John Malkovich is well aware of his current awards momentum, even if the  onslaught  of attention doesn't quite suit his  native personality. 

The U.S. star has hit the festival circuit with Martin McDonagh's tragicomedy Wild Horse Nine, his performance in which is being hailed as potentially the best of his career and almost certainly an Oscar nomination lock. It isn't the first Academy Award nod he'll have earned - he's been recognized before in 1985 and 1994 for Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, respectively - but at a BFI London Film Festival talk on Sunday afternoon, the actor conceded the awards campaign is an entirely different beast in 2026.

 [I feel] probably different [about awards consideration] than I did [when In the Line of Fire came out] because the movie business existed [and] it maintained, undeservedly in my opinion, a very high position in the culture. And when I say undeserved, [I] mean there weren't that many Chinatowns or Godfathers or Godfather IIs,  he began.  Now, [the awards trail] is the only way to get people to go to the theaters, the whole thing, and that's months and months and months. 

He recalled being nominated for Places in the Heart and going to his first and only Oscars in 1985. He was in the car and asked his  a little bit bossy  manager, Phyllis, if he could go in through a side door.   Honey, it's the Oscars,'  she clicked in his face.  There is no side door!  The entire room of attendees burst into laughter at Malkovich's story.  So that's my native personality in the face of that onslaught,  he said about embarking on another campaign for Wild Horse Nine.  But also, I'm a grown-up. It's a part of the business now. 

He remembered that his early films made their money even before the big Oscar night.  Now, [winning an Oscar] seems to be the only way you get people to actually go to a theater.  When asked if it broke his heart after Malkovich admitted he's unsure his daughter would consider going to the theater these days, Malkovich simply said:  No, because I'm 72 years old. Things change. I don't really like thinking,  Things aren't 
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