Christopher Walken Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I don't think there's anything Christopher Walken can't do. He can make gold records, hide watches up his arse, dance like a prince, play Russian roulette, find missing people, live underground for decades, and make just about everything sound cool. He's no one-hit wonder.

And now he's also proved that he can out-Poker Face Lady Gaga. Yes, the latest YouTube video to make the rounds (embedded after the jump) finds the actor guesting on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross -- a program from BBC One. Instead of adding more cowbell to the music scene, he calmly sits in his chair and reads lyrics to Gaga's song. In. The way. Walken. Would. Say it.

You might just be able to manage getting through the first part unscathed, but when he starts making "Oh!" sound effects, well, it's comedy gold and I don't see how you could maintain your own poker face. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin might be the Oscar hosts, but I stand by my wish of seeing Walken on that shining stage. He proves, over and over again, that his delivery makes just about everything a-mazing.

And just in case you haven't gotten Gaga enough, you can check out the Lady's version here, and Cartman's version here. Watch Walken do his thing after the jump.

Sometimes it's worth it to revisit the old, to once again revel in its amazing wonder, or show it to the eager audiences who never got to see the excellence for themselves. A long time ago, Cinematical linked to a wonderful YouTube video, but we never really talked about it. That is, until now, as buzz starts to re-bubble.

What could possibly be worthy of re-attention? Christopher Walken cooking. No, not some impersonator. Not a cleverly done Lego world. Not a spoof. Not a clip from a film. I'm talking about the real Walken, handing over succulent foodie tips in the kitchen. After the jump, you can watch the actor make Chicken with Pears -- running down all of his special tricks with that irreplaceable stilted delivery.

Yeah, sure, Meryl Streep rocked as Julia Child, but maybe it's time to hand over the reigns to Walken. Man, can you imagine how the world of food shows could change if Walken really took part? He's done the creepy thing, the scary thing, and the music and dance thing, so a jump to the food world is only natural.

And please, if anyone knows how this all came to be, leave the deets in the comments below!

With the possible exception of the "zombie versus shark" scene in Lucio Fulci's Zombi (coming soon), there may be no greater scene in film history than the exchange between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper at the midpoint of True Romance. Hyperbole aside, it's the kind of scene that true cinephiles salivate over the prospect of, and no doubt that actors dream of performing: two great personalities locked into a magical rhythm, creating character and making history even as they seemingly talk about a whole lot of nothin'.

The first time I saw True Romance was during its theatrical run, when I invited two female friends unfamiliar with Quentin Tarantino to see the film with me. While they were shellshocked by the abundance of profanity and violence the film contained, I was endlessly captivated – perversely so – with Tarantino's indefatigable penchant for crafting clever, memorable dialogue that celebrated itself as much as the films and pop culture highlights to which it referred. But even having been a longtime devotee of Reservoir Dogs – which to this critic remains his best-ever work – I was unprepared for this scene between Walken and Hopper, two acting masters, as they slowly and subtly engaged in a power struggle that would necessarily – if satisfyingly – end in cathartic tragedy.

Ironically, the sequence is only tangentially connected to the main narrative, a love story between a comic book store clerk and a call girl who accidentally stumble across a small fortune in drugs. Walken plays Vincent Coccotti, a mob boss who stumbles across Clifford Worley (Hopper) while looking for the former cop's son. Coccotti initially exerts physical pressure on Worley to reveal the wherabouts of his son, but as Worley realizes that he's in a no-win situation whatever he tells Coccotti, he decides to tell the Mafioso a story that will provoke his adversary without necessarily having to compromise his dignity, much less his son's location.

Ah, Christopher Walken. In the early days, one might have imagined that he'd become an icon of song and dance, his musical swagger paving the way for a long and swinging career. But it was an onslaught of creepy gigs that set Walken's path, and it was his voice that made him an icon -- that staccato drawl with the strangely tantalizing self-imposed pauses.

His infamous inflection is something many try to nail, though few are more than modestly successful. But with the aid of the Internet, the good aren't so hard to find. Helped by the convenience of YouTube, our good friends at Urlesque have gathered some of the best impressions they could find, and these guys are good. But perhaps the best part of these impersonations are the range -- these aren't exactly the visuals one would put with a classic Walken inflection. I guess there must be an inner Walken in each of us, just waiting to be tapped.

Two of the best are after the jump. In the first, "Walken" tries to order a lemonade ice, and in the second, "Walken" teaches us how to hunt free-range chickens. And if these videos make you wild with jealousy, check out the third clip. It's a how-to-speak-like-Walken tutorial led by Naathan Phan, which made the rounds a year ago.

Which Walken impression do you think reigns supreme?

If you crossed him, Shondor would kill you. If you didn't, he would charm you.

Sounds like Christopher Walken, doesn't it? Or, at least, his well-honed movie persona as charismatic tough guy. In a bit of pitch-perfect casting, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Walken, Ray Stevenson, and Val Kilmer have signed onto Jonathan Hensleigh's The Irishman -- an adaptation of Rick Porrello's book, To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia.

