What I said to Christian Slater on the set of “The Forgotten”

I had a job on this show in 2009, and happened to catch Christian for a conversation between set-ups.  The Forgotten was his second stab at starring in a TV series in recent memory, his first outing My Own Worst Enemy having been cancelled.  I didn’t mean to insult him, it just came out that way.

Turns out I was prescient, though, because The Forgotten was subsequently cancelled to be followed by Breaking In, which seems not to have been cancelled yet.  Good job, Christian!

I’m reminded of the story Hank Azaria tells about quitting his commercial career right before his TV career took off.  On his very last commercial audition, he went in for the voice of the Kool-Aid Man, who jumps out of your fridge and surprises you.  He did the voice as a homeless guy from Brooklyn, explaining, “Well, he’s this guy who sleeps in your fridge – he’s homeless.”  Of course, he didn’t get the job, but he didn’t care anymore.

It was a beautiful send-off to his commercial career.  I’m no Hank Azaria but I like to think of speaking my mind to Christian Slater as the unofficial end of my acting career, which made me a folk hero to actors low on the totem pole everywhere, who are terrified of saying the wrong thing for fear of their tenuous momentum being destroyed.

Here’s my scene from the show if you’d like to watch: