Christoph Waltz: ‘My only regret is that I didn’t attack Nigel Farage enough’
Why do you generally choose not to talk about the characters you have played? It seems unusual for an actor.tttophonks Because that’s not what I do. I play them. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that actors go on their bonus DVD interviews and explain what they were doing. That’s not what an actor does. An actor plays the part for you to make up your mind. I always quote Harrison Ford: “My job is not to tell you what I think about my character. My job is to tell you what you think about my character.” It’s completely counterproductive for an actor to talk about his part. If it requires explanation, you have to ask yourself a few questions. That’s why I don’t talk about the characters. I’ve always wanted to know what you would be doing if you weren’t acting. I’ve always imagined you as some kind of fixer for international hitmen.wildsvilleI don’t even know what a fixer for an international hitman does, but it’s a nice, poetic description of people’s image of me. It’s far too late to think about what I would have done. I wanted to be an artist, I wanted to be a cinematographer, then I became an actor. Why? That is open to speculation, especially on my part. I’ve been doing this for over 45 years. So you understand my hesitance to think about what I would have done had I not become an actor. Maybe I’d have become an alcoholic, or a bank president – or both. I can remember a very early interview in which you actually predicted that you would win an Oscar …Red_RolandThat’s incorrect. I never predicted that. If I did, then it was facetious. People run around thinking they will win the lottery, otherwise they wouldn’t be dumb enough to spend all that money. The chances that you win are millions to one. The chances that you will get run over when you cross the street are infinitely higher. Do you leave your house in the morning, thinking, “I’m going to be run over today”? Of course not.
You go about your day, otherwise you couldn’t function. That’s exactly why I never said I would win an Oscar.
You won Oscars for your supporting roles in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained.Which role in another Quentin Tarantino movie would you most – and least – like to have played? TopTrampHere’s a big misconception perpetuated by the dreadful bonus DVD crap that is slung around. You do not choose roles by what you see. The end product is inseparably connected to the personality of the person who played it. You choose roles from what you read. To watch a movie and say, “Oh, I would’ve liked to play that part,” means you think you could have played it better. It’s a very immature thought to entertain. It’s counterproductive and completely misses the point to say: “Oh, I would’ve liked to play Robin Hood in Men in Tights,” because maybe I don’t even look good in tights.
Why do you think directors predominantly cast you as the bad guy? persekabpasWell, that again is a limited vision. I don’t know how many roles I’ve played in movies over the course of my career. It’s probably 150, and I may have played 50 bad guys. Directors do not predominantly cast me as bad guys.
This person predominantly saw me as the bad guy. But that’s a different question.
Given your recent roles in The Consultant and Old Guy, what is your personal attitude to ageing? ValeriecathHelplessness? I’m not sure that personal attitude will give you a choice. Just this morning I saw another breakthrough in the discovery of how cells age. That doesn’t mean that we can or should reverse it. Human beings are faced with many situations that, in most aspects, are beyond our influence. We make ourselves extremely unhappy by falling into the trap that we have choices about everything. In my little book, the most important aspect is that we overlook the realm, aspects and points where we really do have an influence on our lives, existence or situation on this world. When we actually have a choice and influence, we sacrifice them for the sake of choices that go beyond our scope. Hence, I think ageing is beyond our influence. We age, we try to live a decent life, and the rest is unforeseeable.
Did you get much backlash for calling out Nigel Farage in the days after the Brexit referendum? brucevayne1000My only regret is that I didn’t attack him enough. When he gloriously announced his retreat from politics, I said that the head rat is leaving the sinking ship, because clearly he saw that he had overshot in the face of Brexit, so he retired. Britain goes down, Nigel Farage is sitting on his money in the Cayman Islands and laughing himself silly. It’s beyond comprehension. I was at a press junket in London when I said it, and the person who did the interview took his SD card and fed it straight on to the internet.
