Caffeinated Clint
Paramount held the press conference for “Transformers : Dark of the Moon” at the 33rd Moscow International Film Festival. John Malkovich was on hand to answer questions about his role in the Baybuster.
How did you try, how did you try to surprise your audience?
Well, I think probably Michael or Shia probably a better place to answer that, I would think. For me, I would just see that’s part of what you have to do when you work. You have to surprise people, because that’s, I think, what compels them to watch. That’s what I would say.
We all know you as a serious actor, and that is why it was really unusual to see you in a comic film. What is that supposed to mean?
This happened – I happened to be working with two producers, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian on a different film. And they asked me, would I be interested in doing something like this. And I said, “Absolutely.” And they showed me, gave me the first two films to look at, and the script; and I really liked the character. Then Michael and I had a couple of conversations about what we wanted to do with it. And I love doing things like this. I’m not offered them very much, for reasons that remain obscure to me. But so be it. I had a great time.
We know that you’re here in Russia with two kids. And we’re interested to hear what sites, what would you want to show them, to your kids here in Russia. And could you tell us, if you would, about your impressions about our country, about the city of Moscow.
I don’t think my children are here, okay. I don’t think – if they are, please tell them to call me. But my children were with me last year in St. Petersburg. But now they’re, I think, probably doing the Sex and Torture Museum Tour of Europe, so I’m not quite sure where they are at the moment. But my impression of Russia. I’ve always liked it here a lot. I’ve been quite a few times, and worked quite a few times. We were here with an opera that I’m involved in about, I guess about three weeks ago. And we go back to the [PH] Morinksy where we played last summer, and do both the operas in about two weeks or so. So I’m always happy to be here; I like it very much.
Before, during three years, you were participating in the films, like blockbusters and action movies. Is it your new tendency in your career, or how would you call it? And how would you react to the fantastic movies?
Well, for me, I never really mind what the genre of a film is. It doesn’t really matter to me. It’s always fun to do things like “Transformers”, a film with a certain amount of action and a great amount of fantasy. I always like it. I don’t do it a lot, but it’s – as I said earlier – because I’m not asked to; it’s not a preference that I not do it. I like to do it. So –
