The role that brought Christopher Walken back from Hollywood exile: “I loved it”
At certain times during his six decades as a Hollywood star, it wasn’t unusual to see Christopher Walken star in upwards of four, five, or even six movies per year.
The actor, who has always had a reputation for eccentricity that he doesn’t quite understand, has simply always loved working, and unlike many other stars, he was willing to do it in projects of all shapes, sizes, and budgets.
There are a couple of perfect examples of Walken’s propensity for appearing all over the cinematic landscape when the mood strikes him. Take 1995, for instance, when he popped up in six films: the mainstream Hollywood thrillers Nick of Time and Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead; the low-budget horror movies The Prophecy and The Addiction; plus the little-seen comedy Search and Destroy and the straight-to-video erotic thriller Wild Side.
Or how about 1999, where everyone’s favourite cowbell-obsessed star starred as the ‘Headless Horseman’ in Tim Burton’s blockbuster Sleepy Hollow, a kooky mad scientist in Blast from the Past, a Mafia lieutenant in the obscure Kiss Toledo Goodbye, and a debt-ridden safecracker in the equally obscure The Opportunists.
Though Walken’s output slowed down in the 2000s and 2010s, he still appeared in three movies in one calendar year as recently as 2020. He supported Robert De Niro in the lame family comedy The War with Grandpa, adopted a truly unique Irish accent in Wild Mountain Thyme, and played a crusading farmer in the indie drama Percy. After these movies, though, Walken disappeared from the big screen for four long years, instead choosing to ply his idiosyncratic trade on television in BBC comedy The Outlaws and the hugely popular AppleTV+ psychological sci-fi black comedy Severance.
Why did Walken give up the habit of a lifetime and disappear into Hollywood exile? And what was it about his comeback role as the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV in Denis Villeneuve’s gargantuan Dune: Part Two that convinced him to return to the big screen fold?
Well, according to the then 80-year-old, he didn’t really have a grand plan to step away from Hollywood. It was more a case of his advancing age making him pickier about which roles interested him. After all, as he half-joked to Vanity Fair, “There is something about getting older that you’re sort of not inclined to get out of your pyjamas.”
As for why the Dune sequel finally got him out of his PJs and into Emperor Shaddam’s long, flowing robes, he revealed that joining Villeneuve’s sandy sci-fi world was an offer too tempting to turn down. “I had, of course, seen the first Dune a number of times,” he revealed. “I loved it, and I admired Villeneuve’s movies. Arrival, I thought, was wonderful.”
On top of being a big fan of Villeneuve’s filmmaking, Walken was also intrigued by the prospect of working in an exotic locale with a cast stacked with some of the best new and experienced performers in Hollywood. “To be with all those terrific actors: Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh, and Stellan Skarsgård,” Walken mused enthusiastically, “and to go to Budapest, which is a beautiful city. Of course, that’s what I do for a living.”
Heck, Villeneuve’s offer also had another sweetener: it would only require Walken to leave his home comforts for three measly weeks. “So,” he smiled, “everything about it was attractive.”
