Why Christopher Walken’s purring, terrifying ambiguity remains the secret to his success

More than 50 years after his debut, Christopher Walken is still one of Hollywood’s greatest mysteries, writes Geoffrey Macnab

Defining performance: Walken in 'King of New York' (Carolco Pictures)

French star Nathalie Baye has a revealing anecdote about working with Christopher Walken on Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can (2002). In the film, Baye and Walken are cast as the parents of con artist, Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio). At the time, she was a major figure in French cinema who had played leading roles for directors like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard but had made very few American films. When shooting began, she was very nervous. She remembers her first day on set, being in the make-up bus, “terrified, white”, and unable to eat. Walken, who played her husband, arrived three days after her. To Baye’s astonishment, he was even more apprehensive than she was. If she was white with fear, then he was green.

“He [Walken] couldn’t talk. He was terrified. I said, here’s a guy who makes so many incredible, good films… he was like a new actor with no experience, terrified to start a new film with Spielberg.”

The reason Baye’s story is so startling is that, on screen, Walken has rarely looked remotely perturbed about anything. He has absolute sangfroid in almost every role he has ever played. Outside his breakthrough as the traumatised young soldier playing Russian roulette in the Vietnamese gambling den in The Deer Hunter (1978), it’s hard to think of a film in which Walken is panicked or nervous. He has been acting since he was a kid. His Scottish mother sent him to drama school when he was only three years old. You can find old clips of him online as a child appearing opposite Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in a comedy skit. Walken is the last actor you expect to suffer from stage fright. Baye’s story, though, reminds you of all those top athletes who throw up or have panic attacks before matches start and then perform as if they don’t have a care in the world. The nerves are what give them their impetus.