Enlarge image
Actor Walken: With a paint roller over the Banksy graffito
Photo: Mike Pont / Getty Images
One of the well-known works by street artist Banksy is a rat that has graced a wall in the London Underground since last year.
Banksy also sprayed a copy of the animal on a wall in the English city of Bristol - but after shooting for the BBC series "The Outlaws" there was nothing left of the work of art.
As the British TV broadcaster announced, the actor Christopher Walken painted over the graffito. "We can confirm that the artwork at the end of 'The Outlaws is an original by Banksy and that Christopher Walken painted over and eventually destroyed the artwork while filming that scene," said a production spokesman.
The destruction, however, was deliberate: According to the BBC, Banksy knew of the plans.
The series was filmed in Bristol, the hometown of the street artist.
According to the BBC, Banksy had agreed to leave a graffito on a wall of the location.
BBC scenes show a rat with two aerosol cans, with the words "Banksy" on top.
In the last episode of production, Walken painted over the work with a paint roller.
The destruction was therefore part of the plot.
Please paint over everything
In "The Outlaws", according to the BBC, Walken plays a member of a group of petty criminals who renovate a building for their charitable work. His character discovers the Banksy rat behind some wooden boards and asks his supervisor if he should paint over it. The probation officer looks the other way, not realizing it's a Banksy, and tells him that all graffiti needs to be painted over.
Banksy works fetch record sums at auctions.
His half-shredded picture "Love in the Bin" was auctioned in the fall of 2021 for 16 million pounds.
His work of art "Game Changer" brought in 19.5 million euros.
Nevertheless, his graffiti has been painted over again and again in the past.
In Melbourne, city cleaning workers accidentally destroyed one of his works.
In August of this year, a work by the artist on the English coast was even deliberately painted over.
ime