Hollywood scandal noodle of the 90s
What does actor Christian Slater actually do?
Christian Slater is still doing well today.
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30 years ago, “True Romance” caused a sensation. Today the film is considered a cult. But what became of his leading actor, Christian Slater?
Today it is considered a cult flick, 30 years ago it came to the cinema: “True Romance”, the film directed by Tony Scott (1944-2012) based on a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino (60). The male lead played Christian Slater (54), next to Patricia Arquette (55). The two actors are in the film as a married couple on the run from the mafia. Christian Slater’s career then really took off in the ’90s – but what’s the former Hollywood scandal noodle up to today?
Big comeback 2015
Anyone who grew up in the 80s or 90s knows the actor’s face inside and out. Slater was already in front of the camera at the age of seven. With “The Name of the Rose” (1986) came the first international success alongside Sean Connery (1930-2020). 1988’s “Heathers” made it even more popular. In the 90s, Christian Slater finally had big engagements in blockbusters like “Robin Hood – King of Thieves” (1991), “Interview with a Vampire” (1994), “Operation: Broken Arrow” (1996) and “Hard Rain” ( 1998).
After the actor only got smaller roles for a few years, Christian Slater celebrated a big Hollywood comeback in 2015. From 2015 to 2019, the actor appeared in “Mr. Robot”, for which he received the Golden Globe Award in the category “Best Supporting Actor – Series, Mini-Series or TV Movie”.
A tragedy and many scandals
Christian Slater was among a group of young actors who shook Hollywood in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They also included Johnny Depp (60) and the late River Phoenix (1970-1993). “I thought we were going to be in this business forever, competing for the same roles and doing all these things, and instead this tragedy happened,” Slater once said to “Yahoo! Movies”. Phoenix died of a drug overdose outside a Los Angeles nightclub in 1993.
Slater reprized his role in Interview with the Vampire shortly thereafter. “It was horrific. It was uncomfortable. It was hard,” Slater later said. “How can you replace someone who died like that and whom I admired a lot?” Slater donated his fee to organizations supported by River Phoenix.
Christian Slater himself has long enjoyed the reputation of a “bad boy”. In 1990, he was sentenced to ten days in prison after being arrested for drunk driving. In 1994, Slater was arrested again at New York Airport. He had a gun in his suitcase. Slater did community work to avoid prison time.
In the summer of 1997, at a party in Los Angeles, some people called the police over Slater’s aggressive behavior. He was said to be under the influence of drugs and was sentenced to three months in prison.
Quieter years
In the meantime, the actor also seems to have calmed down privately. After a turbulent first marriage to Ryan Haddon (52), with whom he had a son in 1999 and a daughter in 2001, he has been married to Brittany Lopez since 2013. They have a daughter together who was born in August 2019. He has also sworn off alcohol and drugs for many years.
Slater has apparently also found a new hobby that relaxes him. He told the New York Times in 2021, that he is engaged in painting. The actor explained that his wife pushed him to try the art. “It’s great,” he said. “It’s definitely meditative and relaxing.”
Film and TV projects are also on Christian Slater’s agenda. Even if he recently had to cope with a small setback: As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ has decided not to show the finished TV series adaptation “The Spiderwick Chronicles” with him in one of the roles. However, other buyers could still step in…