i've seen the movie and is it just me or is he totally wrong for the part of johnny smith. johnny is suppose to have blond hair whilst christopher walken has brown etc. or is it just me
shareIt's just you.
Does it really matter what colour his hair is? It's the character we should be interested in, and IMHO Christopher Walken played him perfectly.
I may not be an expert but I know what I like!!
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i wasn't saying his acting was bad in fact it was brilliant acting on christopher walkens part it's just he doesn't look like johnny
shareWalken IS Johny. He lived and breathed that role. No one could've brought that level of intensity.
I believe in Batman Begins.
Walken actually has naturally dirty blond hair as an adult.
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Having read the book and then reading the cast list I was surprised. I'd heard Walken and Sheen were in the film but I actually presumed they were playing the opposite roles. The style of Stillson in the book just said 'maniac' to me and no one says 'maniac' like Walken.
I'm interested to see this at some point and see what it's like...
It's great. I saw this movie back when I was a kid, and whenever I see it now, at times it seems almost unreal when I think that that's Christopher Walken. I'm just so used to seeing him as some sort of bad guy or creepy psycho.
shareI've just finished reading the book & I'm sure it says that Johnny has dark hair. However, after the accident & when he comes out of his coma, he has a pure white stripe of hair covering the scar on his head.........I'm sure it does!!! I think the fact that he has dark hair is mentioned quite a lot as he's also meant to be thin & pale; ill-looking generally.....sounds like Christopher Walken to me. Good casting & one of my favourite actors ever.
shareHe is the same "creepy psycho" on every role he has played.
shareWalken is haunting in this role. I don't think I have ever seen such authentic vulnerability from a male actor before.
share@tisket
I saw it for the first time and have to say you're right on target with that observation: definitely a tour dE force of male vulnerability. Not just the crying behind the front door after meeting Sarah's husband (although that was shocking), or reaching out to lean on the young boy and cry into his neck(also shocking), but more than anything, the nakedness of emotions on his face. I noted several times when his smile truly lit his face and gave him a boyish, vulnerable optimism.
It was also my first time seeing him as a young man in a movie, and his odd,smooth skinned face had its own weird beauty.
Maybe
You should watch him in the ff, he was very beautiful in the ff films:
The Anderson Tapes
The Deer Hunter
The Dogs of War
At Close Range
Batman nReturns
Using Walken in this role, IMHO, was a masterstroke. Its when films are off-putting and then suprise you that make them great and memorable.
I agree Walken plays psychos well (remember, "At Close Range"?), but Walkens's range of acting skills is put to the test with this role and he more than succeeds.
Yeah, I've seen At Close Range too. With Sean & Chris Penn playing his sons?
I think he kills one of them too, just to make a point.
No-one plays "creepy" like Christopher Walken, or "quietly menacing" either.
He's great in The Deer Hunter (probably one of his more sympathetic roles).
Also The Dogs Of War; there's a great scene in his hotel bar when he's being questioned by an army guy about the Latin names of birds. Walken plays a mercenary, who's on reconnaissance initially under the guise of a wildlife photographer. He knows all the Latin names of the birds that the general (or whatever rank he is) asks of him & really looses it at one point; classic Walken.
And who can forget "that" scene in True Romance with Dennis Hopper???
"I haven't killed a man since 1984!!!"
Many of his psycho roles were made after the dead zone, so he didn't have that baggage when it was released.
shareThe Deer Hunter & The Dogs Of War were both made before The Dead Zone.
Hardly baggage either; the guy's renowned for the menacing parts he plays & how well he plays them. I've always said that no-one does intense or threatening like Christopher Walken. Maybe it could be said that he plays similar parts but I'm a huge fan of his & I could watch him until the cows come home. Surely that's the mark of a good character actor? To hit the nail squarely on the head & get the character down to a "T." I just think that "baggage" is the wrong word or phrase(I don't mean to start an argument). I prefer "honing his skills."
True. I really meant that people always see him as some sort of sinister character, despite all his other roles, eg. Deer Hunter (I don't remember him being particularly sinister in that) or Heaven's Gate.
I'm sure he would rather not be typecast.
Fair enough. Glad we've agreed on that my friend. See my post above for my view on his role in The Deer Hunter (sympathetic I think I said?). A very powerful film, no doubt & one that I find very harrowing to watch, to say the least!!! I've not seen Heaven's Gate but I know that he's in it. Another sympathetic part he played (although fairly small) was in Catch Me If You Can. He played a broken man, once his wife had left him, very well indeed I thought & generated a lot of sympathy with me.
I don't know about being typecast as such, he certainly plays to his strengths & he'll always be remembered as a great character actor.
I thought Christopher Walken was perfect for this role. He managed to show Johnny's vulnerability and also his strength without it being hokey or overdramatic. Great casting choice, as was Sheen as Stillson.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
One of the posters on this thread said that after reading the book and hearing about the cast choices he assumed Walken and Sheen would be playing opposite roles.
I can see that! It makes me realize how unusual the casting was—and how perfect. Walken could not have been more right for the role, even if he didn't exactly fit the description in the book.
...Justin Glory be, Delbert, you should eat! You're a count, for God's sake!
You're an idiot.
shareWalken was a little awkward in the first few scenes (before the accident), but after the movie got going, he was awesome!
Game Over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9BBcIKko6A