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In what will surely be one of the biggest standing ovations at Venice Film Festival this year, Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine” received a thunderous 13 minutes of applause at its world premiere on Thursday night
and stormed into the Oscar race.
John Malkovich got emotional and McDonagh looked touched as the cheering raged on, with Sam Rockwell’s partner, “White Lotus” star Leslie Bibb, leading the charge with plenty of hoots and hollers. In fact, it was a “White Lotus” reunion as Bibb’s Season 3 co-star, Parker Posey — who also features in the film — teared up while she fanned herself and mouthed how hot it was in the theater. As the applause continued, McDonagh and Rockwell went into the crowd, shaking hands and signing autographs.
Set in 1973, “Wild Horse Nine” follows two CIA officers (Malkovich and Rockwell) who are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island shortly before the Chilean military coup that overthrew socialist president Salvador Allende. Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Posey round out the ensemble.
Before the screening, McDonagh was joined by his partner, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and was swatting away mosquitoes as he posed for photos on the famed red carpet. They were giggling as they took in the hectic scene around them. Bibb stood off to the side with Buscemi and clapped for Rockwell, who was smiling and waving to fans.
“Wild Horse Nine,” which will compete for the Golden Lion, marks McDonagh’s third consecutive feature to launch at Venice after 2017’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and 2022’s “The Banshees of Inisherin.” “Three Billboards” won Venice’s best screenplay prize before earning seven Oscar nominations and two wins, for Frances McDormand and Rockwell. Five years later, “The Banshees of Inisherin” brought McDonagh another screenplay prize on the Lido and earned Colin Farrell the Volpi Cup for best actor before going on to score nine Academy Award nominations.
Already, Malkovich is drumming up Oscar buzz for his role in “Wild Horse Nine.” A scene-stealer in his decades-long Hollywood career — appearing in movies such as “Dangerous Liaisons,” “Being John Malkovich,” “In the Line of Fire” and “Empire of the Sun” — Malkovich has been nominated for two Academy Awards but never won.
However, he’s not quite ready to prep his acceptance speech. “That is an incredibly kind,” Malkovich said of the awards chatter at an earlier press conference. “For me, it’s a very nice thing. But the nicest thing is the film getting attention. And the film has several terrific performers, and it’s beautifully written and directed. That’s what matters to me.”
