Who is John Malkovich, you ask? Why, he's only one of the most famous, brilliant, and downright eccentric actors of his generation. Any John Malkovich biography will detail his time as a Hollywood A-lister: he's starred in films including In the Line of Fire, Dangerous Liaisons, and of course, Being John Malkovich. His success on the screen isn't surprising. Malkovich is a highly trained actor, and was a flagship member of Chicago's acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre. With his severe forehead, intense gaze, and a slow voice, it's no wonder he's become one of Hollywood's go-to villains. But facts about John Malkovich detail a strange and fascinating life off-stage and off-screen. He's notoriously private for a celebrity, but stories about him prove that he's one of the most out-there people in the world. From adopting all-Jell-O diets to saving the lives of strangers, here are some of the oddest facts about the actor.
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While walking around the streets of Toronto in 2013, Malkovich happened upon a 77-year-old man who had fallen and cut his throat on a piece of sharp metal. Malkovich applied pressure to the wound, preventing the man from bleeding out. He apparently told the man, "My name is John and you're going to be all right."
Malkovich says he was a chubby child, and he adopted a drastic Jell-O only diet in an attempt to lose weight. It worked, apparently - he lost 70 pounds over a four-month period. When asked why his parents allowed the diet, Malkovich responded, "I came from an odd family. I can safely say I don't think they noticed."
The story seems too outrageous to be true, but Malkovich has confirmed it. He was once verbally harassed in Central Park, New York by someone who had been stalking him. Malkovich then ran to his apartment, changed clothes, and returned to the park a short time later with a bowie knife in hand to scare the stalker off.
Malkovich wrote and starred in a film titled 100 Years: The Movie You Will Never See. The film, directed by Robert Rodriguez and completed in 2015, imagines three different versions of the future. But if you want to see it, you're out of luck: upon completion, 100 Years was locked away in a vault, not to be seen by the public until 2115. One thousand people from all over the world were given tickets to the future event, and it's up to every ticket holder to pass down the ticket to their descendants. The movie was made as part of a marketing project with Louis XIII Cognac, which is aged for 100 years.
The last time Malkovich voted in 1972, George McGovern lost the presidential election to Richard Nixon. Malkovich was 19 at the time. "Did I miss something? I don’t think so," he told The Guardian. "It kind of goes on tick-tocking from left to right, with two sides shouting and squabbling for what common good I’m not quite sure. As I’ve said before, if politics had anything to do with the solving of problems then you could count me in."
Malkovic suggested Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman write Being John Malkovich about Tom Cruise instead. “When they asked me to do it, I was slightly worried," he told The Independent. "Not at all about the tone or content, but the feeling of, if you do a film where your name is not above the title but in the title, then you may have some serious narcissistic tendencies which would require looking at." But the filmmakers insisted, and the movie was a hit.
In an alternate universe, the 2002 movie Spider-Man would have included Malkovich. He was offered the role of the Green Goblin, but he turned it down. However, Malkovich almost made it into the Spider-Man franchise anyway. Before the poorly received Spider-Man 3 scuttled plans for a fourth movie, director Sam Raimi was reportedly desperate to cast Malkovich as The Vulture.
Being publicly conservative is still seen as somewhat unusual amongst the Hollywood elite. But Malkovich leans to the right - and in 2002, he even facetiously threatened the life of a politician for speaking out against the war in Iraq. According to actor William Hootkins, "he's so right-wing, you have to wonder if he's kidding."
Among the other jobs he held in his youth - including "cabbage cutter" at a fast food restaurant - Malkovich drove a school bus for a private school in the Chicago suburbs. "I did enjoy especially (driving) the school bus for Solomon Schechter Day School, outside of Chicago," he said on TODAY. When the interviewer said he must have been a fascinating driver, he responded, "My students didn't agree."
Malkovich seems drawn to quiet hobbies. He's a fan of knitting and embroidering, and even "disconcerted director Bernardo Bertolucci by indulging in a bit of needlework between takes when filming The Sheltering Sky." He also enjoys arranging flowers and cooking.
In an add-on to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Malkovich played a zombie leader facing off against survivors voiced by Bill Paxton, Jon Bernthal, Rose McGowan, and Bruce Campbell.
It's rare to find an A-list celebrity who doesn't live in New York or Los Angeles, but then again, Malkovich isn't your average A-lister. He's been described as "famously private" because he's always shied away from the limelight. To avoid attention, Malkovich spent years living in France (he may have left the country due to a tax dispute). He currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he's pretty much left alone and there's nary a famous actor in sight.
Malkovich studied costuming in college, and his fascination with clothing led him to design his own line of menswear. The sweaters, jackets, and colorful scarves are very Malkovich.
Malkovich really doesn't like the sound of his own voice. Seriously, he hates it. It's strange, considering how renowned the man is for his calm, buttery timbre. "When I hear myself - which I try never to do - to me, it sounds like someone who has labored under heavy narcotics for years and years and years," he told Conan O'Brien.
