Day: August 16, 2021

It was late in the afternoon in the fall of ’78 when I ran into Chris Walken upon the New York-bound platform of the Westport train station.

Tall and slender and good-looking in a curious, off-center sort of way, Walken looked that day like he does in the below interview, which was taped in late ’80. He was 35 but could’ve been 29 or 31. Same hair, same calmness of manner, same “waiting for something to happen” watchfulness.

I’m pretty sure it was a Sunday. I’d been visiting my parents (Jim and Nancy) in Wilton. Walken had been in Westport to visit his manager, Bill Treusch.

Our encounter happened two or three months before The Deer Hunter opened. I hadn’t seen that pretentious, wildly over–praised Michael Cimino film at the time, and it was probably for the better. I was simultaneously taken aback (“Whoa, this movie is up to something!”) and at the same time irritated. Those ridiculous Russian roulette scenes, that interminable Russian wedding celebration and those absurd mountain peaks in rural Pennsylvania drove me insane. I was surprised and moved by the “God Bless America” finale.

At that precise moment in time I knew Walken from only two roles — that “who’s this guy?” performance in Paul Mazursky‘s Next Stop, Greenwich Village (’76) and his bit part as Diane Keaton‘s weird, soft-spoken brother, Dwayne, in Annie Hall (’78).

Anyway I stepped up to the platform, ticket in hand, and there he stood, reading a newspaper. I felt a certain natural kinship with Walken as I resembled him somewhat, and I wasn’t shy back then anyway so I introduced myself. Walken was cool and casual (“I’m Chris”), and we wound up talking all the way into Grand Central Station.

I visited Walken’s Upper West Side apartment twice in ’79, although he wasn’t there. I had an excellent thing going with a lady named Sandra, you see, who was working for Walken and his wife as a kind of au pair girl or house-sitter. I remember the oriental rug on the living room floor, you bet, and the wood-burning fireplace in front of it. I don’t know why Sandra and I didn’t last for more than four or five weeks but it wasn’t for lack of interest on my part. She was quirky and moody, but that was part of the allure.

I spoke to Walken one or two years later (’80 or ’81) when I went backstage at the Public Theatre after a performance of The Seagull. (He played Trigorin, and rather well at that.). He had no recollection of our train-ride discussion. Zip. I could have mentioned Sandra as an ice-breaker but I thought better of it.

The chicken-and-pears video was shot, I’m presuming, at Walken’s home in Wilton, Connecticut, which is where I lived for a few years and where I did my last two high school years. Paul Dano went to high school there also. And Keith Richards has a big home there.

I love, love, love, love the way Chris Walken pronounces “chicken” and “pears.” Certain people says certain words perfectly, and I mean better than anyone else in the world. Walken saying “pears” (“peahrs“) is like Peter O’Toole pronouncing “ecclesiastical.”

Showbiz411’s Roger Friedman on Paul Thomas Anderson‘s Soggy Bottom: “The forthcoming film stars Cooper Hoffman, the 18 year old son of the late, famed Philip Seymour (aka “Philly”) Hoffman, as a child actor in Hollywood in the early 1970s.

Cooper’s character’s story is modeled on that of producer Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks’ producing partner. Bradley Cooper plays a producer modeled on Jon Peters, the former hairdresser who became Barbra Streisand‘s lover and producer, and who was one of the inspirations for Warren Beatty‘s “George Roundy” character in Shampoo. (Along with Jay Sebring.)

Goetzman was a child actor in the ’70s, costarring in Yours Mine & Ours (Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball) and Divorce American Style (Dick van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds, Jason Robards).”

On 9.27.18 Barbra Streisand said she was a fan of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga‘s A Star Is Born. “It’s very good,” Streisand told Billboard. “Every time that film is made it’s a success. I loved Judy Garland‘s version, I like this one a lot, and I liked mine.”

But couple of days ago she told an interviewer with Australia’s The Sunday Project that she’s changed her mind. Or that she wasn’t being honest in the first place.

“At first, when I heard it was going to be done again, it was supposed to be Will Smith and Beyoncé, and I thought, that’s interesting. Really make it different again, different kind of music, integrated actors. I thought that was a great idea,” Streisand said.

“So I was surprised when I saw how alike [the Bradley-Gaga version] was to the version that I did in 1976. I thought it was the wrong idea. I can’t argue with success but I don’t care so much about success as I do originality.”

Two interpretations: (a) Streisand wasn’t being honest three years ago or (b) she saw it again and thought about it and decided she had been too generous in her initial assessment. This happens. Showbiz people are always reluctant to diss a new film — it’s easer to just say “it’s good” and get out of the way. And people sometimes re-think things and change their minds.

More interesting to me: At the 4:34 mark in the Sunday Project interview, Streisand pronounces the word “singers” as “sing-GURS.” That’s a Brooklyn thing, a Long Island thing. You know…the way some people pronounce Long Island as “Long-GYLAND“?