No movie has popped at this year’s fall film festivals more than Wild Horse Nine, Martin McDonagh’s dramedy about a pair of bickering CIA agents, played by John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, who visit Chile’s Easter Island ahead of the 1973 coup that ousted that nation’s democratically elected president. Indeed, the film, which Searchlight will release in the U.S. on Nov. 6, received a 14-minute standing ovation following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday, and then played through the roof at its North American premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on Friday.
On Saturday, following another tremendously received Telluride screening of the film, The Hollywood Reporter sat down with McDonagh, Malkovich and Rockwell, two of the film’s scene-stealing supporting actors, veteran Steve Buscemi and newcomer Mariana di Girolamo, and producer Graham Broadbent, to discuss what inspired the project and the challenges of shooting it on location; efforts to represent Chilean people, places and history on screen; and the early response to the film and, specifically, to Malkovich’s performance, for which the 73-year-old, who received two Oscar noms more than 30 years ago, could land not only a third nom but a first win.
A transcript of the conversation appears below, lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
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Martin, geographical place is such a central thing in your work — it’s literally in the title of several projects, including In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Banshees of Inisherin. It’s not in the title of this film, but Easter Island is such a central part of the story, one of the characters almost. My understanding is that there were two separate revelations that led you to Wild Horse Nine: one about the place, and the other about the CIA?
MARTIN MCDONAGH Well, I went to Rapa Nui, as it’s known, about 15 years ago, with the hope that it might be a character or a location that could be interesting in a movie, and found that it was because it’s so beautiful and the Moai are iconic. And one of the things I found was that there were all these wild horses running around, which was a revelation to me. I tried different variations of a story, usually with an older guy and a younger one. Sometimes they’d be like a father and son, once they were two actors. Sam read some of these versions. But it never quite gelled until I started thinking about what the CIA did in Chile in the ’70s, knowing that Rapa Nui is a sort of dependency of Chile. And it’s when that idea came about four years ago that everything seemed to fall into place. But I think the work that I’d done about the father-and-son sort of relationship remained in the idea of these two guys who are bickering, but love beneath the surfaces remains.
Graham, I understand that it was very important to Martin that this film be shot on location, which in this case was a tall task because Easter Island is, I believe, the most remote place in the world that is actually occupied by people. We’re talking — is it 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile?
GRAHAM BROADBENT No, it’s further, two-and-a-half thousand miles off Chile. Between Chile and New Zealand is this island. And yes, it’s the most remote inhabited place on the earth.
Can you talk about how that affected your work getting a film set up there?
BROADBENT Having worked with Martin quite a lot [this is their fifth film together], I knew that real location was an important part of the way he would make the film. It’s a very beautiful place, but there’s no food facilities or really anything there for making a film. We were lucky enough to work with a company called Fabula in Chile, Juan de Dios Larraín’s company. And we began our first approach there because they don’t need or want film crews there — there was one film made there in 1997, Kevin Reynolds’ film Rapa Nui — and they don’t need any more tourists, because there are many there already doing a sort of bucket-list three or four days to see the heads. So we began the conversation with the council, and they thought there may be something extraordinary to be done in helping us with the film. The Moai are sacred and extraordinary, so we had to be very careful with those — it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site as well — so we took everything in, and we had to take everything out afterwards. But we loved being there. And we used a hundred of the local people as crew, construction, drivers, and things like that. We took in a crew of people from Santiago, Chile, and the U.K., as well. We were there about three months, and it was an extraordinary experience for us all.
Sam, you have a lot of history with Martin, working with him on stage in A Behanding in Spokane and then in the films Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, for which you won your Oscar. And now this one.
SAM ROCKWELL I read a couple different drafts. And yeah, they [the two central characters] were actors at one point, and then they were CIA people. There were a lot of different drafts. But I signed on right away.
John, you and Martin have both done so much extraordinary work in the theater as well as in film. I understand this isn’t the first time he approached you about working together?
JOHN MALKOVICH The two projects before [that McDonagh approached him about] were both ones that Sam was in, Seven Psychopaths and A Behanding in Spokane, and I wasn’t available because I was doing another movie. This time I read it and immediately said, “Yes, I think it’s fantastic.” And I met Martin in December, almost two years ago now. Then we rehearsed in January in New York at the Public Theater. And then I went down in mid-February.
Steve, you’ve worked with many great filmmakers over the years, but this is your first time with Martin…
STEVE BUSCEMI I was at the Venice Film Festival four years ago when Banshees was there. Martin and I had met a couple of times over the years, but we had never had a conversation. In Venice, we got to hang out and drink together and laugh and crash parties. I think I may have bribed him and said that we must work together, and I’m so grateful that he remembered. Also, I’ve known Sam for over 30 years and a few movies [1992’s In the Soup, 1994’s The Search for One-Eye Jimmy and Somebody to Love, 1998’s Louis & Frank and 2002’s 13 Moons]. And John and I did Con Air, and he was one of the producers on Ghost World. So yeah, it was a no-brainer — I remember being on a flight back from LA and landing and getting all these messages from my manager, “Call me immediately!” I was like, “What happened?!” “We got a script from Martin!” And I read it that night and just couldn’t sleep; I was just so excited.
