Is there a more interesting or weird actor than Christopher Walken? He's also an amazing dancer. Someone from the Huffington Post put this together. It's a phenomenal music video of Walken dancing. Great editing by whoever did this. More cowbells not needed. Enjoy.
22 comments :
My knowledge of Walken's eccentricities comes mainly from Kevin Pollack's imitation of him.
I love Walken's dancing.
But I don't much like film choreography that more often than not eschews full length shots that so we pretty consistently can't see the dancers' feet.
In the Golden Age of Hollywood of film musicals, when the dancers' feet were not shown it was a marker that doubles were used for
the foot inserts. Fred Astaire hated his "Finian's Rainbow" because his dancing feet were hardly shown...
(Rick Libott)
I remember Christopher Walken was on Letterman one time (not too long before Letterman retired), and he was talking about how he started out in show business as a dancer, but then adding to the effect of, "I don't dance anymore. It's not like a bicycle, it's not that you don't remember how to do it, it's that just can't do it anymore . . . I do all my dancing sittin' down now."
I absolutely love Walken. One of those actors who has talent to burn. Never fully know what's going on behind the eyes - and that just adds to his mystery. I only became aware he was such an accomplished dancer when I saw him in the Fatboy Slim 'Weapon of Choice' video. Would love to have seen him in a true Hollywood musical.
I still think something fishy was going on with him and Robert Wagner the night Natalie Wood died.
Back in 1965, I saw the Sherlock Holmes musical Baker Street on Broadway. Walken was one of the dancers in the show. I love his dancing. It is always sublime. I just wish I could forget his Captain Hook.
Walken's dance is definitely the high point of PENNIES FROM HEAVEN. I wish they had filmed CHICAGO when he was still young enough to play Billy Flynn.
Astaire demanded not only that feet be shown, but wherever possible, the dance be a single take with no editing. All those weeks of rehearsal, the many takes to get it right and even his partners' bleeding feet paid off: perfection.
Had the distinct, unforgettable pleasure of attending the first cast reading of a film he was in. He was the big dog in the room but totally unassuming. Very polite. Quiet. Seemed quite shy. There were moments with his role that required some physicality, but he read his part with little “acting.” He just read the lines. Of course, Christopher Walken just reading the lines was riveting. HIs performance didn’t really change that much in the film. Best acting lesson I ever had.
Ted Danson did something like this long ago. He made dance moves in the first reel and the last reel of Body Heat.
But more importantly what the hell was Walken doing on that boat that night?
I would like to see a list of where those clips came from. The only one I recognize is Hair Spray.
very continental
Of course this one if there is still someone who hasn't seen it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ7z57qrZU8
More importantly, what was Walken doing on that boat?
Max Clarke: I first saw Ted Danson dancing in a commercial as the Aramis Man many years before Cheers. Janice B.
There's a great TCM video of Walken discussing Gene Kelly and his influence here:
https://youtu.be/LxmhsXd8skY
Other commenters here have said the things I thought about saying about the content of the video, so I'll note something else: I've seen expensive Hollywood movies that didn't have editing this good. Whoever put this together really knows what he or she is doing.
Walken's one of my all-time favorite "regular" SNL hosts, right up there with Buck Henry and Steve Martin. His Best Of show/DVD is perfect, except that he hosted one more SNL since they made that, and that episode's googly-eyed plant guy sketch would've been a shoo-in for it. They always played his weirdness right.
I remember reading somewhere - and it may be an urban legend - he took parts that allowed him to do at least one dance in his role. He even managed to get a dance in the closing credits for Jersey Boys.
The one role I DON'T remember seeing him dance in is Pulp Fiction...
This is the greatest thing I've seen on the Internet in months.
I've always wondered if he didn't take that Thanksgiving weekend boat trip with the Wagners, if Natalie Wood would have died then.
Ha, I think he is really good at dancing. Really. But in Sleepy Hollow he was quite creepy :D
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