Alone in the Dark with Christian Slater

Remember Christian Slater? The star of Heathers, Broken Arrow, and True Romance is trying making a big-screen comeback with a number of new pictures, including a return to leading-man status as supernatural investigator Edward Carnby in the upcoming Alone in the Dark. The $20 million movie reinvents the video-game hero who helped usher in the survival horror genre back in 1993.

The movie introduces a new back story for Carnby and takes place a year after the events of the last game, 2001's Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. The film will include references to all four games, but is structured as a horror/thriller that will hopefully extend to an audience broader than video games.

We recently sat down with Christian Slater on the set of Alone in the Dark to talk about his new role as a video game character come to life.

Gamestar: Were you familiar with the Alone in the Dark videogame before the movie?

Christian Slater: I didn't know about the video game before we began. I only read the script and it said it was based on this video game. I immediately wanted to play it and know what it was about. [Producer] Shawn Williamson got me a copy and I played it a little bit and then I had to stop. I got too scared. It freaked me out.

In the game there are moments in it where you're like, "Whoa!" and there are things that just jump out at you. If you're playing it alone in your house in the dark with the wife and kids sleeping, it's freaky.

GS: What do you think of videogames being transferred to movies these days?

CS: It's almost like these games are the modern day comic books, especially when you play Alone in the Dark. There's a real story that goes along with it and a movie seemed like the right kind of transition to make. Having not played the game, I read the script and that?s what intrigued me. The story was very rich and there were interesting characters and certainly an interesting director.

GS: What do you think of the number of Hollywood actors now starring in videogames?

I think it's just a natural progression. It just makes sense. Games are incredible. I've been playing this Enter the Matrix game and I've killed Jada Pinkett Smith numerous, countless times. And I find myself really getting into them. I really get involved and I get excited when I pass a certain level. It's a completely interactive form of entertainment. As an actor, it'd give me a great opportunity. It'd be fun for my son to move Dad around the TV screen, it'd be hilarious.

GS: What are your thoughts on the visuals the current generation of games provide gamers?

I'm blown away by the graphical detail of today's games. I can't imagine that it's going to get any better, but it's just going to continually progress and soon we'll be living in that world.

GS: Would you be interested in being Edward Carnby in the new Atari videogame?

CS: The guys from Atari that are making the next Alone in the Dark game came and we had a great meeting. I'd love to do that. I'm a fan of videogames. I like them. And to get to be part of one of them would be a fun and exciting thing.

Being in a game is like having a little action figure made of you or something. I grew up playing with little Luke Skywalkers and Darth Vaders and to get to be one of those guys. It's hilarious how life works.

GS: What games do you play when you have free time?

CS: I pretty much stick to the movie-based games. I play James Bond games and Minority Report and Spider-Man. I go for the big title hit movie games.

Do you play at all with your kids?

CS: My son is four. He's much better at breaking the controller. I'm trying to teach him how to play Snake 2 on my cell phone. It's only four buttons, but even I'm having trouble with it.

GS: It seems like videogames are a staple of actors? trailers on set these days. Do you play games in your trailer?

CS: I have brought a PS2 on set with me before. But games can be really addicting, and that's dangerous. So I tend to keep it fairly limited on a certain level. I wait until the kids go to sleep and play games at home. Like a little down time. If it was here on the set I'd never get any work done.

GS: What do you think of games growing popularity these days?

CS: I think games are starting to branch out. It's not just guys sitting at their computer stations. Games are so fun, that everybody gets into them a little bit. My wife, she doesn't get into them. But in a matter of time, they'll probably make something for her, like an Ultimate Shopping Game where a woman has to go to this level of a store and buy this merchandise. Am I being chauvinistic with this response? I hope not. I'm just trying to be creative with where they could go. What I discovered is that women tend to not play games.

Guys like to kill things and blow stuff up. I think I may be onto to something with this shopping game. You could have girls fighting over who's going to get this item. It'd be a great game. Somebody's going to do it.

GS: Can you talk about Edward Carnby and what it was like to bring life to this virtual incarnation?

CS: I really enjoyed playing this character. It just felt right. I immediately identified with this character. He's kind of an off-beat guy. He's seen a lot in his life. He's a little rough around the edges, but basically he's an alright guy. He's a regular guy.

GS: Did you ever play any pranks on the set?

CS: It seemed like every day if they ever decide to put together a gag reel for this movie, it'd be a lot of fun. There's a lot of good outtakes and a lot of crazy stuff with monsters. I like to play gags on Tara Reid all the time and I scared the Hell out of her a lot. We were doing this one scene where it was supposed to be very soft and romantic and I?m sleeping on the bed and she's supposed to come creeping onto the bed and she starts stroking my hair and I went, "Arrgh!" and scared the Hell out of her. And that was her first day. So that was fun.

GS: How did you prepare for your love scene with Tara Reid?

CS: I had to go to many classes prior to get ready for that. The prep work was intense.

Find out all about Tara Reid and spine-worms in the Gamestar interview!