1:29:00
From there, it was a simple hop, skip
and jump to Broadway accolades...
1:29:03
and Hollywood stardom.
1:29:05
But nothing could prepare the public
for what was to come next.
1:29:10
And so it was that just
eight short months ago...
1:29:12
John Malkovich dropped the bombshell
that sent shock waves...
1:29:16
through the entertainment community.
1:29:19
Turning his back on his
former profession,
Malkovich had to start from scratch...
1:29:22
and pay his dues allover again
as a fledgling puppeteer.
1:29:26
[ Clears Throat ] Hello, ladies
and gentlemen, I'm John Malkovich.
1:29:29
It's-- It's the-- I miss--
1:29:32
I'm really John Malkovich.
[ Giggling ]
1:29:35
[Narrator]
From these inauspicious beginnings...
1:29:37
John Malkovich's rise
to stardom was fast and furious.
1:29:41
His breakout performance occurred
at this year's Emmy Awards--
1:29:45
- [Narration Continues]
- It's really good!
I look really amazing.
1:29:47
I'd fuck me.
1:29:49
If there's anything
that upsets me about it...
1:29:51
it's feeling like
if move into it too quickly...
1:29:54
I'll be, you know, deemed an imitator.
1:29:57
But, um, I think that once
we all get the courage...
1:30:00
to just follow through on
our instincts, like Malkovich has...
1:30:03
I think that, uh, a lot of us
will move into puppetry.
1:30:06
[Narrator]Malkovich's rise to fame
brought about a renaissance
in puppeteering.
1:30:10
No, no, no. What are you doing?
What are you doing?
1:30:13
- I'm making him weep, John.
- You're making him weep,
but you are not weeping.
1:30:17
Don't ever-- [ Beep ]
with your audience.
1:30:19
Until the-- the puppet becomes...
1:30:22
an extension of you, it's a novelty act.
1:30:26
It's, uh--
It's Topo Gigio.
1:30:28
No?
1:30:32
[Man]
He's a technical genius.
1:30:35
He breathes life
into inanimate objects.
1:30:37
It's a very godlike thing...
1:30:40
to be able to take something and,
you know, make it live.
1:30:44
[Narrator]
He was the talk of the town...
1:30:47
from the Beltway to Broadway...
1:30:50
aided in no small part by
his new wife and manager, Maxine Lund.
1:30:54
In Maxine,
Malkovich had found his mentor...
1:30:57
his muse, his inspiration.