carried out in September 1973, which brought Augusto Pinochet to power.

That contested boundary matters. American interference in Chile is well documented, while direct operational responsibility for the coup remains a separate and disputed claim. The film’s historical setting therefore comes with more complexity than a simple spy comedy premise might imply.

Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera has described cinema as “an extraordinary tool to understand the real world.” Wild Horse Nine appears designed to test that proposition through fictional agents, political history and two men whom one of their actors has already assessed rather unfavorably.

Will Malkovich retire after this role?

Not voluntarily. Malkovich said he intends to continue acting because the work remains what he loves.

“I don’t plan to retire because I think they’ll retire me when it’s time,” he said. “That seems to be the natural course of things.”

The comment fits a career that has moved comfortably between prestige dramas, studio thrillers, eccentric comedies and projects that resist useful classification. Whether Wild Horse Nine brings him a third Oscar nomination will not become clear for months. The 99th Academy Awards are scheduled for March 2027, leaving ample time for campaigns, critics’ prizes and the usual highly organized display of pretending not to care.

Before that comes the more immediate test. Wild Horse Nine is competing for the Golden Lion at Venice, where its public premiere will provide the first meaningful indication of whether the early enthusiasm extends beyond industry expectation. Malkovich, for his part, seems content to let the film make the argument.