John Malkovich
The actor on his favorite directors and their films
Hit List: John Malkovich
John Malkovich, best known for his smirking,
devious characters in films such as "Dangerous Liaisons,"
"In the Line of Fire" and "The Portrait of a Lady,"
has performed in more that 50 feature films and famously
portrayed himself in the 1999 film "Being John Malkovich."
He can next be seen impersonating the late filmmaker Stanley
Kubrick in "Color Me Kubrick," a comedy based on the true story
of a confidence man who posed as the famous director in the 1990s.
While the actor says he was never personally inspired by Mr.
Kubrick's work — "I don't think he ever hit me on a human level,"
he says — below are five directors and their films that he says have influenced him.
Most famous for this film starring Orson Welles, this British director made a string of intelligent movies, including the 1940 thriller "Night Train to Munich," says Mr. Malkovich. "They're very stylish, very tense, and very elegant, and they don't talk down to their audience," he says.
"Bizarre, funny and quite sad," Mr. Malkovich says of this film by the German New Wave director, a surreal 16th-century tale about the search for El Dorado. Another favorite is "Nosferatu" (1979), a retelling of the vampire myth.
Mr. Schlöndorff's "The Tin Drum" — winner of the Academy Award for best foreign language film — is "poetic, funny and haunting," says Mr. Malkovich. "I loved that it was so wicked, with this little boy refusing to grow up and accept defeat."
"He watches his actors more closely than anyone," says Mr. Malkovich, who starred in the British director's 1988 period hit "Dangerous Liaisons." He also recommends a BBC TV production by Mr. Frears called "Sunset Across the Bay" (1975), which he calls "exquisite."
"He has a kind of innocence and great curiosity," Mr. Malkovich says of the 98-year-old Portuguese filmmaker, who first directed him in the 1995 film "O Convento." "Valley of Abraham," he says, "has one of the most beautiful lines I've ever heard: 'I think no one is so good as I at pretending life is beautiful.' "
