Hollywood star Christian Slater is returning to the West End stage to play a big-time movie producer in a dark comedy thriller. Slater, who previously wowed audiences in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, will star in a new adaptation of the 1994 film Swimming With Sharks. It opens at the Vaudeville Theatre in October for a 15-week run.
Slater is thrilled to be coming back to London. "This place is like heaven to me, it feels like coming home.
"Doing Cuckoo's Nest was like a rock concert every night. I experienced great moments of elation in the West End," he said.
"But after the experience of Cuckoo's Nest and the fun I had with that particular character, to have read something else that was on a par or even may be more exciting was phenomenal. This character is a role I can really sink my teeth into."
He plays Buddy Ackerman who is one of Hollywood's most powerful men and the boss from hell. It was a role played by Kevin Spacey in the film - and Slater has made a courtesy call to the Old Vic director to tell him about the new adaptation. But he admitted it was good that Swimming With Sharks was less iconic than Cuckoo's Nest role of RP McMurphy made famous by Jack Nicholson.
He added: "RP McMurphy and Buddy Ackerman are both scoundrels, they're both characters I can identify with. They're guys that are bucking the system."
But the 37-year-old star of movies such as True Romance and Heathers admits he will not be painting the town red as he did in London three years ago.
"The first time, it was all about the night life and hanging out in the clubs and going to different plays and really seeing how far I could push the envelope. But it ended up costing me a lot of money and a lot of time and I was getting really tired," he said. He returned for a second run of Cuckoo's Nest a reformed man - he no longer smokes and drinks - and discovered the joys of the British countryside.
"A week prior to reading this script, I was on a trip to Fiji and I did a shark dive. Literally, I did swim with sharks."
The stage adaptation is by 24-year-old rising star Michael Lesslie who is being hailed as the most exciting find since Martin McDonagh, the London Irish author of The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Pillowman.
The producers are Nick Frankfort and Tobias Round with Nica Burns who previously worked with Slater on Cuckoo's Nest.
She said: "It's a really exciting play script and much funnier than the original. Christian gets loads of stage offers all the time, but he decided to accept this one."
