Critics raved about the chemistry between Michelle Pfeiffer and John Malkovich in the Oscar-winning film Dangerous Liaisons.
And now Malkovich has admitted for the first time that the on-screen passion between them spilled over into real life.
The 71-year-old, who played the amoral rich playboy the Vicomte de Valmont in the 1988 film, confirmed he had an affair with Pfeiffer – and that it had ended both their marriages.
Speaking on the Fashion Neurosis podcast, Malkovich said: ‘It’s not something I’ve ever really talked about. Put it this way, in the work I do, you make emotional bonds with people very quickly.
That’s part of the work. ‘For me, she was someone I valued greatly as a colleague, was great fun and moving and, with me, incredibly fair. And I certainly wasn’t.
‘I’ve learned over the course of my life that a great colleague is actually rarer than anything.
‘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… you lose a great colleague.’
Pfeiffer filed for divorce from her husband Peter Horton in 1988, while Malkovich’s marriage to actress Glenne Headly collapsed during filming.
A source who knew Headly told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Glenne was no fool. She could see what was going on.
‘The whole world was falling in love with Michelle Pfeiffer and so was her husband. She served him with divorce papers as soon as the movie wrapped.’
Dangerous Liaisons, based on the 18th-century French novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, has become one of the most critically acclaimed costume dramas of all time because of its depiction of lust, manipulation and betrayal in aristocratic society.
Glenn Close plays the villainous Marquise de Merteuil who bets the Vicomte de Valmont (Malkovich) that he cannot seduce the virtuous Madame de Tourvel, played by Pfeiffer.
The real-life affair caused scandalous headlines, with the director Stephen Frears later telling The New York Times: ‘[Malkovich’s] marriage was breaking up and during the movie he was having an affair with Michelle Pfeiffer.
‘Dangerous Liaisons is about betrayal and lies and relationships unravelling. It was one of those times where reality and art intersect. It was overwhelming for John. Even for a man who delights in bad behaviour, that was a difficult time.’
The movie won three Oscars for costumes, art direction and adapted screenplay and was nominated for Best Picture.
Pfeiffer married TV writer David E Kelley in 1993. The couple have two children and are considered to have one of the happiest marriages in Hollywood.
The actress, 67, has maintained a dignified silence about the affair. Her publicist was approached for comment. Malkovich has been with director Nicoletta Peyran since 1989.
