How a forgotten Christopher Walken performance became tied to a grisly murder
Having amassed over 150 credits across film, television, theatre, and video games, dating back to the mid-1960s, there’s no shame in Christopher Walken admitting that he can’t recall every single one of his performances at the drop of a hat.
The veteran actor has confessed several times that there are plenty of movies he doesn’t even remember making, and sometimes, even when he stumbles across them when channel-hopping, it takes him a moment or two to put the pieces together and have his memory jogged.
One of the many turns that have slipped through the cracks came in the 1996 point-and-click video game Ripper, which was one of many titles that sought to capitalise on rapidly advancing technology by recruiting recognisable stars to play fictional figures in a digital adventure with a branching narrative.
Set in the near future of 2040 in New York City, Ripper follows a player-controlled newspaper reporter called Jake Quinlan, who begins receiving messages from a serial killer inspired by Jack the Ripper. Walken plays the detective heading up the investigation, Vincent Magnotta, who can be revealed as one of four possible culprits depending on the choices made throughout the game.
Ripper hardly revolutionised gaming, selling a shade over 350,000 copies, before fading into the cultural ether. That said, it has developed something of a cult favourite status among gaming and Walken enthusiasts, thanks largely to the Academy Award winner’s luxuriously off-kilter approach and several memorable line readings delivered in his inimitable style.
Almost two decades later, though, Ripper was dragged back into the cultural consciousness for the worst possible reasons when it was mentioned in conjunction with a gruesome murder case. Eric Clinton Newman legally changed his name to Luka Magnotta, which at first glance appears nothing more than coincidental.
However, the similarities to Ripper became more pronounced when he purportedly emailed a British newspaper with a chilling email that said, “I can’t stop killing,” which was seen as a clear echo of the story beat that sets the video game’s plot in motion.
Newman/Magnotta was arrested and charged with murdering his lover and dismembering his body, and before he was apprehended, reports emerged alleging he’d mailed body parts to the offices of Canada’s two major political parties. Suddenly, the name change was viewed as more than a coincidence, with the authorities confirming that Ripper was actively intertwined with their investigation.
Ian Lafrenière, a commander with the Montreal police, acknowledged that “there are lots of similarities there” between Magnotta’s gruesome crimes and the game, which features the unidentified killer taunting the press and media, leaving many to believe that he’d specifically co-opted the name of Walken’s character years before committing the murder as a source of twisted inspiration.
“It’s like this is fun for him,” another police officer told the Ottawa Sun. “It’s like it’s one big game.” Those who followed the breadcrumbs back to Ripper took that more literally, with the case bearing a couple of startling similarities to the Walken-fronted title in both name and twisted inspiration that convinced everyone from true crime aficionados to the cops that Magnotta took several cues from the game before carrying out his atrocious acts.
