Christopher Walken names his favourite thing about acting: “As good as it gets”
He might be little more than a meme in some circles, but Christopher Walken is a true superstar. An icon of the New Hollywood era, Walken first broke through with his role in Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter. His performances as embattled ex-soldier Nick Chevotarevich impressed many cinemagoers and traumatised many more. Since then, he’s cropped up in films of all shapes and sizes, from Batman Returns to Antz, Dune: Part Two to Hairspray.
Walken’s first film role was in the 1966 TV movie Barefoot in Athens. He would make his theatrically released debut three years later, playing a character called ‘The Director’ in a film called Me and My Brother. But this wasn’t the first time audiences had seen him. He’d been appearing in TV shows since the early 1950s, including as a recurring part in the sitcom Wonderful John Acton. Theatregoers might have seen him even earlier than this, as he had a few gigs on Broadway.
In a career that has spanned over 70 years, Walken has enjoyed all the benefits of being an actor. It’s not always been easy being super famous – he probably can’t go anywhere these days without someone asking him for ‘more cowbell’ – but to do anything for over seven decades requires a huge amount of passion and dedication to a particular craft. Is it the mind-boggling wealth he enjoys the most? The adulation of the general public? The chance to rub elbows with the world’s elite? Not exactly…
“My favourite part of being an actor, really, is the time I spend by myself,” the double Oscar winner told The Independent. “Learning the scripts, studying them, learning lines. “It takes me for ever [sic] to learn lines, so to stand in my kitchen with the script is kind of as good as it gets.” So the thing that Walken enjoys the most about being a world-famous actor is… staying at home where no one can see him. Isn’t that the most in-character answer you could have predicted?
The overarching theme of the entire interview is that the Walken people see on screen is very different from the man he is at home or with friends. “I’m Christopher, but to a small group of people, I’m Ronnie,” he explained, referencing the fact that Ronald is his real birth name. He was even credited as ‘Ronnie Walken’ for the first few years of his career, until the glamorous actor Monique van Vooren suggested he change it. Again, did you expect anything less?
This double life has more than a hint of Severance about it. The hit Apple TV+ show follows the lives of employees at a shady corporation. To maintain a ‘work-life’ balance, the workforce is split into two streams; ‘innies’, who only remember life at work, and ‘outies’, who only remember life outside of the office walls. Walken appears in the show as Burt Goodman, a high-ranking employee within the company. This is one of Walken’s first regular TV roles in years, which might explain why he’s been doing so much line-learning.
Like all actors, there are sides to Walken that the public never get to see. He might be known for his crazy, conniving characters, but in his heart, he seems to be a lot quieter and more normal than he appears on the outside.
