Born-again Christian

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was the sizzling hot ticket at this year's Edinburgh Festival - with Christian Slater as Randle McMurphy, the lunatic who takes over the asylum. The 35-year-old Hollywood heartthrob has rocked up from LA to reprise the part Jack Nicholson made famous in the 1975 film, and is injecting his anarchic streak of glamour into the city, like a shot of vodka into a Victoria sponge. Slater has already amused himself with a jaunt to London, popping by Stringfellows and a lap-dancing club in a Nixon face mask ('It was the only one that fit! Plus, it was really easy to cut holes in it. There was a Hugh Grant mask, but that might have been too much trouble.') and has been only briefly slowed down by the vicious bout of chicken pox that kept him in bed as the play was about to open.

Slater, whose mother is the powerful Hollywood casting director Mary Jo Slater, was a Brat Pack pin-up in the Eighties, when he hung out on Sunset with his mates Ethan Hawke and the late River Phoenix. But by the Nineties he had turned into a high-profile celebrity casualty, as his career imploded after various setbacks --an assault on his exgirlfriend, a coke habit, a tussle with a policeman - that culminated in a three-month jail sentence and a spell in rehab. Since then, the New York-born star of Heathers, True Romance and Interview With The Vampire has been rebuilding his life.

He has married Ryan Haddon, the mother of his children (though this lively union has its ups and downs - she spent a night in jail last November for glassing him in a Las Vegas hotel room). He has got his highschool diploma (he had felt 'shamed' by his lack of education) and started acting lessons. The mostly terrific reviews for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest signal the success of this strategy. He is in the middle of what looks like a triumphant comeback. The production, costarring Mackenzie Crook and Frances Barber, transfers to the West End this weekend.

'Triumphant comeback? Why, thank you, that's great,' Slater exclaims in his LA drawl. 'The reviews have been more than lovely and wonderful, and we're certainly all grateful for that. But this whole play is like a party. Except for that chicken pox. I couldn't believe that.

I didn't leave the hotel for eight days. But if your face is covered in spots and your body's covered in spots, you're kind of, like, "Why would I?"'

He grins wickedly across the table at his best friend, Dave, who grins languidly back. It is an hour after the play has ended - to a standing ovation - and the three of us are in the private dining room of the Hallion, the city's supercool private members' club. Slater is trim and thick-set (though at 5ft 8in unexpectedly short) in a tight white T-shirt, leather jacket and loose-fitting Lee jeans. A beer and a soft pack of Marlboros are strewn in front of him. Relaxed and upbeat, you can see why he's been compared to Jack Nicholson throughout his career. He crackles with the same irreverent electrical energy, though tempered by an unexpected thoughtfulness and good grace.

'See, I like to have fun,' Slater points out redundantly. So we hear, I tell him, we all read about his jaunt to the lap-dancing club. 'But I just hung with the bouncers.' he protests innocently. 'I had chicken pox. I was in my mask. I had one outing!' He pauses. 'I just fibbed a little. I didn't really have the chicken pox.'

Slater had barely heard of the Fringe when he was offered One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. But his mother urged him to do it. 'I was like, "I don't know, it's a little funny, and I've had these comparisons with Nicholson." But she said, "It's Edinburgh, it's the Fringe, the biggest theatre festival in the world, and then the West End."'

Slater's LA manager, Scott, told me that Slater is not unlike the loving, vital, violent McMurphy - 'the role is at the root of who he is' - and the star concedes that, like McMurphy, he probably went off-message for a while. 'I came into the planet wanting to have a good time,' is the way Slater puts it, 'but I kind of got overwhelmed a few times, I got confused and lost touch with who I was. I got famous with Heathers, and people started to treat me differently, and I didn't have a personality of my own to cling to. I had to go through some great high moments, and some very embarrassing moments.'

Like jail? 'Exactly. That was unbelievable. That gave me an opportunity to ask myself questions like, "How did I end up here?" and "Why am I so scared?" I made this list of things I felt insecure about and started checking 'em off. I started to feel a sense of fulfilment achieving the goals. I started to feel incredible.' Slater grins with contagious enthusiasm. 'And, at the same time, I was getting married and having children, building a life for myself out of the business.'