Entertainment TV Christopher Walken Painted Over an Actual Banksy While Filming 'The Outlaws' A rep for the BBC show The Outlaws confirmed that Christopher Walken painted over an original Banksy in the season 1 finale, "ultimately destroying it" By Glenn Garner Glenn Garner Glenn Garner is a form writer-reporter who worked heavily with PEOPLE's Movies and TV verticals. He left PEOPLE in 2023. People Editorial Guidelines Published on November 11, 2021 06:56PM EST Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty; Big Talk/Four Eyes Christopher Walken sent shocked gasps throughout the art world this week. The Academy Award winner, 78, earned some laughs while painting over a Banksy in Wednesday's season 1 finale of BBC's The Outlaws, but viewers might not have realized it was a real Banksy. Walken stars in writer/director/star Stephen Merchant's The Outlaws as one of seven strangers forced to work together to complete their community service when they discover a bag full of cash, unaware that some dangerous people are looking for it. In the scene, Walken paints over a wall of graffiti, as he comes across Banksy's signature, along with one of his anthropomorphic rat paintings. "It's awfully good," he tells a supervisor who's not paying attention. "Less debating, more painting," she quips back, before he shrugs and gets back to painting. Charitable Banksy Painting That Honors U.K. Healthcare Workers Sells for Record-Breaking $23 Million Reps for Christopher Walken, The Outlaws and Banksy did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. "We can confirm that the artwork at the end of The Outlaws was an original Banksy, and that Christopher Walken painted over that artwork during the filming of this scene, ultimately destroying it," a rep for the show told BBC. RELATED VIDEO: $1.4 Million Banksy Artwork Self-Destructs Right After Being Auctioned Off Filmed in Bristol, both Merchant, 46, and Banksy's hometown, the anonymous artist gave set designers permission to not only use one of his original pieces but destroy it for the one-take scene, according to the New York Post. Banksy's art has fetched a pretty penny in the past, selling one painting for a record $1.4 million at auction in 2018, seconds before it self-destructed through a shredder hidden in the frame. Last month, the piece returned to auction at Sotheby's in London, where it fetched $25.4 million, according to the Associated Press. The latest sale broke his previous world auction record, after one of his pieces went for more than $23 million in March, benefitting British public health charities.