The only role that traumatised Christopher Walken: “He haunted me for a long time”

While acting requires a star to pretend to be someone else, there are definitely times when actors get a little too attached to their character, like when Daniel Day-Lewis asked to be carried and spoon-fed while playing a man with a disability in My Left Foot or when Austin Butler couldn’t drop the Elvis drawl. In some instances, actors find themselves seriously affected by a part they’ve played, leaving them traumatised.

This was certainly the case for Janet Leigh, who couldn’t take showers for many years after appearing in Psycho as the unfortunate victim of Norman Bates. For Shelley Duvall, The Shining caused her to feel incredibly mentally unstable, telling The Hollywood Reporter that Stanley Kubrick’s intense demands left her shaken. “To wake up on a Monday morning, so early, and realize that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled — I would just start crying.”

For Christopher Walken, the role that “really haunted” him “for a long time” came around the height of his career, although it hasn’t endured as one of his most memorable roles. The actor started his career in the 1960s, but throughout the following decade, he landed roles in films that would help him rise to further prominence, like Roseland, Annie Hall, and The Deer Hunter. The latter won him an Oscar, helping to cement him as a star, and he came to appear in many acclaimed movies over the coming decades.

The ‘90s saw Walken appear in everything from indie movies like King of New York and Pulp Fiction as well as titles like Batman Returns, True Romance, Basquiat, and The Prophecy. Yet, a movie from the start of the decade left a lasting impression on him – The Comfort of Strangers.

Directed by Paul Schrader, the film was adapted from the novel of the same name by Ian McEwan, also known for penning the likes of The Cement Garden, Atonement, and Enduring Love. With acclaimed playwright Harold Pinter taking care of the screenplay, the movie was set for success, but the film received mixed reviews from critics.

Walken appeared as a mysterious stranger named Robert who meets a holidaying couple, Rupert Everett’s Colin and Natasha Richardson’s Mary, and subsequently leaves them lost and dazed. Themes of sexual and psychological gameplay and manipulation emerge, and with its Venetian setting, the movie draws several parallels to the spectacular Don’t Look Now.

The actor told Jake’s Takes, “I played this character who was deeply disturbed, and he got under my skin – I couldn’t wait for it to be over.” While he didn’t divulge many details about why, the film speaks for itself, with the actor playing a man who tells the couple strange stories about his upbringing, resorts to extreme violence, and engages in sadomasochistic sex. 

Clearly, the uneasy mental state that his character experiences was difficult to play without him feeling understandably affected by the intense themes of the movie, although it did result in a very solid performance from Walken. Still, the film didn’t receive as much praise as he’d perhaps hoped, and it remains one of his less remembered movies from the 1990s.