John Malkovich initially wanted someone else to play the title role in Being John Malkovich.
Wanting Another Actor
The 72-year-old actor played a fictionalized version of himself in the surrealist 1999 movie, but explained how his plan was to direct the flick and have a star like Tom Cruise in the central role.
Malkovich told The Times, “I was a huge fan of William Hurt. Tom Cruise had just done Risky Business and I liked him a lot in that. Sean Penn. It could have been anybody, but Charlie (Kaufman, writer) didn’t agree.”
However, the Con Air star explained how he made the “worthwhile” suggestion of getting Charlie Sheen, who was in rehab at the time following a cocaine overdose, to play himself in the picture, where puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) finds a portal that leads into Malkovich’s mind.
Malkovich recalled, “I think it was the only worthwhile contribution I made, because he’s very funny.”
“I was never in touch with him. But I was glad that film helped people get over whatever it was he had done, whatever atoning he was supposed to do.”
Spending Time in London
Meanwhile, Malkovich explained that he enjoys spending time in London because the public doesn’t pester him for selfies.
The Dangerous Liaisons star said of Londoners, “They can be very funny or say something, but pretty much in passing. With tourists, it’s just selfies and nobody wants to talk to you.”
Asked if he poses for selfies, Malkovich said, “No, otherwise it starts a whole cavalcade of nonsense. Half the time, when I’m wandering around, I’m trying to remember the text of something.”
Affair with Pfeiffer
Meanwhile, Malkovich revealed last year that he regrets his affair with Dangerous Liaisons co-star Michelle Pfeiffer as it meant their professional relationship could never be the same.
Speaking on the Fashion Neurosis podcast, he said, “It’s not something I’ve ever really talked about. Put it this way, in the work I do, you make emotional bonds with people very quickly.”
“That’s part of the work. Very rarely, those bonds extend beyond the work. For me, she was someone I valued greatly as a colleague, was great fun and moving and with me, incredibly fair. And I certainly wasn’t.”
“I think I’ve learned over the course of my life that a great colleague is actually rarer than anything.”
“And when that relationship becomes more than collegial or more than a friendship – even a profound friendship – then at least in my experience, and it might be my particular psychology or stupidity or ineptness or all of the above… you lose a great colleague.”