GREAT PERFORMANCES YOU MAY NOT HAVE SEEN:
Being John Malkovich (not really playing himself per se)
Shadow of the Vampire (‘20s director F.W. Murnau, shooting “Nosferatu”)
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (cult leader)
I’m Going Home (a film director)
The Ogre (a naïve mechanic seduced into the Nazi army)
Beyond the Clouds (Antonioni’s director)
Shadows and Fog (clown married to sword-swallowing Mia Farrow)
The Object of Beauty (with Andie MacDowell, an American stuck in a British hotel)
Queen’s Logic (a guy not coming to terms with his homosexuality)
Making Mr. Right (a scientist and his clone)
Disgrace (a South Africa professor fleeing the scandal of an affair with a mixed-race student)
Eleni (a writer looking for answers about his mother and his past)
THE CRAZY MALKOVICH:
In The Line of Fire (Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated performance as an intended Presidential assassin)
Burn After Reading (ex-CIA worker writing his memoirs, blackmailed by Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand)
Color Me Kubrick (based on true story of a man who pretended to be Stanley Kubrick)
True West (opposite Gary Sinise in Sam Shepard’s brilliant play about rival brothers)
Ripley’s Game (the sociopath gets caught up with the Russian mob)
The Great Buck Howard (a once-famous mentalist trying to make a comeback)
ConAir (insane criminal out to hijack a plane full of fellow cons)
THE CLASSIC MALKOVICH:
Places in the Heart (Oscar-nominated performance as a blind boarder of Sally Fields)
Dangerous Liaisons (Valmont)
The Messenger: Joan of Arc (The Dauphin)
Of Mice and Men (Lenny, the big one, opposite Gary Sinise, as George)
The Man in the Iron Mask (an older version of Athos, one of the three Musketeers)
Death of a Salesman (Biff, in a brilliant version led by Dustin Hoffman)
Time Regained (Baron de Charlus, a Proust character)
Klimt (the artist Gustav Klimt)
The Libertine (King Charles II, opposite Johnny Depp as the title Earl of Rochester)
The Glass Menagerie (Tom)
BLOCKBUSTERS:
The Changeling (Reverend Briegleb, helping Angelina Jolie get her child back)
Empire of the Sun (the street-smart mentor of a young Christian Bale in a Japanese POW camp)
The Killing Fields (a photojournalist covering Cambodia)
Mulholland Falls (an atomic scientist)
THE REAL MALKOVICH:
Actually, not “Being
John Malkovich,” though it does provide glimpses into what drove John
into living in France and decrying the film profession, though he’s no
less visible, and is now putting his considerable directing talents
to work in his less-favorite medium. The real Malkovich, though, is
doing theatre.
ACTING STYLE:
One of the many
fascinating things about Malkovich is how he can go from detached,
arrogant ennui to homicidal fury and back again in a seamless slide.
When he’s not an outright villain, he’s contemptible or angry enough
to keep at a distance. One of the few exceptions to this (and he
actually starts out angry) is his award-class role in “Places in the
Heart” and, of course, his gentle dim giant in “Of Mice and Men.”
All of this adds up to the definitive American
Aristocrat. Cast him as an artist, a professor, a serial killer, or
any other kind of misanthrope.
BITS AND QUIRKS:
Lots and lots. The
strange puffy upper lip, usually with mouth open a bit and either
blank or uncomprehending expression. The leer. The really angry leer.
Many effeminate gestures that move into both boredom and arrogance
(try as he may, he doesn’t do much for the depiction of gays on film),
combined with a slight lisp and a soft voice. Like many stage actors –
and John is one of the best – much of his power comes from his voice
control. The soft but intense over-enunciation. The wry tone combined
with the leer. The deeply angry and intense half-shouting, also
usually over-enunciated, and produced with a gritting, snarling baring
of the teeth. The simple stare.
GREAT SCENES:
MAN IN THE IRON MASK
Teaching Leonardo
DiCaprio to be a king > The stand-off with the musketeers and the
evil brother, DiCaprio > The final salute
HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE
Crawling across the table
IN THE LINE OF FIRE
Killing the hunters >
The phone conversation with Eastwood > The fight in the glass
elevator > The assassination attempt and the chase
BURN AFTER READING
In the car with Brad Pitt > Going crazy at the end
OF MICE AND MEN
The finale by the creek > The fight with Curley > The puppy
TRUE WEST
The debate over the toasters > The fight over the toasted bread > The intimidation scene, hitting Sinise on the head
MULLHOLLAND FALLS
Meeting with Nolte in his house > The love scene with Jennifer Connelly
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
The meeting with Glenn
Close in the beginning > Writing a love letter to Michelle Pfeiffer
on the back of a prostitute > The love scene with Uma Thurman, and
the seduction scene > Breaking up with Michelle Pfeiffer, the
“it’s beyond my control” speech
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