Martin McDonagh‘s Wild Horse Nine launched on the Lido this morning with the filmmakers and cast getting a rapturous welcome at the press conference following this morning’s press screenings.
Venice pressers tend to fall on the warm/adulating side but this was clearly a film with plenty of admirers.
Director Martin McDonagh, and actors John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi and Parker Posey were among those up on stage to discuss the dark comedy, whose Oscar buzz has been building.
The presser got underway with a journalist telling the team that the film was one of the best he’d seen this year and that Malkovich could surely start writing his Oscar acceptance speech, noting that it would be the accolade he “deserved after such a long and prestigious career”.
The suggestion drew a round of applause from the audience.
Malkovich adroitly demured: “I never feel in competition with any of them [actor, director and writer collaborators] because generally I love what they do. The nicest thing is that the film gets attention, and this film has several terrific performers in it, and is beautifully written and beautifully directed, and that’s what matters the most to me. But thank you for your kind words.”
Malkovich is considered by prognosticators to be firmly in the mix in what is a very competitive best actor category this awards season with Matt Damon, Tom Cruise, Robert Pattinson, Andrew Scott, Sebastian Stan and Javier Bardem among a deep field.
The 72 year-old, who told the audience he has no plans to retire, has two previous Oscar nominations, one in 1985 and one in 1994. After becoming almost a household name in the 80s and 90s, the acclaimed actor hasn’t had the same profile of roles in the past 20 years. There’s little Hollywood loves more than a ‘comeback’.
Another journalist in the crowd predicted multiple major awards for the movie. Martin McDonagh has seven Oscar nominations already (and one win). Not many would bet against that number growing. At this stage, at least.
Set just before the 1973 Chilean coup, his new film stars Malkovich and Rockwell as CIA agents Chris and Lee, who are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island by their bureau chief, MJ (Steve Buscemi). As the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris’ newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas) threatens to send everyone’s trip to the remote paradise sideways.
Searchlight has set a November 6, 2026 release date for the movie, which also stars Tom Waits. The film marks McDonagh’s first film since The Banshees of Inisherin, which was nominated for nine Oscars in 2023 including for directing, writing and Best Picture.
McDonagh and producer Graham Broadbent explained to the press that the film was only the second ever to film on Easter Island/Rapa Nui, something they and the actors described as a great privilege.
McDonagh also told the audience that part of his inspiration for telling the story was his fascination with the CIA and the fate of the Chilean government under Salvador Allende.
“We know what the KGB are like, but we we probably don’t question the CIA’s activities as much as we ought to,” he said. “That was one of the starting points. I’m always questioning, even in the less less political films [I make]. I like to question authority or what we’re being told.”