Mariana, Martin recently said, “We knew this film couldn’t just be about two American guys fucking Chile. You had to show what Chileans were about.” That’s where your character comes in. Did you feel a particular sense of responsibility, as far as representing that period of your country’s history?
MARIANA DI GIROLAMO First of all, I really appreciated that Martin wanted a Chilean actress to play this role. I was born in 1990, the first year of democracy, but of course I’d known about that period and what happened in my country since 1973. My parents were students back then, and it’s just something you grew up with — it’s an open wound for us. Most of the responsible ones died in impunity, so it’s something that is very terrible. We see Monica with a lot of hope in the beginning, full of life. She believes strongly in this new project for a better future for all of Chile. After she’s faced with the other side of the story, with the character of Chris, I think that her heart broke, but he gave her the strength that she needs to embrace the future, the atrocities that happened. So I feel very honored to play this character, and to be part of this movie that I really love, and to be with these amazing artists that I really admire.
We all know what an incredible writer for stage and screen Martin is, but because of that I think something that can get overshadowed or overlooked sometimes is his ability as a director. So I want to ask the actors if you can talk about what stands out to you about him in his directing capacity…
ROCKWELL Martin’s just become a master filmmaker. He’s become an auteur, dare I say that word, and I feel so lucky to work with him. He also has the key components that you need to have to be with actors: empathy and compassion. He likes actors, he can look you in the eye and say, “Good morning,” and he’s not a dick, so that helps. But yeah, he’s become this amazing filmmaker. He started out writing plays, and he didn’t want to write plays, he wanted to make films, and he’s fucking doing it, and he’s doing it very well.
MALKOVICH Martin is a fantastic writer and storyteller, and that’s a huge part of the equation in making very good films. And as a director, he has very specific ideas of how a scene could and should play. He shoots beautifully. And I think the editing of this film is so well-modulated, the way you go in and you come out of it, and you go back in and you come out of it — it’s just beautifully formed. The film, for me, was a huge challenge, because it’s a huge part and a fantastic part and you don’t want to mess it up. But Martin gave me one of the greatest notes I’ve ever had in 150-odd movies or whatever: during one of the scenes with the heads, when the girls come and say, “Why are you here if you’re just going to make fun of the place?” Martin came over after a couple takes and said, “More David Attenborough.” [laughs] You don’t get notes that good.
Martin, one of the things that’s interesting about your projects is the the way you blend genres. As you mentioned, this film is a love story between the two CIA agents, but it’s also kind of a Western — I mean, you’ve got two old gunslingers, you’ve got horses, you’ve got the open country, and you’re even literally shooting stuff in Monument Valley with Tom Waits’ character. Had you been yearning to do more with the Western genre?
MCDONAGH I think so, ever since seeing the horses on the island. The Wild Bunch is one of my favorite movies ever, outside of the obvious John Ford ripoffs, so the idea of a doomed gunslinger was always a part of what the story was going to be. But also keeping the horses front and center — the one horse that John connects with is one thing, but keeping them all in play was very important too.
Your projects juggle very dark and heavy stuff with moments of humor in a very specific way. You recently said, “I’d be depressed if there weren’t a great joke every two minutes. I also wouldn’t want to make an out-and-out comedy.”
MCDONAGH My natural tendency writing-wise is to try and make it funny — I like to try and make the dialogue funny to entertain myself — so that’s always going to be there. But then when the subject matter is darker, you’ve got to somehow strike kind of a balance between it all. The thing I’ve learned as the films have gone on, more as a director than as a writer, is to leave room for the quieter, sadder moments, which aren’t necessarily dialogue-based at all. Sometimes the thing that can be cut from a script or from a shooting schedule is a man looking out a window, or alone in his room, or on his bed smoking a cigarette — but it’s in those moments that everything happens, especially with an actor as amazing as John. That’s where all the regret and guilt and sadness enters the film, I think. Sometimes the comedy can take care of itself, as long as you ground it in truth.
Only a few audiences have seen this movie already, but the reactions have been through the roof. Some people here may not know that it received a 14-minute standing ovation after its world premiere in Venice. Then it came here for its North American premiere and received the American equivalent of that — people don’t like standing for as long, but not for lack of enthusiasm [laughs]…
MALKOVICH 14 seconds! [Laughs]
Everybody is talking about how the performances of all of the actors are outstanding. But there seems to be a particular excitement and enthusiasm about John’s performance, at the age of 73 and after so many great films. John, it’s been a while since you’ve gotten the level of love and appreciation that you’re getting for this performance — in fact, it’s been 30-plus years since the most recent of your Oscar nominations. In this film you’re playing a character who’s reflecting on his life and career. But I’d love to know for you what, in this moment, it’s like — forgive me — being John Malkovich…
MALKOVICH For me, it’s lovely to be part of a great story and a terrific movie. I don’t think much about awards — I’m not in competition with all of the wonderful colleagues that I’ve had making movies across the world. I’m just grateful and delighted that I was a part of this.
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