Editing Christopher Walken (section)

===1980s===
[[File:Christopher Walken - 1984.jpg|thumb|Walken in 1984 stage play ''Hurlyburly'']]
Walken's first film of the 1980s was the controversial ''[[Heaven's Gate (film)|Heaven's Gate]]'', also directed by Cimino. Walken also starred in the 1981 action [[adventure film|adventure]] ''[[The Dogs of War (film)|The Dogs of War]]'', directed by [[John Irvin]]. He surprised many critics and filmgoers with his intricate tap-dancing striptease in [[Herbert Ross]]'s musical ''[[Pennies from Heaven (1981 film)|Pennies from Heaven]]'' (1981). In 1982, he played a socially awkward but gifted theater actor in the film adaptation of [[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s [[Who Am I This Time?|short story]] ''[[Who Am I This Time? (film)|Who Am I This Time?]]'' opposite [[Susan Sarandon]]. Walken then played schoolteacher-turned-[[psychic]] [[Johnny Smith (Dead Zone)|Johnny Smith]] in [[David Cronenberg]]'s 1983 [[The Dead Zone (film)|adaptation]] of [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Dead Zone (novel)|The Dead Zone]]''. That same year, Walken also starred in ''[[Brainstorm (1983 film)|Brainstorm]]'' alongside [[Natalie Wood]] and (in a minor role) his wife, [[Georgianne Walken|Georgianne]].

In 1985, Walken played a [[James Bond]] villain, [[Max Zorin]], in ''[[A View to a Kill]]'', [[Roger Moore]]'s last appearance as Bond. Walken dyed his hair blond to befit Zorin's origins as a [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] [[Nazi human experimentation|experiment]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jamesbondmm.co.uk/bond-villains/christopher-walken |title=James Bond multimedia &#124; Christopher Walken (Max Zorin) |publisher=Jamesbondmm.co.uk |date=March 31, 1943 |access-date=May 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510035047/http://www.jamesbondmm.co.uk/bond-villains/christopher-walken |archive-date=May 10, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[At Close Range]]'' (1986) starred Walken as Brad Whitewood, a rural Pennsylvania [[crime boss]] who tries to bring his two sons into his empire; his character was mostly based on criminal [[Bruce Johnston (criminal)|Bruce Johnston]].

In 1988, Walken played a memorable role as Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey in [[Neil Simon]]'s ''[[Biloxi Blues (film)|Biloxi Blues]]'', which was directed by [[Mike Nichols]], and he played the role of Federal Agent Kyril Montana in ''[[The Milagro Beanfield War]]''. He also played the leading role of [[Whitley Strieber]] in 1989's ''[[Communion (1989 film)|Communion]]'', an autobiographical film written by Strieber. It was based on claims that he and his friends were subject to visitations by unknown, other-worldly entities variously identified as "aliens" or "visitors". That same year, Walken appeared in the film ''[[Homeboy (film)|Homeboy]]'', which was written by and featured Mickey Rourke in the titular role. In 1989, he played the lead role of "Puss" in the Cannon theater group's musical version of ''[[Puss in Boots (1988 film)|Puss in Boots]]''.