Interviewer: Stephen Rebello

Q: I keep hearing you are a pretty different guy from the one I met a few years back.

A: I remember I made mention to you of being tired, going from project to project to project. People were saying relax, take a breather. So, that's exactly what I did. I took a lot of time off after Mobsters and although I did something I had never done before, which was to direct a play, The Laughter Epidemic, it felt like a vacation. It wasn't to prove I could direct. I just wanted to put something together with some friends for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Period. Q: Let's Talk Career Agenda. What's yours?

A: To be able to look back and be proud of movies I've done. I've been taking my time now between projects looking for stuff that has a little bit more substance, that isn't surface. Some of the films that I've done in the past really were surface. Taking the time off I did, I found out a lot of different things. I enjoyed my own company. I didn't beat myself up or go crazy that I wasn't working. I was able to spend more time with my family, my brother. It felt good to slow things down. Fortunately, I had the experience behind me to know what it was like to just appreciate a whole 'nother way of doing things, meeting people, taking time and getting to know people, finding out a little bit about what I'm about. I found out that I was trying to remove myself from the vulnerable qualitites. Because I've always been very shy in my own life, I've looked for characters that were not like that at all but were more boisterous, outrageous, ballsy.

Q: Ten years from now, if you were to come across the "Christian Slater" entry in an encyclopedia of film stars, what would you hope it would say?

A: Hopefully, that people could see a progression in my performances because that's how it's always felt to me. The movies I've made at a certain time of my life were exactly right for the stage of my life, the frame of mind I was in at the time. Each character I've had to play has been me in that time in my life.

Q: What's the biggest career bummer you could perpetrate on yourself at this point?

A: To once again put myself in a situation where I might be financially overextended so I have to work. That would really bum me out because I don't want to sell myself short and just do a film for the sake of doing a film. I'm in this business because it's fun and it's enjoyable. I just want to do things I can be proud of, you know?

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