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TCA Press Tour: Locker room deal seals Christian Slater

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Many Hollywood deals are made over lunch at Spago, others are made in high-level meetings in management or studio suites.

Jerry Bruckheimer’s deal that brought Christian Slater to star in his new ABC drama, ‘The Forgotten,’ was made in a locker room.

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Bruckheimer, the movie mogul who is also the driving force behind several TV procedurals such as ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigations’ and its spinoffs, was changing in a locker room after playing hockey when he got into a conversation with Slater’s agent.

‘He said, ‘I hear you’re casting for a new show,’’ Bruckheimer said today during a press panel for the show. ‘He asked, ‘What do you think about Christian Slater?’’

The producer said he was extremely interested in working with Slater, whose last TV venture was the heavily promoted but short-lived NBC thriller, ‘My Own Worst Enemy.’ The talk eventually led to an agreement.

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‘It came together in a locker room,’ Slater said.

The show revolves around a group of amateur investigators who figure out the identities of Jane and John Does. Slater plays an ex-cop who helps the group.

Slater said he didn’t have any reluctance returning to TV after his last ill-fated experience, in which he played a man who unwittingly has a double life as a secret agent. He was controlled by his bosses through a microchip.

‘I had a great time doing that show,’ he said. ‘It was certainly a challenge, and difficult. The impression out there was that I didn’t want to do TV again...but it is a nicer experience to play someone who doesn’t have a microchip in his head.’

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--Greg Braxton

--Photo: Christian Slater/Credit: Getty Images

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