Tell your friends you’re interviewing Christopher Walken and one of the first things they ask is “Shit man, aren’t you frightened?”
To be sure, Walken has carved out a distinctive niche for himself over 50 years of filmmaking in films like “The Deer Hunter,” “True Romance,” “Kings of New York,” “Pulp Fiction” and over 90 more films.
Known as much for his truncated diction and stonefaced demeanor as he is for his magnificent dancing skills (displayed deftly in Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” video), Walken is both an icon of cool and a towering, sometimes frightening figure in contemporary cinema. With 10 films being released within the last 3 years, he shows no signs of slowing.
Roles in films like “The Dead Zone” and “True Romance” may have solidified his place in pop culture as a cartoonish bad ass, but talking to Walken in person, you get the feeling that a.) there’s really no chance he’s going to slit your throat and b.) he doesn’t get nearly enough credit for being one of the funniest guys in Hollywood.
Walken came to Chicago to present his latest film “Around the Bend” alongside director Jordan Roberts. The film, screening in Chicago theaters now, features Michael Caine and Undertow star Josh Lucas in a tale of family secrets, male bonding and KFC (don’t ask).
ChicagoFilm caught up with Walken at a crowded board room in the Park Hyatt to talk about punctuation, lion taming and 5 decades of steady acting work.
Christopher Walken as bad-ass Hatcher in "The Rundown"
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This is the first leading role you’ve had in a while. I’m wondering why you go with these supporting roles?
You don’t choose these things. If you’re a leading man, you’re a leading man. If they say supporting part, you say okay. I don’t think I ever was gonna be the leading man. The guy who gets the girl. But I have occasionally had some. You know, I’m inclined to say yes if they say “here’s a job.” I’m inclined to say yes because I don’t have anything else to do. I don’t have hobbies, I don’t have kids, I don’t like to travel. I would stay at home all of the time if I didn’t have to work.
What’s your criteria on taking a role?
There’s not really a big high criteria. Really, if it’s sort of 2/3 okay, I figure, well we’ll fix it.
You have a sort of idiosyncratic coolness that’s kind of undefinable. Can you talk about how you went from a working actor in the 70’s and 80’s into this sort of icon of cool…
Ya know, I never knew I was going to be an actor. My whole training and background up until the time I was in my 30’s, I was really all about musical comedy. That’s my whole background, my education. At some point in time, I went and took some acting classes, but I was already formed, you know. I’m a musical comedy show-off. And when I got into acting, if there’s something different, that’s what it is. I’m still a dancer I think. And I think it affects you. If you grow up in show business, it makes you a little different.
But there’s something different about you. You have so many people imitating you. Like Jay Mohr, Kevin Spacey. Who do you think does the best one?
Well it’s great when people do that really. I remember when it started to happen I think it was Jay Mohr. Did you ever see him do it on Saturday Night Live? It was me selling fruit drops, Skittles. It was very funny. Then people started to do it. I have a friend who does it on his answering machine. And when I call him up it says “Hi, this is Chris Walken. I’m not here right now, leave a message at the beep.” But my wife says Kevin Spacey does it the best.
Why do you think they imitate you?
Because I have a peculiar way of speaking (laughs). And my punctuation I think.
Is that intentional?
When I was a kid it used to bother me when I had to write an essay. It bothered me when they said to me, “there’s a period, there’s a comma, this is capital, this is a question.” And I said, “No it’s not. It is if I feel like it.” And so I grew up that way. We all go to school and we learn a lot of good things, but we also learn a lot of stuff that just inhibits us.
You like to work dancing into all of your movies. Did you insert the dancing scene in Around the Bend into the movie?
It happened years ago. There’s always a lot of stuff in movies that make the gag reel, and it started with me doing that just goofing around. And then people started asking for it. And this time it was in the script ahead of time, it said “dances around the campfire.” I’m starting to think it’s been enough, that I need to stop doing it, because people are talking to me more about that than the movie. I think I’ve overdone it. I have to stop.
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009: Christopher Walken
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