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Sometimes you've got to do a terrible thing for the greater good.
Wild Horse Nine (2026)
Runtime
117 min
Release date
30/10/2026
Country
United Kingdom, United States of America
Production
Searchlight Pictures
Blueprint Pictures
Film4 Productions
TSG Entertainment
Overview
Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris and Lee are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island by their bureau chief, MJ. Amongst the Island's iconic statues, and as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris's newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students threatens to send everyone’s trip to this remote paradise sideways.
Directors & Screenwriters
Martin McDonagh
Director
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Cast
John Malkovich
as
Chris
Sam Rockwell
as
Lee
Steve Buscemi
as
MJ
Mariana di Girolamo
as
Monica
Ailín Salas
as
Alicia
Parker Posey
as
Marge
Tom Waits
as
Jim
Paola Giannini
as
Rosa
Bastián Bodenhöfer
as
Priest
Sofía Chacón
as
Student
Luciano Reinoso
as
Student
Laura Villa
as
Student
Djure Gasic
as
Student
Isabel Noreiga Inzunza
as
Church Lady
Mireya Sotoconil
as
Church Lady
Tongariki Teave
as
Car Rental Guy
Jaime Omeñaca
as
Chilean Officer
Mauricio Pitta
as
Chilean Officer
John Heffernan
as
English Man
Poppy O'Shaughnessy
as
English Woman
Juan Carlos Brown
as
High-Ranking Chilean Officer
Moisés Angulo
as
High-Ranking Chilean Officer
Ryan Robert Howard
as
Iowa Danny
Arón Hernández
as
Victor Jara
Francisca Muñoz Muñoz
as
Backing Singer
Fernanda Cancino
as
Backing Singer
Marcus Truman
as
Basketball Guy
Josefa Rencoret
as
Stewardess
Pablo Bustamante
as
Chilean Solider
Francisco Castro
as
Chilean Soldier
Morgan Grace Champ
as
Teenager (uncredited)
Liam Marcy
as
Shadowy Figure (uncredited)
Samuel Wayt
as
Teenage Kid (uncredited)
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Did You Know?
Malkovich and Rockwell turn McDonagh’s latest into a haunting CIA western
Martin McDonagh finally finds his American groove by transplanting his signature verbal sparring to the stark beauty of Easter Island. Cinematographer Ben Davis frames the volcanic landscape as an ironic, bittersweet backdrop, echoing the director’s habit of pairing lush scenery with the moral bleakness of his stories – a visual echo of the contrast he drew between Ireland’s green hills and the darkness of "Inisherin."
At the film’s core, John Malkovich’s CIA operative Chris and Sam Rockwell’s Lee form a duo that feels both brotherly and volatile. Malkovich starts as the brash "big mouth" who rattles off CIA plans to liberal students, only to gradually reveal a tragic, possibly JFK‑linked past. Rockwell matches his energy with a mix of bickering and tenderness, while Steve Buscemi’s bureau chief and Parker Posey’s unscrupulous wife add layers to the tightly wound ensemble.
Beyond the banter, "Wild Horse Nine" delivers McDonagh’s sharpest political critique yet. The film paints the CIA’s 1960s‑70s interventions as a slow‑acting poison, wrapped in a "Catholic guilt" narrative that lets the story feel both spiritual and bitter. Its anger rivals Paul Greengrass’s "The Uprising," yet it remains grounded in dark comedy, slipping in nods to Scorsese, Ford, Eastwood and even a Tarantino‑style cue from The Rolling Stones’ "Out of Time."
True to his playwright roots, McDonagh treats the movie as a chamber piece, letting dialogue drive the tension rather than sprawling action. The small cast and confined setting make every exchange count, turning the modern western into a tightly wound, dialogue‑heavy meditation on loyalty, betrayal, and the cost of empire.
