People think that my favorite roles to do are villains, but I find comedy to be the most challenging and rewarding.
Interpretation
Christopher Walken believes that while many assume he prefers playing villains, he actually finds comedy to be a greater challenge and more fulfilling.
In this quote, Christopher Walken expresses a perspective that contrasts common assumptions about his acting preferences. While many may think his portrayal of villains is where he finds satisfaction, he reveals a deeper appreciation for comedy, highlighting its complexities and the fulfillment it brings him as an actor. This underscores the idea that true challenges in art can often come from unexpected places, and that the rewards of creative endeavors can be found in areas that require more skill and nuance.
In practice
During a speech at an acting workshop, I quoted Walken to emphasize the challenges of comedic performance.
I have this theory about words. There's a thousand ways to say "Pass the salt". It could mean, you know, "Can I have some salt?" or it could mean, "I love you.". It could mean, "I'm very annoyed with you". Really, the list could go on and on. Words are little bombs, and they have a lot of energy inside them.
Can I confess something? I tell you this as an artist, I think you'll understand. Sometimes when I'm driving on the road at night I see two headlights coming toward me. Fast. I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly, head-on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion. The sound of shattering glass. The flames rising out of the flowing gasoline.
I've made movies that I thought were good. I've made movies that I thought were okay, but then I was very good. And sometimes you're in a movie and you think, I wish more people saw that - because you're good. And it just works out that the movie gets lost. But that's show business.
I've made movies that I thought were okay, but then I was very good. And sometimes you're in a movie and you think, 'I wish more people saw that' - because you're good. And it just works out that the movie gets lost. But that's show business.
I'm in a place in my life where I get offered parts that I didn't get offered before - fathers and uncles and grandfathers and so on. And it took me a long time to get to that place, but I'm glad because it opens up new territory.
I never know when I am being funny, and the other way too. I don't think you can think about that. I don't think you can try to be funny. Some people are just funny.
Music: what so many sentences aspire to be.
For me, the subject is of secondary importance: I want to convey what is alive between me and the subject.
Football is the ballet of the masses.
I am carried in my shadow like a violin in its black case
I would drive to gigs in my tiny little Fiat. I would shoot up and down the M1 to play at various places.
After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.