John Malkovich names the worst performance of his career: “I didn’t care much for that”
As the old saying goes, “everyone’s a critic”. When you’re as famous as John Malkovich, though, most people actually are.
The idiosyncratic star has been in the acting business for the better part of 50 years. In that time, he’s appeared in some of the biggest movies of all time, a string of cult classics, and just about everything in between. His professional output has been pored over and picked apart by everyone and their mothers. Poor bloke must be so paranoid he can barely sleep.
Perhaps not, though, as the critics have mostly been quite kind to him. He’s a two-time Oscar nominee, once for Depression-era drama Places in the Heart and then again for In the Line of Fire, a rare nod for a performer in an action movie. He has not one, but two films with a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes – Which Way Home and Death of a Salesman – with several others in the high 90s.
During an interview with The Face to promote his 2025 film Opus, Malkovich was asked about his relationship with those who exist solely to dissect his work. Despite being something of a critical darling, he seemed pretty indifferent to their existence.
“Critics have their audience,” he said. “I’m not part of the audience. There may be a critic I particularly like on some particular subject, but really I have to make my own way in my chosen field. I don’t need a critic for that. I’m my own critic.”
To illustrate this point, he brought up his performance in the 1985 biographical drama Eleni, saying, “I didn’t care much for that.”
The film is based on the real-life memoir of Malkovich’s character, Nicholas Gage. Raised in the United States, Gage spent his childhood in Greece with his mother, the titular Eleni (Kate Nelligan). Gage fled the country after his mother was murdered during the civil war, but returns to his homeland 30 years later to find answers. If you’re looking for something cosy to watch while hungover, this probably isn’t it.
Despite harsh reviews from its own star, Eleni performed well among actual critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently sits on an 83% critics rating and a 76% score from the public, placing firmly in the ‘Fresh’ category. Then there are the reviews of Malkovich himself. The legendary Roger Ebert described him as “one of the great strong quiet zones of contemporary film acting” in his review.
Even Malkovich’s biggest fans would struggle to call Eleni his best ever performance, but it’s not like he completely shat the bed. Perhaps he felt extra pressure because he was playing a real person who went through a real tragedy? Maybe he was upset that more people didn’t see the finished product and was lashing out? Or, it could just be that John Malkovich can’t take a compliment.
As he put it himself, “I haven’t cared much for many things I’ve done, honestly.” At least he’s being honest, I guess.
