The Walker is a 2007 independent crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader and starring Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lauren Bacall, Ned Beatty, Lily Tomlin, Willem Dafoe, Moritz Bleibtreu and Mary Beth Hurt. It is the fourth installment in Schrader s night workers series of films, starting with Taxi Driver in 1976, followed by American Gigolo in 1980 and Light Sleeper in 1992.

Synopsis

A middle-aged gay man in Washington, D. C., Carter Page III, is a male escort—a walker —a single man who escorts other men s wives to social events, rather than their husbands. One of the women he escorts, Lynn Lockner, is married to a United States senator and is having an affair with a lobbyist. When the lobbyist is murdered, she embroils Carter in an investigation that leads to the highest levels of the federal government.

Cast

• Woody Harrelson as Carter Page III
• Kristin Scott Thomas as Lynn Lockner
• Lauren Bacall as Natalie Van Miter
• Ned Beatty as Jack Delorean
• Moritz Bleibtreu as Emek Yoglu
• Mary Beth Hurt as Chrissie Morgan
• Lily Tomlin as Abigail Delorean
• Willem Dafoe as Senator Larry Lockner
• William Hope as Mungo Tenant

Production

Schrader completed the script in 2002. Initially the film was to be a direct sequel to American Gigolo, with Julian Kaye (played by Richard Gere) as the lead character. The director originally wanted Kevin Kline to play the lead.

The Page character was based on Jerry Zipkin, for whom the term walker was coined.

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews in its premiere run in the Berlin, Sydney, and Cambridge film festivals. The Walker was released direct-to-DVD but played in an independent film theater for two weeks in Dorris, California. The film received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 52% approval rating, based on 63 reviews with an average score of 5.3/10. On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 51 out of 100, based on 26 reviews indicating mixed or average reviews .

