In "Burn After Reading," John Malkovich gets one of his signature, showy, put-upon roles — the kind in which he gets to wig out. (Memo to fans: insert cheer here.)

"He's long-suffering in a way," Malkovich tells Gold Derby in our podcast chat. Because his character is such a loser, "one's happy, in a way, to see him suffer.  ... But at least he doesn't have the problem of not being able to express his anger!"

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Malkovich defines his role thus: "He's a drunk who, of course, denies that by resorting to Mormon jokes. His wife's having an affair with George Clooney. He's been fired from his job. He's being blackmailed. He's trying to write his memoirs or his book [but] realizes he's utterly talentless. He's locked out of his house, and all of his things are thrown out in the rain, so he's burned out, he's burned up and now he wants to burn someone else."

His character's response: At one point he takes out a hatchet and goes at it. At another point, he punches Brad Pitt, who is blackmailing him after discovering a computer disk containing those memoirs.

What was it like to haul off and nail Pitt? Or, rather, shooting that scene for "Burn After Reading"?

"Little closed quarters for a punch," Malkovich says, "but it was just sort of a pop. Brad has done — how many trillion stunts in his life? — so he's very good. The person throwing the punch — it doesn't really matter what they do. It's the person receiving it that counts. Obviously, it only works from certain angles so you figure out, from where the camera is, what is the angle that it can really be sold that you're really punching someone. It didn't take long. He's very good at it."

Malkovich's character endures so much misery that the audience howls and hoots. But why do viewers laugh at such things in any film?

"Because we're glad it's not us," he says. "It's a comedy if it happens to you. It's a tragedy if it happens to me. That's why, when you see bloopers — you know, a grandmother loses her teeth or an overweight person falls out of a boat — it's hilarious stuff. To me, no, but most people just laugh themselves sick.

"We laugh because we realize how ridiculous and absurd we are," he adds. "Deep down, we know. You realize how easily we could be in that position, how incredibly easily, and part of that exhale of that laughter is our relief in that not having been us.

"But then there's another (reason) — when you laugh because you recognize. Like in this film when they see me come out with a hatchet, their natural reaction is to laugh. Why? A) Because it's me with the hatchet, so they know that it's probably going to get used. And B) they also laugh because it's their id saying, 'God, I'd love to do that!'"

(Focus Features)