Do you still mourn the fact that a career in opera didn’t pan out as you maybe hoped as a younger man? Kevtb1987It’s rather pompous to say, “Do I mourn”. I studied opera but it was never really a viable option to become an opera singer.
If they remade Die Hard, would you play Hans Gruber? Ker555
No!I think you’d make a fantastic Doctor in Doctor Who. Would you be up for it? Felis_Lunar
You can answer these questions on the silly level that they were asked, or you can answer them more sensibly. The question is rather: would the studio be up for that? Yes, I would, gladly, and I’m sure audiences all over the world would welcome it with jubilant enthusiasm.
Would you like to play Dracula? teabags12It’s a funny question. You can’t play a concept. Dracula is a whole concept of horror. It defines the genre of the vampire movie. An actor cannot do that. I can play a very specific part. So if the right Dracula script comes along, most definitely. Will the right Dracula script come along? Not necessarily.In Inglourious Basterds, was that a real or a stunt apple strudel that you stubbed your cigarette in?wenders14A precise answer to that question would require a more precise definition of the term “stunt strudel”.Have you seen Rob Brydon’s impersonation of you? ColonelFlusteredSeeing this question, I tried to find the clip online, then I got bored looking for it. It is easy to do any impression of me. It’s not difficult. Everybody who has a distinct way of speaking is easy to impersonate. When it’s easy to recognise, it’s easy to impersonate. Someone did an impression of me on Saturday Night Live. I saw it and didn’t recognise myself, but they thought it was hysterically funny. But they always do.
What kept you going when you were a struggling actor? JonnieogI needed to support a family, so I didn’t have problems doing shitty jobs. The chances that I would have ended up as a cantankerous, frustrated old fart were pretty high, so I am seriously grateful that I managed to escape that. There are endless cop shows on German television, but it feels like in Germany they have more regional cop shows than anywhere else. So I played regional cops and regional murderers for what seemed like an eternity.
The Allianz adverts you star in are really clever; it’s clear you’re a good match for the campaign. Is there anything you’ve seen and wished you had invested in at the time? ChristophWaltzVaultz
Yes, I wish I had invested in Apple and Microsoft very early on! It’s a little in the vein of the lottery win. Allianz takes the other angle: what can I do to use what money I have in a meaningful and constructive way? How can I make sense with my money and create a situation that corresponds with my philosophy of life? The one term that is swirling around lately is empowerment, but education is the best annuity.
I see Allianz as an educational, informative campaign to say there is more to know than you may gather from first sight. Why not have fun with it? After all, it’s your money. You seem like a nice guy. But should we trust you? Twist27No. On both counts.
• Waltz has partnered with Allianz’s Start Making Cents campaign to help people prepare for their financial future.
moting censorship. But since the profile was published, it’s become clear that the lives of his viewers and the people he targeted where just rhetorical strategy to him. There was no care or concern over the damage he caused or the lives he ruined. And until his recent firing, there were very few consequences.
At the time, people I talked to for the story insisted that Carlson didn’t believe what he said because it was just entertainment. And as his texts from the Dominion lawsuit show, he didn’t believe some of what he was claiming every night. But anyone who has read
Hamlet knows that you become what you pretend you are. People die; a kingdom was ruined.
Trump is running for re-election now without Carlson’s platform. What that does to his political power remains to be seen.
But there’s no doubt that another of Murdoch’s apostles will take his place on Fox’s nightly lineup, just as Carlson replaced Bill O’Reilly. Maybe his replacement will be even more extreme, more willing to spin conspiracy theories for the Maga right. From O’Reilly to Glenn Beck to Carlson – that has tended to be the direction of travel.
Like John the
Baptist, despite having his head severed and delivered to Rupert Murdoch on a platter, Carlson’s gospel of hate will endure. It’s too embedded in the nature of American politics – both its tone and its language – to divest ourselves of it. And it’s too profitable. Carlson’s legacy is very real and we’re living in its ruins.