Year	2007
ReleaseDate	2007-08-10
RuntimeMins	108
RuntimeStr	1h 48min
Plot	An escort who caters to Washington, D.C.’s society ladies becomes involved in a murder case.
Awards	Awards, 1 nomination
Directors	Paul Schrader
Writers	Paul Schrader
Stars	Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lauren Bacall
Produced by	Willi Bär,Steve Christian,James Clayton,Carol Flaisher,Robert Goolrick,Deepak Nayar,Johnnie Planco,Alan Poul,Duncan Reid,Paul Sarony,Neal Stevens
Music by	Anne Dudley
Cinematography by	Chris Seager
Film Editing by	Julian Rodd
Casting By	Suzanne Crowley,Gilly Poole
Production Design by	James Merifield
Art Direction by	David Hindle
Costume Design by	Nic Ede
Makeup Department	Alison Elliott,Darren Evans,Geraldine Jones,Janice Kinigopoulos,Barbara Lacy,Laura McIntosh,Susie Munachen,Sara Riesel,Sarah Walkinshaw
Production Management	Mark Davies,Jim Edge,Deepak Nayar,Emma Zee
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Julian Brain,Christopher Chambers,Joey Coughlin,Carlos Fidel,Alison C. Rosa,Richard Styles
Art Department	Chris Ashley,Alan Briant,Lauren Carr,Alan Chesters,Leigh Chesters,Kelvin Cook,Samantha Deane,Ciaran Donnelly,Colin Elms,James Enright,Mariya Mariyan Fernandes,Gordon Grant,Michael Gunner,Shane Harford,Rohan Harris,Jo Hawthorne,Marcela Iriarte Villalobos,David Kelly,David Ned Kelly,Kat Law,Peter O’Donnell,David Reilly,Kin Remington,Simon Robilliard,Bob Spore,Lloyd Vincent,Kellie Waugh,Michael Webb,Steve Williamson,Carl Wilson,Debbie Wilson,Nurey Al-Kahzrajie
Sound Department	Julie Ankerson,Alastair Bradley,Janie Dahn,Naomi Dandridge,Nick Foley,Frederic Gibert,Diane Greaves,John Hayes,Mark Kenna,Richard Lewis,Sze-Wun Li,Bruce Litecky,Steve Mayer,Vikki Mickel,Steven Parker,Simon Price,Jess Richards,Andrew Rowe,Paul Schwartz,Blair Slater,Ted Swanscott
Special Effects by	Scott Peters
Visual Effects by	Melissa Agate,Kieran Belshaw,Matthew Bristowe,Helen Clare,Adrian De Wet,Michael Elson,Richard Etchells,Martin Hobbs,Amit Jhamb,Paul Kulikowski,Toby Langley,Begoña Lopez,Yan Miles,Caroline Rowlands,Steve J. Sanchez,Paul Stocker,Matthew Tucker,Pat Wintersgill,Kumar Abhishek,Devrishi Chatterjee,Salil Deshpande,Sarang Deshpande,Kaustubh Pawaskar,Ashwin Singh
Stunts	Stuart Clark,Richard Hammatt,Rod Woodruff
Camera and Electrical Department	John Attwood,Jacob Barrie,Sarah Brandes,Julian Bucknall,Alastair Bury,Michael Campbell,Anthony Cupples,Frank Dawson,Charlie Dillion,Tash Gamper,Rusty Gardner,Noora Geagea,Tim Gordon,William J. Gray,Dave Insley,Carla McCannon,Vince McGahon,Shaun Mone,Peter Mountain,Tom Nichols,Mike Panczenko Jr.,Phil Penfold,John Robinson,Colin Simkiss,Wes Sullivan,Barnaby Sweet,Raymond Tang,Dan Thomas,Mark Walpole,Ian Axilrod,Noora Geagea,Vince McGahon
Casting Department	Abigail Barbier,Louis Elman,Mandy Sprinkel
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Suzanne Bolton,Johnetta Boone,Dee Churchfield,Gilly Martin,Wyn Vaughan-Humphreys,Justine Warhurst,Nadia Dunn-Hill
Editorial Department	Melissa Agate,Kennedy Dawson,Samantha Deane,Ricky Gausis,Katie Jackson,Matthew Lee-Redman,Yan Miles,Thomas Urbye,Jason Wheeler
Location Management	Kate Barrs,Katherine Dorrer,Chris Flynn,Michelle Pianca,Sian Sutherland,Jason Wheeler,Iggy Ellis,Matthew Dillon Noonan
Music Department	Hugh Burns,Roz Colls,Niki Costello,Ralph De Souza,Anne Dudley,Roger Dudley,Tim Gill,Christina Godbold,Joe Henson,Steven Howard,Garfield Jackson,Julian Leaper,Gerard McCann
Script and Continuity Department	Anwen Bull
Transportation Department	George Andrews,Jim Atkins,Gordon Foulds,Danielle Fredrickson,Mal Hardy,Adrian Holland,Birgitt Husemann,Simon Jones,Robert MacLean,Stuart McKeller,Graham Pearson,Fiona Singer,Davey Smith,Keith Winyard,Eric Young,Gilbert Young,Rob Hempenstall
Additional Crew	Caridad Angus,Richard Baker,Nik Bower,Chorley Bunce,Geoff Burchill,Nick Cain,Warren Clark,Richard Comline,Lauren Cox,Michele Cusick,Jen Day,Alex Downie,Hilary Dugdale,Mark Fielding,Andrew Fingret,Chris Flynn,Alex Frowen,Ginny Galloway,Jason Harley,Dom Harris,Lisa Heathcote,David Hensher,Paul Huntingford,Sahar Ibrahim,Paula Jalfon,Jeff Johnson,Emma Lightbody,Gary Mackey,Sirish Malde,Liz Miller,Paul Mindel,Melissa Morgan,Debbie Moseley,Tony Mosher,Daniel Nixon,Sandra Nixon,Clive Noakes,Raff Olski,Gemma Read,Steve Ricard,Bill Ridealgh,Sam Rook,Peter Roskovich,Dorothy Sewell,Ashok Shah,Albert Sharpe,Leonard Singer,Darren Arrow Smith,Soumya Sundaresh,David Sutcliffe,Eve Swannell,Betty Williams,Chris Williamson,Judith Windsor,Eric Young,Ryan Noonan
Thanks	Kenneth Anger,Leonard Schrader
Genres	Crime, Drama, Mystery
Companies	Kintop Pictures, Ingenious Film Partners, Isle of Man Film
Countries	USA, UK, Isle of Man
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	5.8
ImDbRatingVotes	5659
MetacriticRating	51
Keywords	sex,nudity,nude photograph,male frontal nudity,male nudity