Christian Slater is heading for London to star as movie producer Buddy Ackerman in a stage version of the 1994 film Swimming with Sharks. The production will play at the West End's Vaudeville Theatre, where it will begin performances on October 5 and open on October 16 for a 15-week run. The play is by Michael Lesslie, who adapted George Huang's screenplay, and will be directed by Wilson Milam.
Swimming with Sharks is a darkly comic look at contemporary Hollywood, where Buddy Ackerman Slater is one of Hollywood's most powerful men and the boss from hell. Guy, his eager and idealistic new assistant and would-be screenwriter, soon finds himself serving as Buddy's personal slave. He doggedly endures Buddy's tantrums and relentless abuse in the hope that he will be given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move up the Hollywood ladder. Kevin Spacey and Frank Whaley played Buddy and Guy in Huang's 1994 film; no further casting for the stage version has been announced.
Slater most recently appeared on Broadway in The Glass Menagerie opposite Jessica Lange in 2005 and in Side Man in 1998. In London, he played Randle P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, first at the Gielgud Theatre in 2004 and again at the Garrick Theatre in 2006. As a child actor, Slater appearned on Broadway in The Music Man in 1980, Copperfield in 1981, Macbeth in 1982 and Merlin in 1983. His films include Bobby, Gleaming the Cube, Heathers, Young Guns II, Pump Up the Volume, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Untamed Heart, True Romance, Interview with a Vampire, Murder in the First, Broken Arrow, Very Bad Things, The Contender, Windtalkers, Churchill: The Hollywood Years, The Name of the Rose, Tucker: The Man and His Dream and The Legend of Billy Jean.
Slater said in a statement that the moment he read the script for Swimming with Sharks, "I knew I had to do it. This is a fantastic, edge of the seat, gripping story told with a wickedly funny wit. It's a great role, a great play, and I can't wait to get back on to the London stage—it's like my second home."
