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When actors shine in a particular role, it’s easy for them to get typecast. But most would rather avoid being assigned the same type of part repeatedly. Christopher Walken has expressed annoyance at scripts that tweak his characters to make them quirkier. The actor even coined a verb to describe the phenomenon.  

Christopher Walken is often pigeonholed into weird roles

Christopher Walken typecast Walkenizing
Christopher Walken in 2019 | STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Walken’s first few film roles included “a rage-filled rebel soldier, a car-crash-craving suburbanite, and a warped Vietnam vet,” Vulture reports. It didn’t take long for the actor to find his type and stay there. He has gone on to play countless wackos and weirdos. 

A few of Walken’s most notable bizarre roles: 

  • The Prophecy: Archangel Gabriel, a heavenly being who comes to Earth to seek out an evil soul.
  • Sleepy Hollow: Hessian Horseman, a brutal mercenary with an affinity for decapitations.
  • The Deer Hunter: Nick Chevotarevich, a Vietnam POW whose captors drive him insane. The Deer Hunter is especially known for its brutal depiction of a game of Russian roulette. 
  • A View to Kill: Max Zorin, a super-crazy Bond villain who is a former KGB agent and the product of Nazi genetic experiments. 
  • True Romance: Vincenzo Coccotti, a “pure evil” Sicilian mobster who’s ruthless in an interrogation. 

Typecasting irritates Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken is so firmly set in his type that writers tweak scripts to accommodate his type in movies.

“Quite often, I’ll be sent a script for a movie … and I find that I like it, so I say I’ll do it. But then they rewrite it for me. They make it quirky. Odd. I find that rather annoying. I call it ‘Walkenizing,'” Walken told The Guardian.

He also shared an experience on a flight while sitting next to a fellow actor. “I once sat next to Walter Matthau on an airplane. And for a very long time, we didn’t say anything. Then, suddenly, he turned to me and said, ‘I know who you are! You’re the guy who plays the crazy guys! You know, you got to have your feet on the ground to play crazy guys all the time,” Walken recalled.

Walken may be accustomed to playing certain a kind of character, but he isn’t exclusive to them.

In 2012, he starred in the movie A Late Quartet, in which he plays a part far from a neurotic hitman. He portrays a gentle cellist who faces a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

“Yes, it was different for me,” Walken said of the part. “I don’t usually get to play fathers or grandfathers or uncles. Now that I’m older, maybe I can play people closer to myself. I’d like that.” 

The actor will appear in ‘Dune 2’ 

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News recently broke that the 79-year-old will join the cast of the highly anticipated Dune: Part Two. Walken will play Emperor Shaddam IV in the sci-fi/adventure sequel.

If the director of Dune: Part Two hews close to the Dune novels, Walken won’t get much screen time. In the book series, Emperor Shaddam uses House Harkonnen in his mission to destroy House Atreides.

Interestingly, Walken once worked as a lion tamer, and now he’ll portray a powerful ruler looking to tame the opposition.  

Filming for Dune: Part Two will begin this fall in Hungary. Other filming locations could include sites in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The movie is set for an October 2023 U.S. release. 

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