Walken will play Shondor Birns, a Jewish-American mobster who was once Public Enemy No. 1 in Cleveland, who hired a young Irish-American dude named Danny Greene (Ray Stevenson) back in the '60s. As time went on, Greene wanted a bigger chunk of the biz and wealth, which led to bad blood and ultimately, a rather nasty car bomb that killed Birns. Greene, meanwhile, was a little bit of everything -- FBI informant, instigator of a country-wide turf war, union organizer. (Kilmer will play a police detective in Cleveland who befriends Greene.)The project is billed as an action movie, so expect lots of fighting, and probably lots of time spent on the bombs that riddled both men's stories. (Here is even more about it.)

This is far from the first mob-filled story ol' Walken has involved himself with, but should be a bit meatier -- and definitely bloodier -- than the usual fare. While we're on the topic: Which is your favorite Walken mob movie?

There are the great actors, men and women with an uncanny ability to transform themselves anew with each and every performance. There are popular actors, who are known for one thing and one thing only, but who have reached iconic status purely because audiences adore them. Then, there's Christopher Walken. Sure, there's The Deer Hunter and Annie Hall, but he also built Optimis Prime in his garage one lazy Sunday afternoon. He told us what the prescription for a fever was. And in 1988, he demanded a pair of boots from Jason Connery. I can say no more. Watch the clip, and experience new depths of horror and hilarity.

(When you're done pondering that, let's all ask Erik Davis why he immediately thought of me when he watched this. This is all thanks to him.)

Balls of Fury
Does anything more need to be said other than that Balls of Fury is a ping pong action movie co-starring Christopher Walken? Frankly, that's enough for me. But if you happen to be a Bruce Lee fan, the fact that it's a spoof of Enter the Dragon may entice you. The comedy details a former Pong phenom called Randy (Dan Fogler), who is sent on a special mission to nab his father's killer, Feng -- who just so happens to be played by Walken. With Maggie Q and a spiritual guide, Randy gets back into ping pong shape and heads to Feng's jungle compound and his ping pong tournaments.

This DVD includes an alternate ending, a small serving of deleted scenes, a comedy bit about, erm, ball handling, and a "Making Of" featurette that includes cast and table tennis guru Wei Wang, who also helped out this year's other ping pong movie, Ping Pong Playa.

Check out James' Review | Buy the DVD

Blade Runner
It has been 25 years since Blade Runner first hit theaters, and now we're getting one hell of an anniversary DVD gift just in time for the holidays. Originally stemming from the mind of Philip K. Dick, the film is a cyber-heavy vision of the future where replicants (human clones) are whipped up to work on colonies outside of Earth. However, when some escape and head to the planet, Deckard (Harrison Ford), a cop and replicant terminator, must put aside his visions of retirement and stop them. The flick also starred the likes of Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, and Daryl Hannah -- and of course, it's one of the biggest and most loved sci-fi films to hit the screen.

Fans can choose one of 3 main sets -- the 2-Disc Special Edition, the 4-Disc Collector's Edition, or the mack daddy of collections: The Ultimate Collector's Edition. The 2-Disc set offers Ridley Scott's new, final cut of the film with three commentaries, plus a feature-length documentary on the film's creation. If that's not enough, you can up it two more discs and also get all the different cuts -- theatrical, international, and director's, as well as another disc with 90 minutes of rare footage and featurettes. Finally, you can add one more disc and store it all in a sweet, metal case. The extra DVD shares a "Workprint Version" that changes things up a bit (such as no Deckard narration and no happy ending) and includes one more featurette and commentary.

Check out Ryan's Review of the Final Cut | Buy the 2-Disc, 4-Disc, or 5-Disc DVD


Other New DVD Releases (December 18)
Stardust
Underdog
Halloween
Rush Hour 3
Evil Dead: Ultimate Edition DVD
Bring It On: In It to Win It
Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

*And apologies to Simpsons fans: The Simpsons Movie

Check out Peter Martin's Indies on DVD for even more new releases.

In a recent article for Cinematical, I wrote: "Too often, Asian-American actors are relegated to bit parts (the food delivery guy, gangster #3, mysterious prostitute) simply because of their race." Historically, there's another reason why Asian-American actors have not been cast in leading roles, even when the role is that of an Asian or Asian-American character: the "yellow face" factor, in which a non-Asian actor is cast as an Asian.

Playwright/actor David Henry Hwang has written a play with that title, which was inspired by the controversy that arose in the early 1990s when non-Asian actor Jonathan Pryce was cast as a Eurasian character in the original stage production of Miss Saigon. (Hwang's play opens shortly off-Broadway in New York.) Robert B. Ito wrote a biting article on the subject in Bright Lights Film Journal that gave historical context.

Philip W. Chung commented on the phenomenon last week in AsianWeek: "Often, these 'yellow face' performances [by non-Asian actors] both reinforced and embodied all the negative stereotypes -- funny accent, slanted eyes, buck teeth, and enough 'Orientalism' to send the yellow fever meter through the roof." Chung compiled a list of 25 "yellow face" film performances "that have arguably had the most impact on our cultural landscape." Last week's article counted down from #25 to #11.

Chung starts off his list with a recent example -- Christopher Walken in Balls of Fury -- and then stretches back to Richard Barthelmess in D. W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms (1919), which he says formed a "template for Hollywood's take on Asian men ... unrealistically noble, feminine and utterly asexual." Chung takes a fascinating skip through the decades and points out "yellow face" performances by Fisher Stevens (#20), Eddie Murphy (#18) and Peter Lorre (#13).

AsianWeek's Top 10 will be counted down this week. Who do you think should be included on the list?