Hear the Fake Christopher Walken Interview About Natalie Wood’s Death That Totally Fooled the Associated Press
- Posted on November 21, 2011 at 1:43am by
Dave Urbanski
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Impersonations of actor Christopher Walken’s eccentric vocal delivery—with its staccato, irregular pauses and whiny inflections—are nothing new.
Among the best Walken send-ups over the years have been performed by fellow thespians. Kevin Pollack (who co-starred with Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men) turns in a convincing one here:
As does Jay Mohr—who, coincidentally, co-starred with Cruise in Jerry Maguire (no word if Cruise does Walken, too):
So it’s surprising that the Associated Press reported that yet another Walken impersonator was actually the genuine article.
The AP got wind of “Walken” phoning a Washington, D.C. sports-talk radio station, ESPN 980, to discuss what he knew of actress Natalie Wood’s 1981 death, as police are reopening the investigation. (Walken was aboard the yacht from which Wood reportedly fell and drowned.)
Except the caller wasn’t Walken; it was Marc Sterne, one of the producers for “The Sports Fix” show, who’s been doing humorous call-ins impersonating Walken over the last two years, said program director Chuck Sapienza.
The initial AP story stayed live for about an hour Friday before the news syndicate learned it wasn’t Walken on the air; then it ran an updated piece, noting the error.
Here‘s the audio clip of ESPN 980’s “Walken” interview regarding the Natalie Wood tragedy:
With throwaway lines like, “We had a lot to drink that night. There was Sambuca. There was shouting. And then there was tragedy. And that’s all I can remember,” it’s difficult to fathom how Sterne—who, as “Walken,“ added that he read ”one of the Hardy Boys novels” before retiring for the evening—could have been mistaken for the Academy Award-winning actor.
Sapienza noted his displeasure with the AP calling the bit a “hoax” in corrections to news outlets. “It’s not set up as real,” he said. “It‘s not like we’re trying to fool anybody. We say it‘s the person on the air but we never believe that someone actually thinks the person’s actually there.”
“No one [from AP] called us to see if it was real, and then they call it a hoax,” Sapienza told The Washington Post. “A hoax makes it sound like it’s our fault… They’re taking no responsibility for shoddy journalism.”
In the meantime, the real Walken has reportedly hired a lawyer in the wake of the reopened case, despite reports that he’s not considered a suspect. In a 1997 interview with Playboy magazine (tracked down by The Hollywood Reporter), Walken offered some thoughts about how the late wife of actor Robert Wagner may have met her end:
“Anybody there saw the logistics — of the boat, the night, where we were, that it was raining — and would know exactly what happened. You hear about things happening to people — they slip in the bathtub, fall down the stairs, step off the curb in London because they think that the cars come the other way — and they die. You feel you want to die making an effort at something; you don’t want to die in some unnecessary way.”
Walken is known for playing strange, scary characters in films such as True Romance, Pulp Fiction, and The Deer Hunter (for which he took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1979).
Check out his menacing portrayal in this clip from The Dead Zone (some rough language, beware):
But more recently Walken has been beloved for frequent self-parody and his comedic abilities. Who can forget his classic portrayal as a cowbell-loving record producer for Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” on Saturday Night Live?
Walken also gave an uproarious, dramatic reading of “Poker Face”—another of Lady Gaga’s endlessly popular, typically racy tunes—for the BBC a few years back:
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BubbaT
Posted on November 22, 2011 at 12:20amJust proves how inept and uneducated journalists actually are. Typical Lib flunkies. Mohr is always great but Sterne was scarily accurate.
Report Post »Bronco II
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 6:44pmDon’t care either way.How is our country doing?How many people lost their jobs today? How many people lost their homes today? How much more destruction has our government and the Regieme done to us today? GET THE POINT. GOOD.
Report Post »dirtydog1776
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:25pmThey were probably all partying and drunk and we will never know what really happened. But only people with shallow, empty, meaningless lives will end up caring, because they have nothing better to do.
Get a life!
Report Post »Fire Them All
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:24pmThanks for posting this, I know who he is now, didn’t before.. He has been in a lot of movies playing some really weird rolls.. There was a time many, many, many years ago that the names of actors mattered to me, I think I was 12 at the time.. Anymore they are such bad examples to kids that I don’t care who they are.. I did know who Natalie Wood was, and Robert Wagner, only because of West Side Story, and the fact my second husband could have been Wagners double for many years until Wagner started gaining weight.. My ex never did.
Report Post »V-MAN MACE
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 4:30pmI remember reading something about the Feds targetting Walken because he did that movie called “Communion” adapted from a book about UFO abductions, after being threatened not to do the movie by some murky characters.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 11:43amLet’s see, as I remember the story: Wood had a fear of Water & Drowning, and did not like the boat… Wood & Walken went “shopping” all day… there was Drinking at Night, and Wagner & Wood had an arguement… all went to bed… then, in the middle of the night, Wood, bothered by a noise, got up to secure the boat… hit her head… fell in & drown! It Smelled then… it Smells now!
