April 23, 2001

9:27 AM

Fatboy Slim and the Master of Badass team up to produce one of the phattest music videos I've seen in a long time. I didn't know Christopher Walken was trained as a dancer! (RealPlayer; also possibly dated)
posted by SilentSalamander (44 comments total)

phattest? (smacks ss upside the head)

Mirror sequence as it pans left, projecting infinite copies and some of the flying parts were really good, but the dancing is kinda off, he just flaps his arms around. I think it's the shock of seeing someone famous like that, and serious, as an actor, doing all this wacky stuff.

Fatboy slim has this thing about making his music videos, sorta like the lars of music world.

Me? I prefer Richard dancing with an umbrella.
posted by tiaka at 9:40 AM on April 23, 2001

That's quite cool. Perhaps his best performance since Wayne's World 2.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:42 AM on April 23, 2001

I think it's the shock of seeing someone that old dancing around. He's 58 years old!

For some reason I recall hearing that Spike Jonze directed this. Anyone know?
posted by pnevares at 9:45 AM on April 23, 2001

Yes, you heard correctly. That is the work of Mr. Jonze.
posted by ice_cream_motor at 9:55 AM on April 23, 2001

One of the best thing about Christopher Walken as an actor is the way he speaks. His delivery along with that creepy stare make him great on film.

Seeing him flap around like a chicken seems...well, um...sad.
posted by treedream at 9:57 AM on April 23, 2001

If you saw Walken on "Inside the Actors Studio" you may recall he always wanted to be a song-and-dance man. At first it seems very out of character, but when you consider how bizarre the "character" of Walken is, is anything really surprising?
posted by jpoulos at 10:03 AM on April 23, 2001

Man, tough room. I think the video is bloody hilarious. Walken's just so weird. I'd watch a video of him placidly eating a steak, just because he'd be fascinating.
posted by Skot at 10:11 AM on April 23, 2001

Wow, I must admit I'm surprised at the thusfar rather negative reaction towards Walken for his participation in this video. I really thought it was cool - not sad at all. Surreal, yes. But really entertaining. Are Mr. MoonPie and I the only people who appreciate this piece then?
posted by SilentSalamander at 10:11 AM on April 23, 2001

Not at all surprising to see Walken dancing--he started out doing musical theater.
posted by thomas j wise at 10:12 AM on April 23, 2001

Phew, some relief from Skot before I lost my sanity - damn PostLag! ;)
posted by SilentSalamander at 10:12 AM on April 23, 2001

Walken has pretty much taken the act of entering elevators to an entirely new level. For that he commands my respect.
posted by TractorInc at 10:18 AM on April 23, 2001

IMHO, this is the best self parody of anyone since Being John Malkovich.
posted by dogmatic at 10:25 AM on April 23, 2001

Great video, but seeing Christopher Walken like this is nothing new. He has a real affection for musicals. He has hosted SNL several times, and I think he always spent his monologue doing a song-and-dance routine.
posted by Dirjy at 10:33 AM on April 23, 2001

I almost wet myself a dozen times with glee. Walken is one of my all time favorite actors, and to see him shucking and jiving cemented in my mind that you never know what to expect from him. Does anyone else remeber that small little dance treat from Suicide Kings [In the 70's flashback scene] or am I smoking huge crack rocks?
posted by dincognito at 10:40 AM on April 23, 2001

i can't believe how many of these posts are so negative. methinks it stems from ignorance &/or envy. first, most actors have roots in song & dance and those of you not familiar w/the craft will be surprised to find many soap & sitcom stars started out that way(check out imdb). as far as the way chris walken (after this he might change his last name to "dancen") moves, it's all based on basic dance class moves that he delivers in the same casual off-the-cuff manner as he does his lines. and too old? come on you wet-behind-the-ears cry babies: many dancers were well into their 70's and sometimes even 80's before succumbing to "popcorn knees." as a mof that's what keeps 'em young. and yes, this vid kicks ass musically, is funny, has some great shots and it's obvious chris is enjoying the hell out getting to put a modern twist on an old passion. so lighten up, sour pusses, and watch/listen to it again; even you might enjoy yourself.
posted by dreeman at 10:40 AM on April 23, 2001

Personally, I think Christopher Walken is close to being the most hilarious person on the face of the planet, and this video had me rolling for hours when I first saw it on MTV. Of course, I'm the guy who has this framed and hanging up in my kitchen...
posted by fusinski at 10:45 AM on April 23, 2001

SilSal, sorry if I came off as not having enjoyed it. I loved the video :)
posted by pnevares at 10:51 AM on April 23, 2001

Oh, you kids... Run (do not walk) to rent Herb Ross' "Pennies From Heaven," the 1981 big screen adapation of Dennis Potter's British television series of the same name. In addition to Walken dancin' (a spectacular turn in, on and under a bar to "Let's Misbehave"), there's also the role-of-a-lifetime for Broadway diva, Bernadette Peters. It really is one of the great explorations of the musical film. (Oh, yeah, Steve Martin is in it, too. Sorry, just suffer through his parts; Peters is never long off screen and Walken's sequence is so worth waiting for...)
posted by m.polo at 10:55 AM on April 23, 2001

since everybody is in the mood to be negative perhaps we can talk about how regardless of anything Walken or Spike Jonze pull out of their hat(s), nothing will save the new fatboy slim album.

you can't polish a turd.

oh, and does anyone else think of kermit the frog when they see walken in that video?
posted by donkeysuck at 11:02 AM on April 23, 2001

Pnervares - far be it from me to criticize someone for taste - but I am glad you liked the video :). And donkeysuck - frankly, I liked the song - a lot. I thought it was far better than any of the songs on Fatboy Slim's first album - but maybe I just haven't listened to it enough.