John Malkovich finally teams up with Martin McDonagh for a wildly dark comedy on Easter Island
John Malkovich makes his long‑awaited debut in a Martin McDonagh film, and the result is a blistering showcase of the actor’s mercurial energy. As CIA operative Chris, Malkovich rockets from absurd rants about cheese to chilling hints about JFK, delivering a performance that feels like a live‑wire stream of consciousness. The 118‑minute, R‑rated picture, set to open in theaters on Nov. 6 after a raucous TIFF premiere, proves that the two creators share a love of total‑eclipse dark humor and confrontational wit.
Opposite Malkovich is Sam Rockwell, now a veteran of three McDonagh projects, playing Lee, a fellow agent stationed in 1973 Santiago on the eve of the Chilean coup. Their bickering partnership drifts from a casual airport interrogation of left‑leaning tourists to a surreal week‑long R&R on Easter Island, where the “big heads” of ancient stone statues loom over their increasingly bizarre conversations. The political backdrop serves only as a backdrop for an oddball friendship that McDonagh has made his signature fixation.
The film’s tone swings from slapstick to sudden violence, peppered with cameo calls from Steve Buscemi as the shadowy boss MJ and Parker Posey as Rockwell’s cheating wife Marge. While the plot never demands a deep understanding of the Chilean coup, the escalating clues and twists push the duo toward a life‑and‑death climax that lands with a surprisingly serene, if melancholy, resolution. Critics are already calling “Wild Horse Nine” McDonagh’s most outright funny work, thanks in large part to Malkovich’s rare, unrestrained turn and the sun‑splashed, yet oddly weighty, island setting.
John Malkovich’s wild turn on Easter Island could make him the next Oscar darling
The Toronto International Film Festival has long been the proving ground for performances that leap from festival buzz to Oscar glory, and this year’s lineup includes a surprising new contender: John Malkovich in Wild Horse Nine. The veteran actor just secured the Best Actor prize at Venice, adding extra weight to his appearance on the Toronto stage as the festival’s audience votes begin to shape the awards season narrative.
In Wild Horse Nine, Malkovich inhabits a past‑its‑prime CIA operative sent to Easter Island on a cryptic mission. Critics note that the role lets him be both quick‑witted and vulgar, delivering laugh‑out‑loud moments while a “core of rueful stillness” flickers beneath the surface. That blend of brash humor and understated melancholy gives the performance a disarming depth that could resonate with voters looking for complexity.
The competition is fierce—Matt Damon’s mythic Odysseus, Tom Cruise’s comeback in Digger, and Andrew Scott’s tragic turn in Elsinore are all vying for the same spotlight. Yet Malkovich’s recent Venice win and his reputation for turning eccentric characters into award‑season staples position him as a serious threat. If the TIFF crowd embraces his Easter Island escapade, the “It’s his time” narrative could carry him straight to the Academy’s shortlist.
John Malkovich’s haunting Easter Island turn could be the Oscar season’s dark horse
When Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine” hit the Venice Lido, it didn’t just open—it earned a 13‑minute standing ovation, signaling that the festival’s competition lineup has a new contender. The buzz didn’t stop there; the film rolled into Telluride the next day, where the same applause followed, cementing its status as a serious Oscar hopeful.
Malkovich, a two‑time nominee for “Places in the Heart” and “In the Line of Fire,” disappears into a role that’s as menacing as it is tender. He plays a dying CIA operative dispatched to Easter Island in the tense days before Chile’s 1973 coup, a performance that blends cold espionage with an unexpected humanity. It’s his first major screen appearance since the Clinton era, and the veteran actor is using the part to remind voters of his range.
With Searchlight slated to launch the film on Nov. 6, “Wild Horse Nine” now sits at the intersection of festival acclaim and Oscar strategy. The combination of a legendary lead, a politically charged setting, and the early festival love‑fest suggests the movie could become a dark‑horse narrative in the race for acting honors, even as the broader Oscar picture continues to swirl around titles like “La Bola Negra” and Julianne Moore’s “The Debut.”
A CIA comedy set on Easter Island? McDonagh’s new hitman caper looks irresistible.