Report Post »Yeah_Buddy
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:20pmI understand Wood was scared of black water.
Drinking, shouting and tragedy…thats all you can remember? yeah, right.
Report Post »AmericanStrega
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 11:41amGeraldo Rivera cited this on Bill O’Reilly the other night. Bill smacker ole Geraldo down. It was funny.
Report Post »zman173rd
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 11:28amMy favortie CW link follows. It does have some cursewords but it’s VERY FUNNY.
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeFJLieqb3A
Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:40amHow hard is it to verify some voice comparisons using any one of the many software apps available? The incompetence is spooky..
Report Post »Guitar Master
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:30amzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
THE REPORTER’S Scoop !
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
SCOOP OF THE DAY. . . . Word on the street from a California neighborhood associated with the Natalie Wood controversy alleges that what really happened is as follows:
Natalie Wood walked in on her husband and Christopher Walken lying in bed together. Natalie Wood became hysterical, an argument ensued and no one really knows what happened after that.
Remember, you heard it first from THE REPORTER.
Report Post »Bakko Bomma
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:14amWhat kind of idiots run ads on pages with blaring music there’s no stop button for on the same page as an article with 6 youtube videos? Oh yeah that’s right, The Blaze does.
Report Post »MinnesotaMARINE
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:30amThe way I read articles is to open 5 or 6 at a time and read em. And all of a sudden BAM speakers are going nut’s. so I close all the articles and stop looking at the web sight all together.
Report Post »teamarcheson
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:34amWalken has decided to run for Senator in California against that women and this is why he is being attacked. Walken see so many Democrat Nut Cases in Congress he knows he will fit right in.
Report Post »B-Neil
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:09amTalk about free publisity; This dramatic revelation is really going to improve our economy, our status on the world stage and the future of our children. As Christopher Walken would say ( Sush ) CARRY ON McDUFF
Report Post »3Bigdogs
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 9:36amMarsupials scare me, too!
Damn’d wombats, and bandicoots!
Report Post »txwheels
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 9:04amOur country is going down the ******* and you’re reporting on a fake interview that talks of a damned actress that died 30 years ago! Yeah that’s real news worthy.
Report Post »SquidVetOhio
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 9:24amI believe the point is how inept journalism is today, not what happened to Natalie Wood.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 7:33amThat doofus Geraldo thought the inteview was real until O’Reilly clued him in the other night!
Report Post »AmericanStrega
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:18pmI saw that one too Gonzo. I just about peed myself. Geraldo is such a sucker!
Report Post »BenInNY
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 7:23amThe Jay Mohr video was removed by the uploader – Appears he’s been taking down all his O&A vids over the past few weeks. If I had to hazard a guess I‘d say he’s unhappy with the show for the way they’ve been covering OWS. From his channel description: “Politics: anti-Zionism, free speech, microeconomics, non-interventionism.”
Report Post »Rob
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 7:12amI remember listening to a radio station years ago and they kept promoting Clint Eastwood was going to call in. I listened to that dammn radio station for two hours waiting for the call… and then it ended up being some impressionist doing a BAD Eastwood. They got me. They do it all the time and it is part of the game.
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 7:02amLove it, some reporter desperate for a story bought in on this without checking his source.
They fabricate so much of what they write. Anything for attention
OMG
.
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 2:19pmAll you have to see is “AP” and then you KNOW you have to triple check everything!
Report Post »robx
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 5:37amNo clips from Biloxi Blues? There is a lot of good Walkenism in that.
Report Post »Jackie Rogers, Jr.
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 4:43amNeeds more cowbell.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 4:26amThat the Associated Press got taken is newsworthy. It shows their quality or lack of it in their work.
Otherwise, it is the economy, the economy, security & security.
Report Post »Wilbur D Pig
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:57amHa, the AP does it again. No wonder the public is losing faith in Journalism… it sucks!
Report Post »ugottabekidding
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:32amI love watching Christopher Walken. I do so hope things were as they, Christopher and Robert, said. Natalie’s death is tragedy enough as it is. She grew up in front of the camera. My wife and I really enjoyed that movie Brainstorm.
Report Post »rtist542010
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:30amlove him!
Report Post »Bluzie
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:25amSounds like Obama works for the AP. In such a hurry to run a story they don‘t even check it out to make sure it’s real. Then when it turns out it’s not blame the other person for putting on a hoax.
Report Post »Fleshking
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 2:34amfirst!
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 4:38amNice! :)
And that is also why the AP has egg on their face.
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