URBAN GUIDE

No doubtabout it, at 60 John Malkovichis a celebrity at ease with himself. Himselves,rather, for this Francophile actor plays many roles in his private life too, most recently making a namein the fashion world.

The script above all else 
World famous for his acting, John Malkovich is also a scriptwriter, producer, director and, in private life, an excellent cook, a conscientious gardener and an attentive winegrower. His professional track record includes a 1984 Oscar nomination for Places in the Heart and two prestigious awards for his stage work: an Obie and a Molière. Yet it was a quiet, likeable man who greeted us one fine day this summer under a trellis at the delightful Château de L'Ange in Goult, Vaucluse. Asked what is most important to him in a film or play he answers: "The script," his smile thoughtful, his voice and American-accented French disarming. 


Valmont, a modern man

In his student days Malkovich and some friends ran the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. In New York, on tour with a play, he was spotted by a filmmaker who offered him a part: he was 20 years old. Since then he's worked with Michelangelo Antonioni, Bernardo Bertolucci, Spike Jonze, Raoul Ruiz, Manoel de Oliveira – quite a roll-call! He says the most interesting of all his roles was Valmont in Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons, playing opposite Glenn Close. "The characters in this 18th-century novel are incredibly modern. The passion of love is still the same today and the play Chris Hampton made from it is brilliant. I've directed it for the Théâtre de l'Atelier".

Being Casanova
He considers Being John Malkovich a radical film that will prove a milestone in cinema history. And everyone remembers his role as Nicole Kidman's diabolical husband in Jane Campion's Portrait of a Lady, adapted from the novel by Henry James. Working on films with Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Wim Wenders and Sophie Marceau have been unforgettable experiences, but Malkovich will never turn his back on the theatre and the direct contact with an audience that the stage affords. Unsurprisingly, he's also increasingly interested in opera and when we met him he was working on an adaptation of Casanova's memoirs. Might it be significant that the interview took place not far from Château Lacoste and that Pierre Cardin, who hosts the opera festival there, was present that day?

The simple life in Provence
Though atypical, Malkovich's path through life has been coherent. An American citizen with a Croatian father, a Scottish mother and an Italian wife, he has a home in the Luberon hills where the couple and their children live for several months of the year. This is their hideaway, their refuge from frenetic cities, where they can live a simple family life. Relaxed, attentive and smiling as he talked to us, Malkovich nonetheless kept a keen eye on the comings and goings around us – preparations for a garden party or some such. A man who lives well, and a perfect host. 

Technobohemian

All of life is a show, so why not fashion too? This summer at the Château de l'Ange, the room usually devoted to embroidery was transformed for a month into a pop-up concept store where Malkovich presented his Technobohemian menswear line. "It's a made-up word that I borrowed from an Italian writer, with his permission," Malkovich tells us. "It describes the cosmopolitan, high-tech world to which the third millennium is irrevocably committing us." His highly personal style is quite unlike current fashions, its confidently romantic and masculine aspect and fluid fabrics suggesting laid-back chic and a globe-trotting spirit.

Threads
As a child Malkovich loved drawing; his father, who had been to art school, encouraged him. His theatre course at the University of Illinois included costume design and in 2001 he designed a menswear collection for an Italian brand. He's a sophisticate who appreciates antique linen, hand-woven North African fabrics and Chinese textiles. "I've always had a keen interest in fashion," he says. "Knowing how to dress is part of an actor's art and I'm passionate about textiles. I've been collecting them since I was 20." The street as stage, a screen on which everyone plays a role.

This year John Malkovich is filming The Giacomo Variations based on a stage musical by Michael Sturminger, in which he plays Casanova looking back over his life. Then in Educazione Siberiana by Italian director Gabriele Salvatores, he plays a violent Ukrainian mafia boss teaching his grandson the codes of the underworld.