The second trailer for Wild Horse Nine drops a delightful mix of dark humor and exotic scenery, pairing John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA operatives sent to Easter Island just before the 1973 Chilean coup. Their mission, overseen by Steve Buscemi’s bureau chief MJ, spirals when Malkovich’s character bonds with two rebellious students played by Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas, threatening to upend their covert operation amid the island’s iconic moai.
Martin McDonagh, the Oscar‑winning writer‑director behind In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Banshees of Inisherin, brings his signature blend of wit and melancholy to the film’s ensemble, which also features Tom Waits, Parker Posey, and the ever‑charismatic Steve Buscemi. After debuting at Venice, Telluride, and Toronto, the movie is already generating award‑season buzz for its stellar performances.
Set against a backdrop of political intrigue and island mystique, Wild Horse Nine promises a fresh take on the hitman comedy genre. Mark your calendars—this off‑beat adventure lands in theaters on November 6.
McDonagh brands ‘Wild Horse Nine’ his boldest, most political work yet
At Zurich Film Festival, Martin McDonagh announced that his new John Malkovich‑led thriller ‘Wild Horse Nine’ is “probably my most political film.” He warned that today’s art often drifts into “artistic neutrality” and “saying nothing,” and he’s deliberately steering his latest project in the opposite direction.
The director explained that jokes about Russia’s century‑old interventions in Finland now feel eerily relevant to the Ukraine conflict, while lines originally written about 1973 are being read by audiences as commentary on Venezuela. Those accidental resonances, he said, give the film a timeliness he hadn’t even anticipated while writing.
McDonagh also reflected on his own journey—from leaving school at 16 and facing rejections to winning an Oscar for the short ‘Six Shooter.’ He praised John Malkovich’s range, noting the actor can blend comedy, rage, and quiet contemplation in one package. Free from studio interference, McDonagh says he’s content to keep making the kind of daring, opinion‑laden cinema that lets his “muscle memory” as a playwright shine on screen.
Martin McDonagh calls ‘Wild Horse Nine’ his most political film, daring to break today’s artistic neutrality
Speaking at the Zurich Film Festival, McDonagh announced that *Wild Horse Nine* is “probably my most political film,” a deliberate pushback against what he sees as a modern tendency toward “artistic neutrality” and apathy. He described the upcoming black comedy as a “monster” he’s eager to unleash, hoping it will force audiences to take a stance.
The film follows two CIA agents—played by John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell—on a pre‑coup 1973 Easter Island mission. Though rooted in a specific historical moment, McDonagh notes that its jokes about Russian interventions in Finland a century ago now echo the war in Ukraine, and lines meant for 1973 Chile are being read as commentary on Venezuela. The director says the script’s resonance with current events was unplanned, but it underscores the movie’s timely political bite.
McDonagh used the festival’s platform to revisit his own unconventional path: leaving school at 16, writing rejected radio plays, and eventually winning an Oscar for the short *Six Shooter* with Brendan Gleeson’s support. He joked that he “used to be a hit man,” a nod to his hit‑man‑centric earlier films like *In Bruges*, and explained how anger from past rejections fuels his current work.
Casting John Malkovich was a conscious choice to give the lead a “full palette of emotions”—comedy, rage, and quiet contemplation—all in one package. McDonagh insists his films, even with heavyweight talent, remain far from simple Hollywood feel‑good fare, aiming instead for a blend of dark humor and deeper, sometimes tragic, reflection.
Malkovich and Rockwell’s chaotic CIA caper on Easter Island redefines McDonagh’s dark comedy
Martin McDonagh returns to his signature blend of macabre humor and moral ambiguity in Wild Horse Nine, a comedy that feels both familiar and fresh. The film mirrors the premise of his debut In Bruges—two contract killers (here CIA operatives) on a doomed getaway—while swapping medieval Belgium for the windswept moai of Easter Island. John Malkovich’s world‑weary Chris and Sam Rockwell’s swaggering Lee trade bullets for baffling tourist chatter, turning a simple vacation into a darkly comic meditation on regret and the futility of power.
