Acting has to do with saying it as if you meant it, so for me the words are always very important. It's very important for me to know my lines, know them so well that I don't have to think about them.
Also for me it was different because I play a lot of villains and in this one I play a dad and I play a good guy, basically. He's the Secretary of the Treasury. I never had a job like that.
Also, I think there are huge reactions sometimes, which are also mysterious.
An actor really is a kind of intermediary between an audience and the piece, whether it's a play or movie.
And I think that when I play these villains, maybe what is different is that the audience sees me play these and they know that that's Chris and he's having fun and he knows that and he knows that and you know that and everybody knows that.
As an actor you become that lighting rod between the person who made the play and the audience.
Because if I don't know my lines, I really don't know what I'm doing.
Everybody has to be a little lucky, I think.
I don't carry lucky charms, but I believe in those things.
I don't know. I come from a certain part of New York. Queens. And the truth is that that's the way that people talk there.
I live sort of in the country and I like that. It's very quiet, it's beautiful.
I never trained as an actor. I trained as, you know, musical comedy. You know, where the audience is part of the show.
I remember that. I was talking to him and I said how great it would be if actors had a tail because I have animals and a tail is so expressive. On a cat you can tell everything. You can tell if they're annoyed. You can tell whether they're scared.
I think early on I knew what I was going to do and it was based a lot on familiarity but it was also because I didn't have a lot of skills. There was nothing I wanted t be. I didn't want to be a doctor. I wanted to be in show business.
I think if you do something effectively whether you're the lover or the comic or the action guy or the villain like I play; movies are very expensive to make. Chances are you'll get asked to play that part again.
I think that if I had grown up and had been in show business and the movies twenty five, thirty years earlier, I think I would have made a lot more musical movies.
I think that sometimes when they see me in a movie they expect me to be something nasty. I mean, I play a lot of villains and you show up and they think maybe... That's why it's good to defy expectations sometimes.
I think that weddings have probably been crashed since the beginning of time. Cavemen crashed them. You go to meet girls. It makes sense.
I try not to worry about things I can't do anything about.
I'd love to do a character with a wife, a nice little house, a couple of kids, a dog, maybe a bit of singing, and no guns and no killing, but nobody offers me those kind of parts.
I'm not much of an analyzer or a psychologist.
I've made movies that we're very successful that we're a complete surprise, and I've made movies that I thought we're going to be very successful that, you know.
I've made three musical movies which is pretty good considering that not many are made but I was lucky in other ways. I came along when independent movies were starting to boom.
I've never crashed a wedding. When I was a kid I, of course, used to crash parties. Crashing a wedding is difficult though because you have to have the suit, and you have to have information in case someone catches you. You have to know at least some names and something.
It's interesting, I've played so many villains, and maybe now I'll play good guys.
My father passed away a couple of years ago, but he was very old. He was almost a 100 years old. And, you know, he had a very good life. He came to America and he had a good life.
My father was a baker and a lot of people do what their families did and I could have done that but I wanted to stay in show business.
My favorite characters are the ones that are the most successful movies.
No, but way before that, I've been doing little dances in movies for years. Yeah, that was an amazing chance. You know, at my age to be able to do a music dance video, very unusual.
No, improvising is wonderful. But, the thing is that you cannot improvise unless you know exactly what you're doing.
Obviously an actor draws on his own experience.
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.
That was great. That was one of the great things. You take jobs to be with good actors and the director was terrific.
The best thing for me is, when I'm not working, is to be at home and to have a script or two scripts is better, and to be just walking around the house and just thinking about the lines.
The minute I start to talk about acting, I realize that I can't. You know, it's an abstract thing, a little bit mysterious even if you do it for a living.
They are funny and also they're funny together. They're a very good team. I wouldn't be surprised if they made more movies together.
They have a kind of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby thing going on.
When I know that, if I have no inspiration whatsoever, when I come and I just feel empty, I have nothing, I know that I can still play the scene.
When I was a kid I joined the circus. I did that. It is true. But it's not like you think. There was a guy, he had his own circus. His name was Carol Jacobs and he owned it. It was a small thing.
