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academy profile
"I like to transform, that’s what I think is good and interesting about this job."
pretty in pink
Actor, director and devoted family man, John Malkovich talks to Anwar Brett about his lifestyle
Any old actor could proba- bly not get away with wearing a salmon pink suit. But then John Malkovich is not just any old actor. He is a riddle wrapped in an enigma con- tained within a physique that can convey menace, grace or come- dy with equal conviction.
And the day we meet the whole elegant package is con- tained within a salmon pink suit.
Such a distinctive look within the staid environment of the Savoy Hotel explicitly demon- strates the self-aware self-confi- dence of a performer who – more than most of his peers – has regularly challenged expecta- tions head on.
This was most notable in the film that was written for and about him, Being John Malkovich, in which an unemployed pup-
peteer discovered a portal into Malkovich’s head and in 15 minute bursts got to see the world, quite literally, through the actor’s eyes.
In Johnny English this year he hammed it up shamelessly as French villain Pascal Sauvage, a neat in-joke considering the actor has made his home in France for the last 10 years. The joke was turned on its head in the French dub of the film, with Sauvage’s nationality changed to American. C’est la vie.
In Ripley’s Game he made the role of the psychotic Tom Ripley his own with a portrayal that con- tained equal parts malevolence and measured gentility. And all this after his directorial debut in 2002, with the critically acclaimed drama The Dancer Upstairs. It seems fair to say that Malkovich is
a man of many parts, and a per- former of many talents.
One part of Tom Ripley’s lifestyle that he shares – hopefully the only one – is life of an expatri- ate American who has made his home in Europe, something both men have in common with Ripley author Patricia Highsmith. But after a well publicised run-in with the French tax authorities he may soon be on the move.
“We won’t in quotes ‘move out of France’ but we’ll probably go somewhere else for a time,” he confirms, “because there are just some tax things that I don’t think they’re being very reason- able about. But I certainly don’t feel any animosity to the country.
“I hope to do an English film in the autumn, and after that I have a lot of work in Italy and maybe I’ll just bounce around for a while.”
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Photos: with Ray Winstone in Ripley’s Game and right, with Javier Bardem at The Dancer Upstairs’ premiere in New York