1997’s Con Air is a classic Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action movie that has only become more and more beloved over the years. The movie, which you can stream with a YouTube TV subscription, features an insane plot, over-the-top action, and, perhaps most importantly, an absolutely stellar cast. Nicolas Cage leads a group of award-winning actors, including John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Dave Chappelle, Danny Trejo, Mykelti Williamson, and others.
The most inspired casting decision for the time has to be John Malkovich as Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, as this was one of the projects that helped turn him into a household name. Thus, as it turns out, snagging Malkovich wasn’t as difficult as you might imagine.
Malkovich Barely Read Any Of The Script Before Accepting The Role
One might think an actor with the pedigree of Malkovich might scoff (at least at first glance) at starring in a summer blockbuster movie full of explosions and cheesy (but awesome) action movie dialogue. Maybe it would take some cajoling and a Brinks truck full of cash to get an Academy Award nominee to play a crazy convict like Cyrus the Virus. In fact, it didn’t take either. Malkovich was in right away.
Recently, Malkovich appeared on the podcast Club Random with Bill Maher and explained why he didn’t even need to read the full script before accepting the role. After letting a friend read the script before him, the friend told the In The Line Of Fire star that the script was terrible and didn’t make sense. The veteran actor saw the potential, though. Not only was there more to Con Air than silly action scenes, but there was depth to the script. And a lot of money to be made. Malkovich told Maher:
I read what I had to read. 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 immediately tapped into what made Con Air different than most action flicks of the era. There is something more to it than just plane crashes and explosions. The cheekiness is on the surface, but it’s also subtly pretty smart, with easter eggs like naming the prisoners after poets (they aren’t all Romantic-era poets, but we’ll let that slide). The depth of Con Air is a big part of what has made one of the best action movies ever so enduring. This isn’t Transformers.
The story also illustrates part of what makes Malkovich so enduring, as well. He isn’t a snob, even if he sometimes comes across like one. He’s willing to do any kind of movie if it appeals to him on any level, and that’s why we all love him in so many different kinds of roles.
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