Christopher Walken says exploding airplanes are just entertainment
I Get Scared Of Actors

Hollywood’s mean villain Christopher Walken is acting in two movies shown at the festival – besides the small part of an interviewer in the Basquiat, he is starring The Funeral. But as he said, he has gone through a long process of acting in theater and movies during which he has gained this reputation even though his career was set off by comedies and it involved even the most romantic male part – Walken played William Shakespeare’s Romeo a few times in a theater.

You have started acting when you were only 16. At that age for instance Steve Buscemi was driving an ice-cream truck and then working as a firemen which brought him to performing. How did that happen in your case?
When I was a little kid, I was playing in musicals a lot, you know. I got into musicals professionally, then I got a small part in a play and then I got bigger parts and then I got a part in a movie…

How did your parents feel about it?
My family was sort of in the business too, my brothers were doing the same thing. But I stayed.

Do you think that movies in which you are acting can still be considered independent even if they cost several millions of dollars?
Sure. Independent movies are becoming more expensive.

We have spoken with some artists here who represent the very low-budget independent film-making in the States. They are saying, ‘But it’s a 30-million dollar film, that’s not independent.’
Well, what they call independent now are gonna be called mid-sized movies. And then there are going to be new kinds of movies that are going to be called independent, like off-off-Broadway.

What attracts you to independent movies?
They represent work.

What do they represent to you as opposed to commercial Hollywood productions?
I want to make Hollywood movies. If they ask me to. Sometimes they don’t, sometimes they do. But not often. In 1996, I made six movies, this year so far I made three movies and at the end of this month, I’ll start another one. So it’s better for me that way than to sit at home.

You said that when you are acting you are just pretending and that you are hoping that people know that. Do you really believe it?
Yes I do… I hope it’s true. You don’t believe when you see a helicopter chasing a train through a tunnel, that’s Mission Impossible. That’s entertainment.

But what about violent scenes where people get scared?
Not me. I get scared of actors. I mean if two actors are talking together and something scary is happening. To me that’s scary, or it’s beautiful, or it’s moving, or whatever. But if I see trucks blowing up or airplanes exploding it doesn’t scare me at all.

Have you ever scared yourself?
Sure, I can tell when something is effective. You can see it just as if it were somebody else.

When was the first time a director came up to you and said, ‘Oh you look bad, I want you to be a villain in my movie’?
Well, I think it started gradually also. I used to play a silly young man in comedies. But I think somebody said to me that it started off with Annie Hall (he played Annie’s demented brother)… and right after that I did The Deerhunter where I shot myself in the head. So I think that this started something that there’s something wrong with me.

back