Christoph Waltz Explains The Downside To Being Famous For Playing Villains
Whether it is in the role of Leon Rom in 2016’s Tarzan or as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre, Christoph Waltz is perhaps best known for portraying villains. While speaking at the Rome Film Festival, the actor opened up about the downside of being famous for playing the villainous roles in movies, as well as what it is like working with Quentin Tarantino and even the two things he really hates.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Christoph Waltz started by making his dislike for both social media and selfies known, after a fan tried to get on stage in order to meet him. He then followed that up by going into his work with Tarantino. To kick off his discussion of what it is like to be an actor in Hollywood, clips from his work with Quentin Tarantino were shown to the audience. Waltz then shared that the thing he likes the most about working with the filmmaker is the scripts themselves. As he pointed out, “everything is in the writing,” whether it is the poetry, the genesis, or the origin of the story.
However, while Christoph Waltz might enjoy working with Quentin Tarantino, there is a downside to having gained fame from portraying a villain in his work. According to the actor, one of the bad things about working with the filmmaker is the fact that he feels as if he has been typecast as a villain. In fact, Waltz feels that people cannot see him in any other role than that of the bad guy because “the worst thing about playing villains is being constantly asked to play villains.”
Rome Film Fest: Christoph Waltz on why he finds Marlon Brando cringeworthy https://t.co/FKdgPt1OsL pic.twitter.com/qQJB6LCKAP
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 26, 2017
While Christoph Waltz may feel that he has been typecast into the role of the bad guy, he did admit that he does find it more fun to play the antagonist in films. The way the actor explained things, the reason it can be more fun to play a villain is because “there are a whole spectrum of possible actions” that might account for the bad guy’s behavior. Whereas he feels that when it comes to the good guy in a movie, the reality is he only has “one path to do the right thing.” Waltz believes that villains are ultimately responsible for moving the drama in a story forward.
Although Christoph Waltz has not always played the role of the villain in movies, with his many roles as a bad guy he finds that “at its base are economical reasons.” This means that when people are willing to pay money for a specific person to play a bad guy, then that is what ends up happening. At the end of his talk at the Rome Film Festival, the actor said that ultimately he does not believe that there is such a thing as a good or bad actor, and instead there really is a role that works for every single person.
[Featured Image by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images]
