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OVER three decades in the film business, Christopher Walken has carved out
his own turf�an offbeat and unpredictable style of malevolence that is in continual
demand. As the thinking person�s weirdo, Walken brings an extraordinary range of pathos to his
work. A lot of it has to do with that remarkable physiognomy: patrician height, leonine head,
and a dandy�s equilibrium. But the real money is in his long, faintly Slavic, oddly sculpted
face, and his patented spacy, cut-through-the-crap gaze�a heavy-
lidded, high-beam fixation that runs the gamut from artiste to zombie.
The face that has launched a thousand
metaphors is, in fact, a precision instrument
perfectly designed for Walken�s specialty: the Jekyll-and-Hyde switch. One moment,
he's a jolly sport grinning like a groom. Then, suddenly, a mask of psychotic rage or
remorseless evil. Think of the dapper mobster interrogating Dennis Hopper in True Romance,
the wristwatch-bearing war hero in Pulp Fiction, the vengeful ex-con in King of
New York, or the Oscar-grabbing Vietnam soldier in The Deer Hunter.
The
actor's latest role is a clever parody of his long history of screen depravity. In the new
comedy-thriller Suicide Kings, Walken plays aging Mafia kingpin Charlie Barrett,
who has shed his nastier ways (and the name Carlo Bartolucci) for respectable semi-
retirement.
Until, that is, he�s
kidnapped by a posse of five mixed-up preppies, who have rehearsed the caper using a
blow-up doll. To demonstrate their resolve, the med student among them (Jeremy Sisto)
amputates Charlie�s ring finger, with a ring still on it. What follows is a deadly contest
of wits between a cunning career criminal and five overprivileged brats: John Gotti meets
the Billionaire Boys Club.
During a recent phone interview with Mr. Showbiz,
Walken's legendary tics and mannerisms were, unfortunately, invisible. But his unassuming
civility and thoughtful candor came through the line, word by measured word.
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"What I really
had to do was be very clear about what I was talking about. I wasn�t able to tap dance, you
know?"
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"Anytime I say anything-
even 'pass the salt'--I have six subtexts, comments on what I really mean."
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You obviously relish your reputation
as an actor who plays twisted, malevolent characters. But in Suicide Kings, you give
Charlie a compassionate quality. Is that a different approach for you?
Oh
absolutely. I do play a lot of people who, in my experience, do not necessarily exist in
life�movie villains and monsters. I haven�t met these people; they�re just
inventions for the movies. I have played real people before, but Charlie is definitely
something new. I think he�s a good guy. I like him.
The film�s heart seems to lie
in Charlie seeing his own wild youth in those young guys.
Yeah. He feels for them
in the course of sitting there with them so intimately. They do seem to get a kick out of each
other in a strange way. I have it happen a lot. I look at young people and say, "Gee I
remember those days, it�d be fun to do that again." I think that�s why he sits down with them
in the first place. He�s out and wants to talk to young people. He�s tired of talking to
geezers.
Suicide Kings seems to compare the amorality of
the rich and privileged, which is without honor, to the immorality of a mafioso, which at least
has a code of honor, of dignity.
In the making of it, I certainly never thought of
it that way or heard anyone say anything like that. You know, Charlie�s done some things he�s
sorry for, that he shouldn�t have done, and so have they. He becomes something that�s unusual,
for me anyway. I�m getting to be that age where I can play uncles and fathers and things like
that, and he becomes almost a father, a patriarchal thing with them.
You have a remarkable ability
to suggest a seething inner life in your characters that is at least as interesting as what�s
going on at the surface. Do you work hard at that kind of intensity, or does it just flow
effortlessly?
I think it has to do with the way that I prepare. All my scripts
are absolutely covered in notes. So anytime I say anything�even �pass the salt��
I have six subtexts, comments on what I really mean when I�m saying that. Maybe that�s
what gives the impression that I�m saying one thing and thinking something else.
What sort of personal knowledge, if any, did you draw on to prepare for this role?
When I read the script, all the darker aspects aside, it was about a man my age
who was put into this experience of having to save himself with his mind. I�m a physical
actor, and I�m strapped to a chair, so I had to really think about what I was talking about
very carefully. And in the course of doing that, Charlie gets to know these kids and likes
them, and they like him. It�s a more human story than I usually get to play.
For someone who was trained as a dancer, it must have been a
real challenge to play a character who was taped to a chair for most of the film.
