Christopher Walken admits he's never had a cell phone, computer, or sent emails

Living in an instantly, always-on, perpetually connected world can sure have its ups and downs. It can be difficult to handle all of the communication and media options that are constantly assailing you at any moment. And with more and more people working from home, managing those distractions can become a monumental task for sure. It's not like you can just completely swear off of modern tech either because, well, that's just the world we live in now.

Unless you're in Christopher Walken's position.

The man is a complete enthusiast for life and probably why he's been working as a professional actor since he was a child. There's something undeniably charming and ultimately human, as "offbeat" as he is, about his personality, and I say personality and not "roles" because it's clear that Walken's personality is his talent. It's not a put upon, he is constantly trying to squeeze as much fun out of life at every moment and that's oozing out of all his performances.

Maybe that has something to do with the fact that he doesn't get bogged down in instant gratification media, or that he's thrust himself into a position where he's always putting himself in the arena of immediate human interaction. On an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote his film Wild Mountain Thyme, Walken confessed he's living well "behind the times."

Stephen asked Christopher if it's true he's never owned a cell phone or computer, and the two-time Oscar-nominated actor said, "Yeah, somebody had to come and set this up because I don't have a cellphone or a computer."

Stephen pressed further asking if he was "philosophically or morally opposed" to them, but it turns out that's not the case at all.

"No, no. I just got to it too late. I think I'm right at a certain age where it just passed me by. I never got involved in it because it would be strange to have any 10-year-old be much better at it than I am," Walken, who was born in 1943, quipped. He also admitted to never having a need for one, which would make sense given the nature of his work and celebrity.

He continued, "The other thing is cellphones, and that sort of thing is a little bit like a watch. If you need one, somebody else has got it."

Walken has an astounding 139 credits listed on his IMDB page alone and has film work dating back to 1953, it's not hard to imagine that his agents take care of his official correspondence and communication and if he needs to talk to anyone on the road, he's more than likely traveling with someone.

Stephen pushed the conversation further, asking, "Okay, sure. So you've never emailed? You've never texted? You've never been on Twitter?" 

To which Christopher responded, "No, I haven't. Sometimes in a movie, they'll give me a cellphone, but it's more so they can find me... Like a tracking collar. If I want to use it, someone has to dial it for me — that sort of thing."

So when Christopher Walken is on a movie set, he's given a cell phone and that's the only way anyone is able to reach out to him in order to see where he's at.

It's kind of bizarre for most people to think about life without a smartphone. No computer may be more understandable given just how incredibly functional mobile phones have gotten, but the fact he's never sent a single email? Man, Walken's just living it up.

How does he waste his time without a smartphone? Does he waste time? Or does he just jump into ponds while in Central Park and waiting for people to pass by so he can tell him, "I'm an alligator!"

In all fairness, Walken's lack of a cell phone and technology is nothing new.

He's talked about it before with Jon Stewart several years ago, and folks were just as entranced with it back then are they are now.

Do you think you'd be able to live the Christopher Walken life? Or after a few hours in would you be jonesing for some form of external communication?

Editor's Note: The article was originally published in December 2024.