Being John Malkovich

When you hear the name John Malkovich, what comes to mind? Actor? Intense? Good at yelling in his movies? Can portray anger?

For me, a concept that comes to mind when I hear his name is: Branding. He is not just known as another actor. He is known for his intensity and ability to act out very intense rage. This has elevated him to a popular actor that gets many roles. Likewise, in business, when you are known for something, you’ve achieved a notable goal, and people will flock to you for your services or products.

I remember John Malkovich, alongside Clint Eastwood in the movie, In the Line of Fire. One critique of the movie said, “One of the best phone conversations in movie history. Excellent acting by both, Malkovich’s best performance ever.” https://youtu.be/_XSKPBef37c

Then I saw Burn After Reading, and couldn’t stop laughing at many of the scenes. John, again, did what he does best! https://youtu.be/ufkeyUD-sx4

John Malkovich, born December 9, 1953, is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for 2 Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards, and 3 Golden Globe Awards. Such accomplishments!

Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 films, including:

The Killing Fields (1984)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Of Mice and Men (1992)
Mulholland Falls (1996)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Johnny English (2003)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Warm Bodies (2013)
Cesar Chavez (2014)
Bird Box (2018)

He has also produced films such as Ghost World (2001), Juno (2007), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).

In the 2010s, Malkovich began to appear on television. His lead roles include Blackbeard in the NBC pirate drama Crossbones (2014), Hercule Poirot in the three-part BBC One mystery series The ABC Murders (2018), and the title character in the HBO drama series The New Pope (2020). He has additionally made recurring guest appearances as Russian billionaire/criminal Grigor Andolov in Billions (2018–19) and has a supporting role as Dr. Adrian Mallory in the Netflix comedy series Space Force (2020–2022). This is one busy actor.

Now this part of John I never knew until I began some research, and I am going to include it as it shows John’s incredible character and perseverance.

In December 2008, Malkovich lost his life savings. “Our then business manager had invested pretty much everything we’d ever made with somebody called Bernie Madoff.” Madoff defrauded thousands of investors out of an estimated $64.8 billion and was given a 150-year jail sentence in 2009. “Everything I’d ever made was gone.” John commented.

How many millions did he lose? John responded, “Oh, I don’t know. A lot. But I don’t think it mattered that much. We just made changes to the way we lived and the money we spent.” What changed? “I had to do more work that paid for a number of years, and work all the time.”

Malkovich’s realization after getting over the shock of this was, “After a couple or three days, you go: ‘You’re lucky to be alive, you’re lucky to have a job.’ I would have felt like giving up if this happened to me, but he got right back to work and handled it!

Here are my takeaways:

Be known for something. Become known for a something, rather than everything.
Brand your something, persist on that line, strengthen that thing.
Be willing to lose it all.
Be willing to create it all again.

At DIT Web Solutions, we will help you to get your product or service marketed so it is well known. Call me for your free consultation.

With the reach of today’s digital marketing, your product or service can become well-known. We will work with you to develop your product or service into your something. Call me.

louie@ditcanada.com

Book your free Strategy Chat with Senior Partner,
Louie Pateropoulos.