Well, it had its difficulties, but on the other hand it was freeing because I
didn�t have to worry about props or blocking. In movie acting, there�s this necessity for
matching. The lady tells you that when you said that, you lifted the glass to your lips,
so you have do it just that way for the reverse shot, otherwise it won�t match when we cut
across to the other guy. And there are a lot
 of
considerations like that in movie acting that are just so pragmatic. So this simplified all
that. What I really had to do was be very clear about what I was talking about. I wasn�t able
to tap dance, you know? [Laughs.] Maybe it�s the only movie that I never danced in.
You're obviously right at home with the dark comedy that's prevalent
in Suicide Kings. In fact, many of the characters you've played seem to be balanced by a
bemused, almost mischievous aspect�as if they're pulling a prank that no one else quite gets.
Sometimes actors are smiling at what�s going on on the other side of the camera,
from the other actors and so forth. These things sometimes end up in the movie, even though
they�re not necessarily related to the movie. Somebody smiles and it takes on some sort of
unintended meaning in the context of reversing back and forth. But that�s part of movie acting.
I read an interesting thing in some book about painters: when Da Vinci had people pose for
him he would have in his studio jugglers, musicians, comics. He�d have a show going on. It
could be that Mona Lisa is smiling at a monkey.
There�s a whole secret world
there�
Absolutely. And it�s part of the relationship between the actor,
the director, and the editor. If I had another area of movies to go into, it would be editing.
It�s fascinating, taking unrelated bits of film and putting them together in an interesting way
that was never intended in the first place.
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"A chopped-off finger, that�s hard to deal with. I only laugh about it because to me it�s just a rubber thing with a ring on it."
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"I don�t have children. I don�t have hobbies. I don�t like to travel much . . . So what I like to do is work."
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You once did a Saturday Night Live skit where the great mystery of Pat�s gender finally drove you to suicide. It was brilliant self-parody. How do you feel when other people impersonate you?
It�s only happened in the last few years. I�m delighted. It�s very interesting to sit at home and watch the Oscars and have Kevin Spacey do me on stage�and very well. There I am at the Oscars and in fact I�m sitting at home.
I've read accounts of how nervous you were back when you were starting out in film. On this set you were the veteran, the tribal elder. Did you offer guidance to any of the younger actors?
No, they were all very good, and kind of veterans themselves. Good actors, you know, don�t really talk that much about acting. They usually talk about anything but. You know, basketball . . .
Your performance in Suicide Kings is nuanced in a way that creates very different relationships with each of the boys�a look in the eyes, a modulation of the voice�
I suppose that came naturally. I think from the time I was a kid, I tended to behave a little bit like who I�m with. I used to come out of cowboy movies talking like a cowboy, even though I was in Queens. And it would take me half a day to get over that.
The severed finger takes on a whole dimension of its own in this film�a powerful fetish of visceral violence.
A chopped-off finger, that�s hard to deal with. [Laughs.] They keep it on ice. They sew it back on. I guess I�m okay. I only laugh about it because to me it�s just a rubber thing with a ring on it.
Can you point to one thing in particular that influenced you to sign on to this film?
Well, it was a good part and it had good actors and I liked the director. Aside from that . . . I have a family, but I don�t have children. I don�t have hobbies. I don�t like to travel much because that�s built into my job. So what I like to do is work.
My favorite quote of yours is, "Some of the stuff I do, I don�t understand at all." Do you have a mysterioso side that you just tap into somehow?
I think so. I think it�s something that I�m quite good at�that �don�t ask me� aspect of my acting. I really believe that what actors do together is take the script which they all have in front of them, and make it work. And how they make it work is really . . . like Milton Berle used to say, "It�s bigger than both of us."
As you get older and wiser is your approach to acting changing?
No. As I get older I get hungrier for work. I got so much time left, I�m very anxious to just keep going.
You�ve had a whole other life in live theater. Is that a world you still try to spend time in?
Yeah, but I did so much of that in the first long period of my career that I�d rather remain making movies as long as I can.
You once said you got a lot of momentum in life from women, yet females play very minor roles in Suicide Kings. Don�t these mostly-male films seem a bit lopsided emotionally?
I don�t do too many of them. I think this movie is by nature a guy thing. That�s the story. If there had been a woman in the middle of all that, she would have said, "Stop this instantly and all you get out of my house." But then there would have been no movie.
Abel Ferrara has said that just to look at you is to realize you�ve �been through some heavy-duty shit.� But it sounds like your life has been fairly satisfying: a very cool childhood, a good marriage, a successful career, and a whole lot of respect from your peers. Is there any serious trauma in there?
No, not at all. I think he might have meant that I grew up in show business, which to him is very scary. But not to me.
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