Christian Slater: Born Again Christian

Slater narrows his gaze at clouds that bitch up the sky-blue horizon, ambivalence weaving in and out of his conversation like a recurring mantra. He sounds conflicted about making the move from irrepressible teen to responsible man. On the one hand, he assures me that he is now "disgustingly safe," having been upright, sober, and accident-free for well over a year. On the other, he often just can't help letting things rip: on sighting a Jeep-ful of beauties ("Whoa, will you take a look at that?"), or, thinking he has spotted Robert Shaye, the boss of New Line, whom he blames for "screwing up" the release of Pump Up the Volume ("Hey, isn't that Shaye ambling into the retirement home?"), the imp tears out of him.

Consider his rap on making Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. At first, it's new Christian. He can't say enough about the "outta sight, amazing fun" he had working with Morgan Freeman or with Kevin Costner, "such a real guy, a warm-hearted personality who definitely has what it takes to be Robin Hood." And director Kevin Reynolds, a close friend of $8-million star Costner, is "a sweet guy, who depended a lot on the actors, which is great." But let's get earthbound here. This is a project Morgan Creek Productions and Warner Bros. rushed into production to preempt two other studios' Robin Hoods. Breakneck pre-production and a frenzy of locations in England and France helped put the show weeks over schedule and millions over budget. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, the film's Maid Marian, recently described to me the shooting as "anarchy, the right hand never knew what the left hand was doing."

Perhaps noticing my eyes glaze over as he spouts the party line, Slater's reminiscences turn slightly less up-beat, slightly more, I suspect, Christian. "The fact that there were so many Robin Hoods out there, we were forced to rush right in. Four weeks [pre-production time] to do a film that massive? Suicidal. I went in saying, 'I'll play any part to be in this,' but--you know the instinct you usually get to do a project?--that really wasn't there. It was the chance to work with some really great people. I had a tough time with 'Will Scar-let.' He was never the character I wanted him to be. I wanted him to be tough, but he sort of became..." He breaks off, shrugging, waving his hand dismissively, fires up another cigarette, and takes a long drag. Slater want-ed to play jaunty like, say, Indiana Jones, while Reynolds demanded such touches as his soulfully crying, James Dean-like. Or, as one of Slater's previous directors put it: "They clearly did not get Christian--their loss."

"With a fairy tale story, you just sort of go in and try to do the best job," says Slater. "I was so out of it on the movie that, from day to day, I didn't know what was happening. On scenes where I wasn't sure what to do, I would go to [Costner's] trailer and he'd help me out. We'd walk off together and go over the scene a million different ways. [Costner] said: 'It's not an easy position to be the gay because it's all on your shoulders.' I learned that that's true. It's really your ass."

Slater got a chance to appreciate the truth of Costner's counsel on the risks of being a leading man when he landed the top dog role in Mobsters, in which he plays "Lucky" Luciano, circa 1917 to 1930. The movie, which Slater de-scribes as "souped up history," dramatizes the takeover by young-thugs-to-be Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Frank Costello (acted by fellow cute guys Dempsey, Grieco, and Costas Mandylor) of the turf of deadly old capos played by Anthony Quinn, F. Murray Abraham, and Michael Gambon. Co-written by Oscar nominee Nick Kazan, featuring plumy Richard Sylbert sets and killer Ellen Mirojnick costumes, Mobsters is clearly showpiece stuff, a career maker or breaker.

"I've done my best to learn Italian and really create a character, but, every now and then I can't believe I'm playing Lucky," says Slater, who nearly didn't. Slater was reportedly to have played the conniving, brilliant Lanksy for the film's earlier director, Luis Mandoki, who exited the project after Universal kept saying "Summer movie" while he kept demanding Once Upon a Time in America-like script rewrites. Enter Michael Karbelnikoff, a director of TV commercials for Levi's 501s and 7-Up, who had never before made a feature. With weeks to go before shooting, Karbelnikoff thought he had Matt Dillon or Johnny Depp locked up to play Luciano. Both actors were apparently uneasy about the short prep time, which included crash sessions in Italian dialect with a coach. "[Producer] Steve Roth and I could have gotten other people," Karbelnikoff observes, "but we said, 'Jesus, maybe the best thing to do is get Christian,' who has no pretentious-ness, lots of self-deprecating humor, and is really just a gay." With about a week to prepare, Slater got bumped up to the lead. Patrick Dempsey, who had been in contention with such actors as Fisher Stevens, got the Lansky role instead. By such flukes are careers made. And unmade.

"These guys are really, really good actors," says Slater, toying with a fry and again taking the high road when asked how he and his ambitious co-stars are getting on. "Costas Mandylor and I just abuse each other's egos as badly as possible, so, when we shoot, we're just as relaxed as we possibly could be. That's the way I like to work." And what about the reports that he's not getting along with co-star Dempsey? "I'm not about to name names or anything," he says, quietly, "but I'm also finding out what it's like to work with somebody who's Method. If they're supposed to be angry in a scene, they're just not going to talk to you all day. There have been some interesting moments when I'd be doing a scene and this Method person would out of nowhere come up and shove me as hard as he could. I held back. It really pissed me off that I had to get an X-ray for my chest after doing that scene with him. It pissed me off that there were no apologies. I was getting pummeled. I was bruised. It still hurts and it was three weeks ago. But, I've learned acceptance is the answer to all my problems and heh-heh-heh--" he grins, pure sulfuric Nicholson, circa The Witches of Eastwick, "ya gotta remember, everybody's God's child and all that stuff. I can stop a take if I really feel that it's getting out of hand. I've learned that I don't have to hit people or any of that bullshit. Even though it was like, oh God, death in my veins."

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