It seems that being John Malkovich includes reflecting upon your mistakes.
Last week, the “In the Line of Fire” star pulled a rare move by opening up to the “Fashion Neurosis” podcast about his notorious affair with one of his co-stars, Michelle Pfeiffer.
The two Oscar-nominated actors began an actual liaison while filming 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons,” and it could be considered dangerous because both were married at the time, Malkovich to fellow actor Glenne Headly and Pfeiffer to Peter Horton.
Shortly after their affair, both Malkovich and Pfeiffer split from their respective spouses in 1988, and their dalliance seemingly fizzled out.
“It’s not something I’ve ever really talked about,” Malkovich told podcast host Bella Freud 25 minutes into the episode of his past romance with Pfeiffer. He added, “Put it this way. In the work I do normally, you make emotional bonds with people very quickly. That’s kind of part of the work. Very rarely, those bonds extend beyond the work.”
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The “Being John Malkovich” star went on to imply that the one thing he regrets about the affair was losing his once-satisfying professional relationship with Pfeiffer, describing her as “someone I valued greatly as a colleague, was great fun and moving, and with me, incredibly fair.”
“And … I certainly wasn’t,” Malkovich admitted.
“I think I’ve learned over the course of my life that a great colleague is actually kind of rarer than anything,” he later added. “And when that relationship becomes more than collegial or more than a friendship, even a profound friendship, then, at least in my experience — and it might be my particular psychology or stupidity or ineptness, or all of the above — then you lose a great colleague.”
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Malkovich went on to compare his professional relationship with Pfeiffer to working with actor Ingeborga Dapkunaite, who worked with him in films like 2000’s “Shadow of a Vampire” and 2017’s “About Love. For Adults Only.”
“Ingeborga and I are still, 33 years now, working together and have remained great friends and colleagues because there is a line never crossed,” Malkovich said.
“That’s kind of what I’ve learned — that when a thing like that happens, it’s probably, might be, not retrievable,” he added.
Although Pfeiffer has never publicly commented on her affair with Malkovich, she has openly gushed over her second husband, producer and “Big Little Lies” creator David E. Kelley, whom she married in 1993.
“I got really lucky,” Pfeiffer told Parade of Kelley in 2012. “I never take him for granted. I’ve never met a person who has more integrity than my husband. I respect that.”
“There’s his humor and intelligence, too, and he’s really cute, all those things,” Pfeiffer added. “But if you don’t respect your partner, you’ll get sick of him.”
