{"id":641959,"date":"2026-10-10T06:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T06:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/641959\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T06:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T06:46:15","slug":"john-malkovich-sam-rockwell-buddy-up-at-london-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/641959\/","title":{"rendered":"John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell Buddy Up at London Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJohn Malkovich<\/a> and Sam Rockwell<\/a> were a perfect double act at the BFI London Film Festival<\/a> premiere of Wild Horse Nine<\/a> Friday night.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe pair livened up a British audience with a well-received screening of the film at the city\u2019s Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, though both actors declined to talk to too many reporters on the carpet.<\/p>\n

\n\tRockwell said on stage about what drew him to the film: \u201cMartin\u2019s annoyingly handsome but very talented,\u201d as laughter erupted across the room. \u201cWhat drew me to the film is reading the script,\u201d added a polite but enigmatic Malkovich \u2014\u00a0sporting a beanie, no less.<\/p>\n

\n\tMalkovich, riding the wave of immense Oscar buzz, has already claimed Venice\u2019s prestigious Volpi Cup for best actor for his performance. British-born Irish filmmaker McDonagh, who has taken Wild Horse Nine on the festival circuit but is finally on home turf at the London Film Festival<\/a>, told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet that he thinks Brits will enjoy the movie\u2019s dark humor. He was spotted sharing a kiss with long-time partner Phoebe Waller-Bridge shortly before the lights went down.<\/p>\n

\n\tWild Horse Nine stars Malkovich and Rockwell as Chris and Lee, longtime CIA partners stationed in Santiago, Chile who are dispatched to Easter Island by their bureau chief (Steve Buscemi<\/a>). Against the surreal backdrop of the island\u2019s monumental Moai statues, the pair begin reckoning with their murky shared past. At the same time, Chris forms an unexpected bond with two rebellious Chilean students, played by Mariana di Girolamo and Ail\u00edn Salas \u2014 an encounter that threatens to unravel the agents\u2019 friendship and the conspiracy in which they have become entangled.<\/p>\n

\n\tBuscemi said to THR about preparing for the role of his CIA boss MJ: \u201cI don\u2019t know any CIA agents, but Martin recommended a book, which was helpful to a certain extent. But really, I get everything I need from the script. It\u2019s so well-written from Martin and working off the other actors [helps], because when it comes right down to it, [MJ] is a boss and he has bosses and he\u2019s under a lot of pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added about the London crowd: \u201cI think they\u2019ll get a kick out of it. I think they\u2019ll enjoy it. I think audiences all over will get a lot out of it because it\u2019s so well-made. It\u2019s Martin McDonagh<\/a>, and it\u2019s got a great cast, and it\u2019s a great story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked about which movie he\u2019d like to have starred in this year, Buscemi threw us a curveball. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen Wicker, but that\u2019s something that looks like it\u2019s a lot of fun to be in. So I\u2019m looking forward to seeing that one.\u201d (Wicker, also screening at LFF, stars Olivia Colman as an ostracized, single fisherwoman in a conservative medieval seaside town who commissions the local basket-maker to weave her a husband, played by Alexander Skarsgard.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThe BFI London Film Festival kicked off with an emotional and fervent screening of Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman\u2019s Elsinore on Wednesday night. The Irishman \u2014\u00a0looking like Malkovich\u2019s main rival in the Oscar race so far \u2014 had attendees on their feet as he welcomed the real-life people who inspired particular Elsinore characters, including Colman\u2019s Professor Margaret Johnson, a pioneer of HIV\/AIDS treatment in the late \u201980s.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 70th edition of the BFI London Film Fest runs Oct. 7-18 and is set to continue with a run of star-spangled galas including screenings of Artificial<\/a>, Bunker<\/a>, Behemoth!<\/a>, Ink, Club Kid<\/a>, A Long Winter, Ray Gunn and Paper Tiger<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell were a perfect double act at the BFI London Film Festival premiere of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[51487,275647,458,146,85,399,46,217807,26457,58449,30047,130477,1299,273597],"class_list":["post-641959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-bfi-london-film-festival","tag-bfi-london-film-festival-2026","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-international","tag-israel","tag-john-malkovich","tag-london-film-festival","tag-martin-mcdonagh","tag-sam-rockwell","tag-steve-buscemi","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wild-horse-nine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}