Christopher Walken once named his dream role
Armed with one of the most unique voices in all of Hollywood, Christopher Walken has become one of the most beloved stars of modern cinema, thriving in the limelight thanks to high-profile collaborations with the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Michael Cimino, Steven Spielberg and David Cronenberg. A star of subversive cinema, Walken took to the industry in the 1970s and never looked back.
Although he had been, in fact, present in the industry since the 1950s, appearing as a child in a number of TV series, Walken’s career wouldn’t truly kick off till the ‘70s when he thrived in Next Stop, Greenwich Village, Woody Allen’s Annie Hall and the ‘Best Picture’ winner The Deer Hunter. The decade would set him up for considerable success in the 1980s, shining in the high-profile movies The Dead Zone by Cronenberg and the James Bond flick A View to a Kill.
Playing a considerable number of villains, eccentric comedians and crime lords, Walken, despite being a truly versatile actor, is regularly typecast to fit a certain role, leaving him with many acting opportunities he’s never explored.
During an interview with IGN, Walken revealed the many roles he would love to play but is yet to get the chance, stating: “One thing that’s happened to me is I’ve been around a long time and I’ve played a lot of villains and so forth. I think it had to do with, well one thing is that I looked younger than I was for a long time. Now I think I’m suddenly starting to play people’s father… It’s interesting, I’ve played so many villains, and maybe now I’ll play good guys”.
When the conversation then moved on to a specific dream role that he would love to play, Walken added: “Maybe some historical character. Nostradamus”.
A 16th-century French astrologer and physician who is best known for writing the book Les Prophéties, which prophesied a strange number of future events, Nostradamus is credited with predicting the rise of Adolf Hitler, the 9/11 attack on New York and even the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020.
To date, only one movie has been made specifically about Nostradamus. Released in 1994, Nostradamus was a biography of the French historical icon, which was directed by Roger Christian and starred Tchéky Karyo in the lead role alongside F. Murray Abraham, Amanda Plummer and Rutger Hauer.
Take a look at the trailer for the 1994 film below.
