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Five Things You May Not Have Heard About Christoph Waltz

By Cindy Davis | Lists | February 17, 2013 |

By Cindy Davis | Lists | February 17, 2013 |


This may be the most Important Stuff you’ll ever read.

5. Waltz Never Wanted to Be An Actor.

As part of a theater family spanning four generations (his great-grandparents and step-grandfather were actors; his parents, costume and set designers), Waltz wanted nothing to do with acting. “…that’s all I heard when I grew up. It was tedious. It brought tears to our eyes, my sibling and mine, because it was [at] dinner, breakfast, lunch … the only topic of conversation was of theater.” Waltz says it was “sheer lack of imagination” that he went into the family business. Along with drama he studied voice (opera) singing—and did well enough at both (to be accepted at either academy), but was told he had to make a choice between the two. Waltz is dying to do a Steven Sondheim musical, and says he can sing Sweeney Todd “backwards, (and) forwards.”


4. His Facial Hair Didn’t Always Come Easily:


3. He’s Semi-Related to Director Michael Haneke.

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Waltz and Michael Haneke (Amour, The White Ribbon, Funny Games) share a stepfather; Austrian composer Alexander Steinbrecher was once married to each of their mothers. Haneke and Waltz are nominated for Academy Awards this year; Amour just won the 2013 BAFTA, Best Film Not in the English Language and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language, while Waltz also won both awards for Best Supporting Actor.


2. While Training for Django Unchained, Waltz Broke His Pelvic Bone.

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Since he hadn’t ridden a horse in about forty years, Waltz began training prior to filming. “Riding is something that in order to master it you have to do it like playing an instrument, a musical instrument. You have to do it every day, and you have to do it over a long period of time. So I do, you know, the occasional bit, and when I need it for a movie, I start training again.” The third day of his training, the actor had a nasty accident and had to have surgery—then was unable to get on a horse for three months. (This is why Dr. Schultz rides in a carriage through most of the film.) “I remember Quentin’s eyes when he came to the hospital to visit me, and I said, oh, I don’t know what we’re going to do. I can’t ride for three months. And he looked at me and he said, you know, if you don’t talk too much about it, I might get some interesting ideas. And he did.”


1. He’s an International Man of Seduction (and Deliciousry):

Cindy Davis, (Twitter) may have a little addiction to the Austrian.