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.
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.[1]
Years later, Schrader would lament the film on his Facebook page as "the most distressing failure" of his career.[2] He also said that the film was miscast and that he wanted openly gay actor Rupert Everett as the lead.
The Page character was based on Jerry Zipkin, for whom the term "walker" was coined.[3]
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.[4] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 51 out of 100, based on 26 reviews indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5]
