Two-time Oscar nominee John Malkovich says an awards campaign "is the only way to get people to go to the theaters now" — and he is gearing up for exactly that kind of campaign with Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine.

The actor, 72, premiered the tragicomedy at the BFI London Film Festival on Friday and expanded on his awards-season outlook during a festival talk on Sunday. His performance as Chris, a CIA veteran stationed in Chile, is drawing early buzz as potentially the best of his career — and, in trade terms, an almost certain nomination lock.

Malkovich has been here before. He earned supporting nominations in 1985 for Places in the Heart and in 1994 for In the Line of Fire. But he argued the machinery around a campaign has fundamentally changed.

"[I feel] probably different [about awards consideration] than I did [when In the Line of Fire came out] because the movie business existed [and] it maintained, undeservedly in my opinion, a very high position in the culture," Malkovich said. "Now, [the awards trail] is the only way to get people to go to the theaters, the whole thing, and that's months and months and months."

What has changed since his last nomination?

Malkovich recalled that his early films had already made their money before Oscar night arrived. Today, he said, winning an Oscar "seems to be the only way you get people to actually go to a theater."

He admitted he is unsure his own daughter would consider going to the cinema these days. Asked whether that broke his heart, he was blunt.

"No, because I'm 72 years old. Things change. I don't really like thinking, 'Things aren't what they used to be.' They just change, and you either change with them or die. And I prefer to change with them."

The actor described the current wave of attention as an "onslaught" that does not suit his "native personality." He illustrated the point with a story from his first and only Oscars in 1985, when he asked his "a little bit bossy" manager, Phyllis, whether he could enter through a side door. "'Honey, it's the Oscars,'" she told him. "There is no side door!"

"So that's my native personality in the face of that onslaught," Malkovich said of embarking on another campaign. "But also, I'm a grown-up. It's a part of the business now."

Who is in Wild Horse Nine?

The film pairs Malkovich with Sam Rockwell as Chris and Lee, longtime CIA partners in Santiago, Chile, dispatched to Easter Island by their bureau chief, played by Steve Buscemi. Among the island's Moai statues, the agents reckon with their murky shared past.

The cast also includes Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas as two rebellious Chilean students whose encounter with Chris threatens both the agents' friendship and the conspiracy they are entangled in.

Malkovich praised McDonagh as a "great writer" and a "direct, kind" filmmaker. "He can give great notes," the actor said, recounting one direction during a scene with the statues: "He just came over and said, 'More David Attenborough,' which I just thought was one of the greatest notes, and which I didn't do very well."

Of Rockwell, he offered a characteristically left-field comparison: "a trainer at SeaWorld feeding fish to a shark."

What did he say about the script?

Malkovich stressed how rare a genuinely strong screenplay is — a point with obvious relevance to any awards hopeful.

"It's so rare to read a great screenplay and make a really excellent film. And you can work as hard as you like. You can give a really interesting performance, and if the film isn't very good, it's absolutely meaningless," he said. "It's totally waste of your time in the public."

He also addressed the Kennedy assassination, a running theme in his work, given his character is implied to have played a major part in the president's death: "I know what didn't happen is what they said happened."

The session ranged across his career — Dangerous Liaisons, Clint Eastwood, the West End, and Being John Malkovich, where he admitted to "being an asshole" on a hot day of filming. He also revealed he recently discovered he is 43 percent Romanian.

Asked about 100 Years, the Robert Rodriguez film locked in a vault until 2115, Malkovich joked: "I have tickets. I don't think I'll be at the opening night. You know, my grandchildren won't even be here as well."

The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs Oct. 7-18.