The casting is a deliberate echo chamber. Rockwell revisits the CIA swagger he once flaunted in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Malkovich reprises a secret‑service memoirist role he first explored in Burn After Reading. Even their past collaborations with McDonagh—Rockwell’s Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards, Malkovich’s earlier work with Steve Buscemi as a CIA chief—layer the film with intertextual jokes that reward attentive viewers. Those familiar nods, from Lennie’s tragic echo to the uneasy friendship at the story’s core, deepen the film’s commentary on looking back.
Visually, Ben Davis captures the island’s lush, untamed landscape, turning the wild horses that roam the fields into a metaphor for the protagonists’ own untethered instincts. Supporting turns from Parker Posey, Buscemi, and Tom Waits add crackling outrage, while newcomers Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas provide a bright foil to Malkovich’s cynicism. In Wild Horse Nine, McDonagh’s dark comedy finds new terrain, proving that even a well‑trodden formula can feel exhilarating when the cast and setting conspire to make the familiar feel oddly fresh.
Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich turn Easter Island into a Cold‑War confessional in Martin McDonagh’s newest thriller.
Martin McDonagh’s latest outing, Wild Horse Nine, drops two veteran CIA operatives onto the windswept cliffs of Rapa Nui in 1973. Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich play Lee and Chris, a bickering yet oddly loyal pair fresh from a Chilean coup, now forced to confront the ghosts of Bay of Pigs, Dealey Plaza and a looming personal crisis.
Chris, a seasoned agent battling a terminal cancer diagnosis, pulls Lee aside for “one last big favour” – a confession that he knows who killed JFK. The film leans into that classic conspiracy‑theory obsession, with McDonagh openly admitting he’s a believer in the mystery while keeping the exact truth just out of reach.
Stylistically, the picture feels like a darker cousin of In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin, trading bright odd‑couple antics for a mournful, guilt‑laden atmosphere. The director, now 56 and self‑describing this as perhaps his first “old‑man movie,” wrote “GUILT and REGRET” at the top of the script, steering the narrative with a compass of remorse.
The Venice premiere was a spectacle of its own, with the cast swarmed by merch‑clad press and a rapturous 13‑minute ovation for Malkovich’s performance as the tragicomic Chris. Both leads reportedly rehearsed each scene a thousand times, a testament to the film’s relentless, absurdist energy that pits Rockwell’s bouncy “Energizer Bunny” vibe against Malkovich’s measured, Sphinx‑like presence.
Steve Buscemi asks: should you cheer the CIA duo in Martin McDonagh’s wild new comedy?
In the first look at Martin McDonagh’s politically charged comedy *Wild Horse Nine*, veteran actor Steve Buscemi teases audiences with a simple, unsettling question: “Should you be rooting for them?” The line‑up, which includes Buscemi as MJ, Sam Rockwell and Parker Posey, promises the kind of morally ambiguous characters that have made McDonagh a standout of his generation.
Both Rockwell and Posey echo Buscemi’s admiration for the director, noting that working with McDonagh feels like stepping into a world the filmmaker builds from the ground up. Rockwell points out that this marks his third collaboration with the director, while Posey calls the experience “really, really fun,” underscoring the creative chemistry that fuels the project.
Set against the stark backdrop of Easter Island in 1973, the film follows two CIA operatives who take an unexpected side trip to the remote Chilean territory. The premise—spies, political intrigue, and an exotic island—hints at the off‑beat humor and tension McDonagh is known for, while also allowing the story to explore the absurdities of Cold‑War espionage.
Searchlight Pictures has released a behind‑the‑scenes featurette that showcases the on‑location shoot, highlighting the use of local crew members and the unique challenges of filming on Easter Island. The glimpse into production promises a vivid visual palette that will bring the isolated island to life, adding another layer of intrigue to a film that already asks viewers to question who, if anyone, they should be cheering for.