Christopher Walken is not too focused on the future — and that is an approach that’s worked very well for him.
Ahead of his 82nd birthday on Monday, March 31, the Academy Award winner spoke with us exclusively about the second season of Severanceand what’s next for his career. So, when it comes to his future aspirations, he says: “I’m doing what I’ve always done.”
“People think that actors make a lot of choices. I’m not sure that they do. I certainly don’t,” he explains. “I take the job, the next best thing, because that’s what I do. I go to work.”
“So what comes next? I have no idea, but I never have. Generally, when I finish a job, I don’t know what’s coming next,” he continues.
One thing he knows for certain is what he has been anticipating in 2025. “I’m looking forward to being healthy and staying alive,” he adds with a slight chuckle.
Christopher Walken as Burt Goodman on ‘Severance’.
Apple TV+
Walken has built his career starring in a variety of popular and acclaimed films. The Deer Hunter, Catch Me If You Can, Pulp Fiction, Click andWedding Crashers are among the many movies attached to his résumé.
His more recent work includes Dune: Part Two and the buzzy Apple TV+ thriller Severance, where Walken plays Burt Goodman (a.k.a. Burt G.). He’s a former severed employee of the Optics and Design (O&D) division of Lumon Industries, where Burt — whose Outie is married — developed an office romance with Irving Bailiff (a.k.a. Irving B.), played by John Turturro.
Fans have loved seeing the two longtime friends connect onscreen in this way, and Walken attributes the pair’s onscreen chemistry to having known each other for decades.
“I think that the fact that we know each other very well for a long time was very useful,” he says of working with Turturro. “We didn’t have to struggle to make our relationship real or believable. I think you look at it and you see that John and I know each other, that we like each other. Kind of like when you see a married couple or people who are together. I think that Burt and Irving have a lot to do with John and Chris.”
(L-R) Christopher Walken and John Turturro in ‘Severance’.
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ renewed Severance for a third seasonon March 21. Aside from more Severance episodes to come, Walken will soon be reuniting with his Hairspray costar John Travolta in the upcoming romantic comedy That’s Amore!.
In the meantime, the King of New York actor, who has been married to Georgianne Walken since 1969, will continue to spend his free time enjoying the moments when he gets to watch films.
“I tend to watch a lot of old movies,” he says. “Maybe it’s just because that’s pretty much all I get on my technology, but yeah, I watch a lot of old movies.”
Seasons 1-2 of Severance are streaming in full on Apple TV+.
