John Malkovich - biography

“I don’t have a tendency to discuss what I do - before, during or even after.”

“I’m supposed to be a pretty good theater actor.”

“My life before children I don’t really remember.  I’ve heard references to it, but I really don’t remember.”

“I wouldn’t describe myself as lacking in confidence, but I would just say that - the ghosts you chase you never catch.”

“Some directors expect you to do everything; write, be producer, psychiatrist.  Some just want you to die in a tragic accident during the shooting so they can get the insurance.”

“I don’t think my parents know what I do.”

“I’m more comfortable with whatever’s wrong with me than my father was whenever he felt he failed or didn’t measure up to the standard he set.”

“I wouldn’t say anything I ever did in film would be something I’d use the word proud about.  I’ve done better work in the theater.”

“I’m more likely to lose my temper on a film set than almost anywhere.  Often the level of idiocy is so exalted that it’s impossible to comprehend.”

“It’s too technical a medium and unfair to actors.  The acting part, which people watch, is given the least attention.  I find that infuriating.”

“Of course I find most films banal.  Especially in this day and age.  They’re generally films about other films.”

“You can’t work in the movies.  Movies are all about lighting.  Very few filmmakers will concentrate on the story.  You get very little rehearsal time, so anything you do onscreen is a kind of speed painting.”

“Conditions were somewhat primitive shooting in the Sahara, but I’d shot a film in Texas so I was somewhat used to it.”

“I was a very good baseball and football player, but my father always told me I was much more interested in how I looked playing baseball or football than in actually playing.  There’s great truth in that.”

“Where women are concerned, the rule is never to go out with anyone better dressed than you.”

“What they think about, what they write about is really not the issue.  You’re not writing, you’re making a film.  I never had a conversation with Arthur Miller on Death of a Salesman, apart from a short, unpleasant one which didn’t end well for him.”

“Even if you do succeed most people wouldn’t notice anyway.”

“I can have incredible self-discipline.  But see, I think it’s obviously a form of stupidity.”

“I don’t lose my temper very often now, and if I do, it’s well deserved.”

“I don’t want to be boring.  But that’s not always easy.”

“I haven’t physically attacked anyone in a couple of years.”

“I only have two rules for my newly born daughter: she will dress well and never have sex.”

“I wasn’t really raised to be the type of person to have doubts.”

“I’ve permitted myself to learn and to fail with some regularity.  And that is probably the one thing I was given, and that I’m still grateful for.”

“If you don’t interfere with me, I’ll always do something really good.”

“It’s not a gift of mine, but one given to me, to be able to criticise myself and not be crushed, by myself or by others.”

“Of course it’s trivial, but then most things are.”

“There’s a reason screens are only this thick.”

“You have to do things people see or you don’t get to do anything.”

John Malkovich has appeared in the following films:
A Wedding (1978)
Places in the Heart (1984)
The Killing Fields (1984)
Eleni (1985)
Death of a Salesman (1985)
Making Mr. Right (1987)
The Glass Menagerie (1987)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Miles from Home (1988)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
The Sheltering Sky (1990)
Queens Logic (1991)
The Object of Beauty (1991)
Shadows and Fog (1991)
Of Mice and Men (1992)
Jennifer Eight (1992)
Alive (1993)
In the Line of Fire (1993)
Par-delà les nuages (1995)
Convento, O (1995)
O Convento (1995)
Mulholland Falls (1996)
Mary Reilly (1996)
The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
Der Unhold (1996)
Con Air (1997)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Rounders (1998)
Ladies Room (1999)
Le Temps retrouvé (1999)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Les Âmes fortes (2001)
Je rentre à la maison (2001)
Knockaround Guys (2001)
Hotel (2001)
Hideous Man (2002)
The Dancer Upstairs (2002)
Ripley’s Game (2002)
Johnny English (2003)
Um Filme Falado (2003)
The Libertine (2004)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Colour Me Kubrick: A True...ish Story (2005)
Art School Confidential (2006)
Klimt (2006)
The Call (2006)
Eragon (2006)
Drunkboat (2007)
Beowulf (2007)
In Tranzit (2008)
Changeling (2008)
The Great Buck Howard (2008)
Gardens of the Night (2008)
Mutant Chronicles (2008)
Burn After Reading (2008)
Disgrace (2008)
Afterwards (2008)
Love and Virtue (2008)
The Yellow Mark (2009)
Jonah Hex (2010)
Arias with a Twist (2010)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)


John Malkovich directed the following films:
Hideous Man (2002)
The Dancer Upstairs (2002)