Christopher Walken
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"I make films that no one sees. I've made films that I myself have not seen." |
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Christopher Walken (born March 31, 1943) is an Academy Award winning American actor of stage and screen, in a career spanning more than 50 years. A prolific actor, he has appeared in over 100 movie and television roles, notably including A View to a Kill, At Close Range, The Deer Hunter, David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone, King of New York, Batman Returns, True Romance, Catch Me If You Can and Pulp Fiction, as well as music videos by recording artists such as Madonna and Fatboy Slim.
Walken appeared as the Archangel Gabriel in the first three Prophecy movies, as well as his frequent guest-host appearances on Saturday Night Live (seven in all, though six of them [the ones from 1990 to 2003] have his recurring sketch "The Continental" and all six of them have monologues in which Walken sings and dances; the one from the Writers Strike-shortened 33rd season has neither of these), his most notable being The Bruce Dickinson in the "More Cowbell" sketch and Casanova Wannabe The Continental (based on an actual TV character from an obscure 1950s show; but most people wouldn't know that). In the United States, films featuring Walken have grossed over $1.8 billion. He has also played the main role in the Shakespeare plays Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and even Coriolanus. Famous film roles were Nikanor "Nick" Chevotarevich in The Deer Hunter (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor) and in Pulp Fiction, as Captain Koons, a Vietnam War veteran, which has since become a pop culture icon, despite his appearance being less than five minutes in length (many of his roles probably count for being "best thing in the movie"). In fact, his prolific film appearances relate to his own policy of never turning down film roles unless he's too busy, finding that each and every role is a learning experience. One can only wonder what he learned from Gigli...
His distinctive style of speaking, including random pauses, wild enunciation and a tendency to change voice pitch at random, have made clips from his movies subject to a great deal of Memetic Mutation, and he's probably the third most-imitated actor out there, after Connery and Ahnold. ("Diz gai... is un-FUCKING-believable!") He doesn't actually sound much like most of his impersonators. You're still...imagining!...this article...in his illustrious voice! [1]
As pointed out by the top quote, Christopher Walken doesn't cherrypick with the roles he takes. He just plain loves making movies.
A former professional dancer, which he got to show off in the 2007 rendition of Hairspray, as well as the aforementioned Fatboy Slim video, which consists solely of him dancing in an empty hotel.
- The Anderson Tapes, his film debut. He gets an "Introducing..." in the credits playing "The Kid"("America, man! It's so beautiful I want to eat it!")
- Annie Hall - Annie's little brother Duane. In context, a wordless shot of him driving Alvy Singer home is one of the funniest things in the movie.
- The Deer Hunter when he was still young and handsome [1]
- The Dogs of War - Cat Shannon
- Pulp Fiction - Captain Koons ("I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years.")
- Pennies From Heaven - Tom the pimp (lip-synchs "Let's Misbehave" while tap-dancing a strip-tease)
- The Dead Zone - Johnny Smith ("Do you want to kill your own son? THE ICE! IS GONNA BREAK!")
- Brainstorm - Michael Brace
- A View to a Kill - Max Zorin
- Batman Returns - Max Shreck ("Bruce... Shame on you.")
- True Romance - Vincenzo Coccotti ("I haven't killed anybody...since 1984...")
- Last Man Standing - Hickey
- Sleepy Hollow - Headless Horseman (He doesn't have any lines besides yelling HAAAAAAAAAH! Not a complaint.)
- Mousehunt - Caesar the Exterminator ("Got mice?")
- The Rundown - Hatcher ("Do you understand...the CONCEPT!...of the Tooth Fairy?")
- Catch Me If You Can - Frank William Abagnale Sr.
- Hairspray - Wilbur Turnblad
- Ripper - Vince Magnotta ("This guy is un-fucking-believable")
- Joe Dirt - Clem, the Almighty Janitor who threatens Kid Rock with a soldering iron
- Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead - "One minute you're huggin' trees. The next, you're chuggin' cock."
- Scotland, PA - Lt. McDuff
- Suicide Kings - Charlie Barrett
- King of New York - Frank White
- The Prophecy films, 1-3 - Archangel Gabriel on all sides of the War In Heaven.
- America's Sweethearts - he played a brilliant yet eccentric director ("He uses the Unabomber's shack as his office!")
- Balls of Fury - Feng
- Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" video.
- And being the One-Scene Wonder king of kings : Example Romance and Cigarettes. He turns up, sings "Delilah," sings "Red Headed Woman," fucks off again, and the best part of the movie is over.
- As well as his performance as King Louie in the 2016 Live Action Adaptation of Disney's The Jungle Book.
- Man on Fire - Rayburn. ("A man can be an artist... in anything, food, whatever. It depends on how good he is at it. Creasey's art is death. He's about to paint his masterpiece.")
- Bunny Ears Lawyer
- Cloudcuckoolander
- Cool Old Guy
- Creepy Monotone
- Fan Service- At least as a young actor. See The Deer Hunter, [2], and [3].
- Happily Married
- Kindhearted Cat Lover
- Large Ham
- Mean Character, Nice Actor
- One-Scene Wonder: When he's not playing a major role, of course. He is one of the patron saints of One Scene Wonders along with Peter Stormare.
- Rule of Sean Connery
The Rule of Walken: It needs more cowbell. No exceptions.
- ↑ Good News...Everyone! I just fucked you up!...badly!