Martin McDonagh’s new film Wild Horse Nine puts John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell on Easter Island as CIA officers carrying decades of secrets, regret and the emotional restraint of men who would rather confess to a coup than discuss their feelings.
The story follows two agents connected to the CIA’s role in Chile’s 1973 coup. Malkovich plays Chris, a terminally ill operative who begins revealing what he knows, including explosive claims involving a presidential assassination.
The scenery is remote; the history is not
McDonagh drew on his longstanding interest in U.S. covert activity in Chile. The director says the film was not built as a tidy political lecture, but its questions about power, guilt and accountability arrive with obvious contemporary weight.
Festival audiences in Venice, Telluride and Toronto have praised the film, with particular attention on Malkovich’s ability to make danger, sorrow and absurdity occupy the same sentence. Rockwell gives the quieter performance beside him.
Dark comedy remains a useful flashlight
Associated Press interviewed McDonagh on September 18, 2026.
Gen X cinema learned early that institutions can be sinister and ridiculous at once. McDonagh still works that seam: the joke gets you into the room, then history locks the door. Also, being scared of John Malkovich remains the most sensible position available.
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