C'mon - this song has a great [Frank Herbert's] Dune allusion - you can't go wrong there!

ss
posted by SilentSalamander at 11:21 AM on April 23, 2001

you can't polish a turd.

It wastes your time and annoys the turd.
posted by kindall at 11:22 AM on April 23, 2001

mmmmm.....Bernadette Peeeeeters......gaghghgahaaaha
posted by jpoulos at 11:27 AM on April 23, 2001

kindall, you're my hero for the day.
posted by lia at 11:35 AM on April 23, 2001

phattest? (smacks ss upside the head)

what's going on here?
posted by sudama at 11:48 AM on April 23, 2001

hey jpoulos! did you see Bernadette in last week's ali mc beal? still a babe @ 50 something!
posted by dreeman at 12:02 PM on April 23, 2001

Has anyone out there found a downloadable (AVI, QuickTime, Windows Media) version of this video? No cable in this house (particularly during TV turn-off week).
posted by jacobris at 12:22 PM on April 23, 2001

The first time I saw this video I was sucked right in, mainly by the way that Walken seems to be so damned laid back about the whole thing with a sly hint of having the time of his life. Then it came to the end of the video and I suddenly found myself thinking "Hang on, wasn't there some kind of music going on in the background there?" It's not really too shoddy an effort from the Fat Boy but totally overshadowed by some cheek-boney actor tripping the light fantastic.
posted by MUD at 1:24 PM on April 23, 2001

I think it's the shock of seeing someone that old dancing around. He's 58 years old!

Oh yeah, I mean we can't expect somebody that geriatric to move about now can we....All human bones basically turn to dust after 50, don'cha know... sheesh...
posted by DiplomaticImmunity at 1:59 PM on April 23, 2001

I have a big old 50 MB mpeg version that someone was kind enough to let me download from their personal FTP site after I begged for such a thing on my own site. I don't really have the bandwidth to host a copy myself, though.

Anyway, I love this video! Walken has long been known as a terrific dancer, and this is a great showcase. Jonze said he wanted to make this a short Fred Astaire film.
posted by toddshot at 3:12 PM on April 23, 2001

And while I'm sick of Spike Jonze in general, I'll cut him slack on this one.

Sick of Spike Jonez? Yeah, I'm probably putting forth copious ammounts of flamebait on this one - but why? He's one of the most visionary video directors out there. No doubt he's Mr. Popular because all of the wicked little universes he warps his audience into, and the manner in which he does it is indeed refreshing in the "ass `n tittie" genre that populates culture today... But honestly, whaddya got against Spike?
posted by dincognito at 3:29 PM on April 23, 2001

After seeing this video on VH1, I recorded several hours of VH1 and MTV in the hopes that I would be able to catch this video again. It was shown on MTV during the time that I was recording and after I found it on the tape, I sat there and watched it about twenty times in a row. It is so rare that a music video is actually interesting.
posted by bargle at 3:52 PM on April 23, 2001

Christopher Walken appears in Joe Dirt as a freaky janitor, adding a tiny bit of class (as well as the best hairdo) to an otherwise crummy film.
posted by culberjo at 4:06 PM on April 23, 2001

How can anyone hate this? This is hilarious and lots of fun not to mention its getting MTV airplay. I'd rather have Jonze pushing his visions onto kids than the various handlers that control Britney's every move. Not that fatboy slim doesn't have handlers of his own, but at least he can pick the right people to work with.

Someone please point me to a hi-res version of this.
posted by skallas at 5:02 PM on April 23, 2001

christopher walken scares the bejesus outta me.
posted by natasharama at 5:20 PM on April 23, 2001

chris is creepy weird, alright, but i'm more scared of donald sutherland myself. him and his son
posted by elle at 12:42 AM on April 24, 2001

wasn't it christopher walken in ghost dog playing a mafioso doing a chuck d rap? that's one of the most beautiful things i've seen.

hmm. imdb is calling me a liar though.
posted by titboy at 2:08 AM on April 24, 2001

Okay, no one's actually mentioned this yet, but aren't Spike Jonze and Fatboy Slim the same person? I remember hearing that countless times, but many people here seem to be talking about them as two discrete entities. Have I been misled again?
posted by cCranium at 6:54 AM on April 24, 2001

You've been misled, cC. Fatboy Slim is aka Norman Cook, a Brit formerly in the band The Housemartins. Spike Jonze is an American who directed a bunch of videos for people like the Beastie Boys, and then went on to do projects like Three Kings (acting) and Being John Malkovich (directing).
posted by Skot at 8:31 AM on April 24, 2001

I really thought Spike Jones did music as well, not just video directing. Ah well, I still enjoy his work. Thanks for the clarification.
posted by cCranium at 8:57 AM on April 24, 2001

Spike Jones.

vs.

Spike Jonze.
posted by rodii at 9:07 AM on April 24, 2001

Jonze did the Weezer "Happy Days" video that shipped with win95, too.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:56 AM on April 24, 2001

Aw crap, that was a typo I didn't want to make. I'm just leaving this thread now, before I make myself look like an even bigger idiot. :-)
posted by cCranium at 10:53 AM on April 24, 2001

Has anyone got a copy of the Christopher Walken reading of Three Lttle Pigs from Jonathon Ross' Letterman rip-off in the eighties. (The Last Resort I think it was called)

I will pay hard currency/sexual favours to anyone who can oblige me with a copy.

Obviously the video touches greatness, and Walken is close to being the coolest actor on the planet. But for really good promos check out Michel Gondry.
posted by fullerine at 10:57 AM on April 24, 2001