Christopher Walken Lawyers up for Natalie Wood Investigation: Report

Actor Christopher Walken has hired Mathew Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor, to represent him in the Natalie Wood investigation that has been reopened, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Rosengart is now a litigation specialist at Los Angeles' Greenberg Traurig firm, the Web site reported, adding that sources have said Rosengart will be advising Walken in the inquiry.

The Los Angeles Sheriff Department on Friday said new information has prompted the reopening of Wood's drowning death case. Wood died in 1981. Her husband Robert Wagner and Walken were among the last to see her alive.

Walken has said he was asleep when Wood drowned off the shore of southern California's Catalina Island on Nov. 29. 1981. Walken said he was informed of his Brainstorm co-star's death when he woke up.

In a news conference held on Friday, Sheriff spokesman Lt. John Corina said that on that Saturday evening when she died, Miss Woods somehow ended up in the water and drowned.

Corina said that Woods' death was ruled an accident and is still being viewed as such.

We are always open to receiving information about older cases as well as current cases, he said. Recently we have received information which we felt was substantial enough to reopen the investigation to the case.

Corina has said he will not comment on the type of information they have been given.

When Corina was asked if the Sheriff's Department plans to interview Walken, he would not specify. Instead, he said, We are going to follow up on the leads we have, re-interview some people, interview some new people.

When he was again asked about Walken, Corina said he hadn't any comment on specifically who would be interviewed.

I think you can speculate on that, he said.

Walken, Wood and Wagner were all aboard a boat off the coast of Catalina Island when she disappeared that Thanksgiving weekend and was later found dead. She was 43 years old. The actress is said to have been intoxicated at the time of her death.

The boat captain Dennis Davern has since come forward saying he didn't tell authorities the whole story.

I made some terrible decisions and mistakes, Davern told NBC News' David Gregory. I did lie on a report several years ago. ... I made mistakes by not telling the honest truth in a police report.

The Sheriff Department didn't say whether Davern's credibility is now in question.

When Corina was asked if Davern could face criminal charges for lying to police in the initial investigation he said if anyone is inhibiting the investigation he or she could be arrested and charged.