This A-Lister Joined 'Con Air' Before Reading the Script - and It Wasn't Nicolas Cage

Imagine having a movie named after you.

Being John Malkovich was the perfect title for a story that centered on characters who are able to quite literally "be" the longtime actor, 72, for short bursts at a time.

The acclaimed film was released in the late 1990s - and so was another successful feature that also starred John Malkovich. In fact, Saturday, June 6 marks exactly 29 years since Con Air hit theaters.

The prison action-thriller became a financial success, earning $224 million globally on a $74 million budget. Clearly the mixed reviews - as highlighted by Rotten Tomatoes - didn't hold moviegoers back from flooding the cinemas. Here's the website's synopsis of Con Air:

"Just-paroled army ranger Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) is headed back to his wife (Monica Potter), but must fly home aboard a prison transport flight dubbed 'Jailbird' with some of the worst criminals living. Along with Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames) and Baby-O (Mykelti Williamson), genius serial killer Cyrus 'The Virus' Grissom (Malkovich) unleashes a violent escape plot in mid-flight. Secretly working with U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack), Poe tries to foil Grissom's plan."

Late last year, Malkovich actually revealed to Bill Maher on his podcast that he didn't exactly dissect the Con Air script, written by Scott Rosenberg, before hopping onboard.

"I read what I had to read," the Burn After Reading actor said on the December 1, 2025 episode of Club Random of Bill Maher. "Con Air. Convicts on an airplane named after Romantic era poets. That's 500 million, Jerry Bruckheimer producing. Done. Don't really need to read it. I'm not a kind of snob about [stuff like that]."

Malkovich can next be seen in Wild Horse Nine, the new film by Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri). The upcoming black comedy film also stars Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey.

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This story was originally published June 6, 2026 at 9:59 PM.