John Malkovich Says He Turned Down Marvel for Years Due to ‘Grueling' Productions for Minimal Pay
John Malkovich had to wait for the right circumstances to join the MCU, meaning the right director and the right paycheck.
Malkovich told GQ that he turned down working in the Disney franchise for years prior to making his Marvel debut with 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps.' The undisclosed role reunites him with director Matt Shaman, whom directed Malkovich in 2014 film 'Cut Bank.'
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Malkovich explained that 'First Steps' was 'not that dissimilar to doing theater' because 'you imagine a bunch of stuff that isn't there and do your little play' — but the film still had a 'grueling' production, he said.
'The reason I didn't do them [before] had nothing to do with any artistic considerations whatsoever,' Malkovich said. 'I didn't like the deals they made, at all. These films are quite grueling to make… If you're going to hang from a crane in front of a green screen for six months, pay me. You don't want to pay me, it's cool, but then I don't want to do it, because I'd rather be onstage, or be directing a play, or doing something else.'
Malkovich currently stars in Mark Anthony Green's viral Sundance film 'Opus.' And he isn't the first actor to speak out on acting alongside green screens in the MCU.
'Thor: Love and Thunder' star Christian Bale previously said it would be a 'pitiful attempt' to apply classical acting techniques in the franchise.
'That would've been a pitiful attempt to do that, as I'm trying to get help getting the fangs in and out and explaining I've broken a nail, or I'm tripping over the tunic,' Bale said during a 2022 GQ story. 'That's the first time I've done that [working with green screens]. I mean, the definition of it is monotony. You've got good people. You've got other actors who are far more experienced at it than me. Can you differentiate one day from the next? No. Absolutely not. You have no idea what to do. I couldn't even differentiate one stage from the next. They kept saying, 'You're on Stage Three.' Well, it's like, 'Which one is that?' 'The blue one.' They're like, 'Yeah. But you're on Stage Seven.' 'Which one is that?' 'The blue one.' I was like, 'Uh, where?''
Bale's 'Thor: Love and Thunder' co-star Anthony Hopkins, who also appeared in Marvel films 'Thor,' 'Thor: The Dark World,' and 'Thor: Ragnarok,' echoed to The New Yorker that he had a 'pointless' approach to acting with the green-screen effects.
'They put me in armor; they shoved a beard on me,' Hopkins said of starring in the films. 'Sit on the throne, shout a bit. If you're sitting in front of a green screen, it's pointless acting it.'
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