John Malkovich picks out his finest acting performance
American actor John Malkovich is truly one of a kind, known for his incredible performances in a wide variety of iconic films that range from blockbusters like Con Air to cult classics such as Being John Malkovich. In recent years, Malkovich has made interesting additions to his oeuvre in the form of shows like The New Pope and Space Force, in addition to theatrical outings that have showcased the depth of his acting talents.
When we talk about Malkovich’s greatest works, it’s movies like Being John Malkovich that inevitably pop up in the discussion. Spike Jonze’s vision, supported by a delightfully bizarre and philosophically fascinating screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, afforded Malkovich the freedom to push the boundaries of the craft and even engage with his legacy and his persona as an actor. However, Malkovich has a different favourite from his own works.
During a conversation with GQ, Malkovich was asked to name one performance from his career that he values above all else. The actor used the opportunity to talk about the challenges of identifying a good performance, insisting that many film fans and writers think a good character and a strong performance are synonymous, but that’s not the case. According to Malkovich, it has to be an organic union of the two that elevates the entire movie.
Surprisingly, Malkovich cited his outing in the 2005 comedy Colour Me Kubrick as the greatest performance he had ever delivered. He explained: “Well, I think a little-seen film I did that no one paid the slightest attention to, but I think it was not a bad performance. It was called Colour Me Kubrick. I played a gay English failed travel agent who went around the UK pretending he was Stanley Kubrick, based on a true story. That’s a pretty good performance.”
Directed by Brian W. Cook, Colour Me Kubrick is partially based on real events and stars Malkovich as Alan Conway. Of course, Conway was the infamous British con artist who successfully convinced many people that he was Stanley Kubrick during the 1990s, trying to get what he could out of them in the process. The film received mixed reviews from critics and failed to make a significant impact on the box office, which is why it’s mostly forgotten now.
Malkovich insisted that his performance became diminished because the end product wasn’t up to the mark. He said: “A performance doesn’t matter. Meaning a good performance in a bad film or a film that doesn’t succeed is a kind of waste of time. It exists in a vacuum. I would say that’s a good performance, but because of the shape of the film and what the film ended up being, it came out like a sort of too-long succession of skits.”
The actor concluded: “Performance, that’s a really difficult thing to nail down because there are so many factors in a performance that people would just really have no idea. I can often see people who I think are terrific in something, but the thing may not matter because the whole thing doesn’t work.”
