HOLLYWOOD -- For almost two decades, Christian Slater was the poster boy for bad behaviour.

"It's a total miracle I'm here today. My entire 20s were a disaster. I had to go through a lot of major changes in order to appreciate my life," says Slater.

Those changes include swearing off drugs and alcohol and curbing everything from his temper to his driving habits.

"I guess you could say my one vice is still having a bit of a heavy foot when it comes to driving. I have everything else under my control."

That was not the case back in 1989. Slater was 19 and the star of the movie Heathers when he kicked a policeman who was trying to handcuff him for speeding and resisting arrest.

Slater spent 10 days in jail.

It would be the first of three major arrests.

In 1998, he was sent to prison for 59 days for assaulting a girlfriend, biting a man who tried to intervene and hitting the arresting officer.

Slater was high on cocaine at the time.

"I spent my 20s making it as difficult as possible for people to depend on me, rely on me or like me, especially people in the (film) business.

"Now, I'm having to prove myself. Things are no longer handed to me. I have to go after them. I have to work for everything I get."

This was certainly the case with his role in John Woo's war drama Windtalkers.

Slater plays an officer named Ox Henderson, who is assigned to protect a Navajo code talker played by Roger Willie.

"As his nickname implies, the character was supposed to be this big, lumbering guy. I wanted so badly to be in the movie and this was the one character I felt I could do well."

It was an uphill battle.

Slater had worked with Woo on Broken Arrow in 1996, two years before his meltdown.

"I went to John and promised him I was completely reformed. The studio didn't want me, but John went to bat for me and I'll always be grateful to him for doing that."

Woo kept the character's nickname, but made him a California boy from a small town named Oxnard.

Slater says he refuses to try to justify his past behaviour, but he does offer an explanation.

"I was thrust into the business very young and with no real tools or guidance to handle the success I enjoyed."

Slater's mother is casting agent Mary Jo Slater.

"I was 10 years old when I was touring (opposite Dick Van Dyke) in a road show version of The Music Man. I was 14 when I started doing TV and movies. It was all very surreal. It was hard on me, but it was harder on people who wanted to be around me.

"I had to learn to like myself and find out who I am before I could learn to really love someone else."

Slater found that love in former TV producer Ryan Haddon, his wife, and mother of his two children.

"My son is almost two and my daughter is almost one. Life is great now because being a dad is great. They run me ragged, but it's the best feeling in the world."

Slater says he is writing a screenplay based on a novel and has just completed work on the Renny Harlin thriller Mindhunters.

"I'd like to be busier than I am, but I realize for studios it's a bit hard to put someone's face on their posters if they've been in jail."


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