The actor on shyness, working with Sylvester Stallone and staying sober in Hollywood

Good morning Christian Slater! I really enjoyed you in Bullet to the Head.

[Sounding genuinely surprised] Oh, thank you! Thanks so much.

[SPOILER!] You get killed in this film. Is it fun doing death scenes?

Well, look, it's not my favourite thing. I despise it, to be honest.

Why?

Because the character is over! What's fun about that?

Well, if you had to get killed, at least you get killed by Sylvester Stallone.

That's true. Stallone's definitely a hero of mine and he's such a sweet guy, too. We shot that scene on my birthday so on the one hand I was celebrating and on the other I was dying.

Did he get you a birthday present?

Stallone gave me an opportunity [by having me co-star in the film]. That was a gift in itself.

You play a bad guy. Did you pick up tips from Gary Oldman in True Romance and Alan Rickman in Robin Hood?

Those are great examples of guys who like to push things forward. Gary showed up on set in the dreadlock wig and with his eye all messed up and that was one of the greatest things ever.

So he decided to wear that wig himself? It wasn't in the script?

Yeah, I think the wig was his idea. I think Gary just decided to make it part of the character. (1)

You've spoken in the past about how much you enjoyed working with Tony Scott on that film.

Tony Scott was one of the best directors I've ever worked with and I was devastated when I heard about his death. He was a great guy with great energy. But this is a difficult business and people's lives are sometimes difficult.

Speaking of actors who are good at playing bad guys, do you ever get sick of all the comparisons to Jack Nicholson? (2)

[Laughs, a little wearily] He's one of my all-time heroes, definitely. He has certainly influenced my career choices. He's made some great movies, particularly recently, although I can't think of their names right now (3). That one with Diane Keaton? (4) We've crossed paths at a couple of Lakers games. It's great when you meet your heroes and they're really sweet and down to earth.

Was being an 80s pinup as much fun as it looked?

Without question. It was a great time. The 80s was a wild decade and I had some fantastic times. And I did some really fun work.

Did you hang out with the Brat Pack or were there rival factions of 80s heart-throbs at that time?

They were a little before my time. But I loved those guys. When I did Young Guns II I hung out with Emilio and Kiefer and I once took a trip with Rob Lowe – we jumped trains.

You jumped trains?

Yeah. It was fantastic. (5)

I read that you had a crush on Winona Ryder while you were making Heathers, but you never told her. That's surprising as you didn't seem like a shy guy in the 80s.

Yeah, well, as I've gotten to know myself over the years I realised I'm kind of a sweet, sensitive guy, a shy guy, and communication is not something I'm so good at.

Are you better at it now?

I'm just more accepting of it in myself now.

You had troubles with sobriety during your career (6). It must be extremely difficult to stay sober when you're in Hollywood. How do you stay so strong when you're surrounded by temptation?

There are definitely challenges, particularly when you're especially stubborn and you want to make something work when it doesn't work for you. The illusion of alcohol is that you think you're loose and comfortable when actually you're falling on the floor and embarrassing yourself and your friends. But I feel like things work now. It is better just to show up. It makes me feel sexier. It's sexier just to show up and be in the moment than to need liquid lubrication to feel like you fit in.

You've had some legal difficulties over the past few years. Are you able to talk about them? (7)

You know, they are not relevant to my career now. I'm happy to say I've put them all behind me.

During this decade you've done more TV work and some people say TV is better than a lot of movies these days (8). Do you agree?

Well, yeah! But it's still challenging to find what people relate to. I'm looking for the project that will really suit me and appeal to audiences (9).

When a fan approaches you now, can you tell just from looking at them which of your movies is their favourite?

Eighty-five per cent of the time people want to talk about True Romance. That's the film I've made that really seems to have stuck with people. I love that movie but I'll always be partial to Pump up the Volume, just because that was such a great character.

Bullet to the Head is released on 1 February

Footnotes



(1) This is true. Oldman sorted out the dreads, his teeth and his eye himself saying in an interview in Maxim "I'm only in the film for about 10 minutes - I wanted to make my mark."

(2) It's an eyebrow thing.

(3) The Pledge? The Departed?

(4) Something's Gotta Give.

(5) This was research for a script idea of Lowe's. I can find no evidence of this script ever being filmed, surprisingly.

(6) In 1989 he was arrested for drunk driving. In 1997 he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend at the time while under the influence.

(7) As well as the above Slater was arrested in 1997 for trying to board a plane with a gun and in 2005 was charged with third degree sexual assault which was defined as "grabbing a woman's behind on the street". Slater denied the charge.

(8) Slater appeared in The West Wing.

(9) His shows My Own Worst Enemy and The Forgotten both played for one season.