When videotape came so a lot of movies that I do have a kind of afterlife in video. Things where movies that I do would come and go; they still come and go but you can go rent them and see them on TV.
When you're an actor, you do a lot of the same kind of thing. It's great when someone gets you to do something that's a little surprising.
Yeah, well I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre and that's really where my training is. As an actor, that's my training.
You know, in the movies, if you're a movie actor, if they want you, it doesn't matter what their reason is, it's okay.
Christopher won an MTV Video Music Award for choreographing his own moves in Fatboy Slim's Weapon Of Choice. He also appeared on the cover of the US release of Fatboy Slim's 2006 album, Why Try Harder, The Greatest Hits.
On October 4th, 2004, Christopher received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
At the time of filming The Rundown (2003), he had never seen the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), and was therefore reluctant to use the phrase "Oompah Loompah" in his final scene. When learning of this, director Peter Berg gave him a copy of the film, and he finally decided to use the phrase.
Christopher is only the second person in history to be nominated for both Best Supporting Actor from the Oscars, for Catch Me If You Can (2002), and Worst Supporting Actor from the Razzies, for The Country Bears (2002) in the same year. The first was James Coco, who was actually nominated for both awards for the same role in Only When I Laugh (1981).
In 2000, Christopher was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for his role in James Joyce's The Dead.
In 1997, Christopher was ranked #96 in Empire magazine's "Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
In 1995, Christopher wrote and performed in a play about Elvis Presley titled Him.
In 1993, Christopher played the ‘Angel of Death’ in Madonna's music video for Bad Girl.
In 1980, Christopher was assaulted in New York when he asked two men to turn down their music. His nose was broken in the incident.
In 1975, Christopher won an Obie for his role in Kid Champion.
Christopher lost out to Ryan O'Neal for the romantic lead in Love Story (1970).
In 1964, Christopher changed his name from Ronald to Christopher after a friend told him it suited him better. He nowadays prefers to be known informally as "Chris Walken".
During the years 1954-1956, Christopher alternated with his brother, Glenn, in the role of Mike Bauer on The Guiding Light.
Christopher is one of the few hosts of Saturday Night Live (1975) who has hosted enough times to have his own recurring skit (The Continental).
Christopher was ranked #1 on Tropopkin's 'Top 25 Most Intriguing People' [Issue #100].
Christopher read Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven for an audio book.
In his 35 years in film, Christopher has acted in over 90 films. He rarely turns down a part, under the belief that making movies (whether they turn out good or bad) is always a rewarding experience.
Christopher is the only actor to play both a Bond villain and a Batman villain.
Before taking on serious roles in movies and theatre, Christopher trained as a dancer in musical theatre.
Christopher has played 3 different characters with the name Max. In 1985: (A View to a Kill); in 1992: (Batman Returns); and in 1999: (Kiss Toledo Goodbye)
Christopher is the only actor to portray a James Bond villain and win an Academy Award for it. He received the award for his role in A View to a Kill.
It was reported that Christopher achieved his gaunt, hollow look of his character in The Deer Hunter by eating mainly rice and bananas.
Christopher was on Natalie Wood's yacht with Robert Wagner the night she drowned.
Christopher voiced the characters of a police officer, a friend of Nick Kang and George in the videogame True Crime: Streets of LA, and as Gabriel, an FBI agent, in True Crime: New York City.
George Lucas originally considered Christopher for the role of Han Solo in the film Star Wars. The part eventually went to Harrison Ford.
Christopher has voiced characters in numerous video games.
Jerry Lewis influenced Christopher to make show business his career. At age 10, Christopher met Lewis on The Colgate Comedy Hour, where Lewis & Dean Martin were guest hosts. Christopher was an extra on the show and was in a skit with Lewis.
Christopher turned down the role of Dave Kujan in The Usual Suspects.
Christopher met his wife Georgianne, while touring with West Side Story. They married in 1969 and Georgianne went on to be the casting agent for The Sopranos.
Christopher is a six time host of Saturday Night Live.
One of Christopher's trademarks is that he always tries to work a dance into his movies.
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