Christopher Walken Has Been Secretly Playing Bugs Bunny in a Bunch of His Movies
Eh, what, is up, Doc?
If you think about it, Christopher Walken and Bugs Bunny actually have a lot in common. They’re both tall and pale. They’ve both had the same hairstyle since 1972. They each have a speech pattern that’s so pleasing and distinct that everybody thinks they can do an impression of it. And, above all else, both Walken and Bugs are two of America’s most enduring and beloved entertainers whose capabilities for comedy and drama in equal measure are unmatched in this world or the toon one.
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So, when Walken appeared on The Severance Podcast and told his boss Ben Stiller (off microphone) that he considers the cartoon rabbit to be “one of his favorite actors ever,” and that Bugs was the secret inspiration behind many of his most famous performances, the revelation came as no surprise to the perceptive few movie buffs who watched The Deer Hunter and expected the revolver to shoot out a little flag reading, “Bang!”
“One thing I’ll tell you that he told me, and we didn’t get this on tape in the interview,” Stiller started suspiciously of that week’s guest, Walken, who reprised his role of Burt Goodman in the recently concluded second season of Severance, “it was like right after we put the microphones away, we were talking still about acting and how, sometimes, nobody knows what you’re thinking as an actor, but they just see you thinking. And that thought is what reads, and the audience kind of fills it in. It makes it feel real because they’re actually thinking about something.”
“(Walken) said that Bugs Bunny is one of his favorite actors ever,” Stiller revealed. “And he was saying this kind of with a twinkle in his eye, but not really. And he said, ‘A lot of times I’ve played roles as if I was Bugs Bunny, but nobody knew.’ Now, which character, which movie, we don’t know.”
Now, in case anyone is thinking that Stiller concocted this conveniently off-mic conversation with one of his more eccentric actors in order to drum up audience curiosity, Walken has a long and recorded history of praising the big B.B. Just recently, in his popular discussion with his old friend and Severance co-star John Turturro for PEOPLE, Turturro asked Walken to name his all-time favorite actor who most influenced his work.
“You mean, after Bugs Bunny?” Walken clarified, though his answer stubbornly remained the same: “Bugs.”
Back in a 2001 profile for The Washington Post, Walken surprised his interviewer with his love of the cartoon rabbit, again citing Bugs as a major influence on his artistry. “He’s so smart, he’s so funny, he’s got such a great attitude. Bugs Bunny is the spirit of New York,” Walken proclaimed of his idol. “You can’t fool Bugs Bunny. That’s all I have to say. He’s on to everybody.”
It’s anyone’s guess as to which of Walken’s performances are the ones that he directly based off of Bugs Bunny’s behavior and mannerisms, but, if I had to venture a guess, I’d probably say the majority of Walken’s immense and iconic filmography has at least a little bit of that Looney Tunes flavor baked into it. After all, where else would Bugs think to hide a gold watch?
