Christian Slater to Take a Chance on West End Sweet Bird of Youth
Slater's run in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a huge success, making plenty of money for its producers when it transferred from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to the Gielgud Theatre. Outside the stage door in the last weekend of the show's limited engagement, Slater made world news when someone allegedly tried to stab him. He was not hurt in the incident. His other theatrical credits include Broadway productions of The Music Man, Copperfield, Macbeth, Merlin and Side Man.
Slater is best known for his career in Hollywood. His film credits include The Legend of Billie Jean, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Gleaming the Cube, Heathers, Young Guns II, Pump Up the Volume, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Mobsters, Kuffs, Untamed Heart, True Romance, Interview with the Vampire, Murder in the First, Bed of Roses, Broken Arrow, Hard Rain, Very Bad Things, The Contender, 3000 Miles to Graceland, Who Is Cletis Tout?, Windtalkers, Mindhunters, Pursued and The Deal. He can currently be seen on the big screen in Alone in the Dark, which opened to predominately negative reviews this past weekend.
In Sweet Bird of Youth, Slater will play Chance Wayne, a guilt-ridden young man who, in the attempt to try to establish his own acting career, becomes the companion of a 50-something movie star, Princess Kosmonopolis. The play first opened on Broadway in 1959 with Paul Newman as Wayne and Geraldine Page as Kosmonopolis. The actors reprised their roles in the 1962 film version of the play.
Terry Johnson, who helmed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, will direct this revival of Sweet Bird of Youth and the play will likely have the Gielgud as its home, just as Cuckoo's Nest did. The search is on for an American actress to star as Kosmonopolis opposite Slater.