When Christian Slater starred in “Pump Up the Volume” 26 years ago, the film spoke to suburban teen misfits everywhere ― but it turns out it may have influenced his most recent television film role, too.
Slater, who sat down with filmmaker Justin Kelly and HuffPost’s Lauren Moraski last week to discuss their new movie “King Cobra,” looked back on “Pump Up the Volume” and the way it impacted the culture decades before.
Moraski mentioned that the film had partially inspired her to start her career in radio, and Slater suggested that there may be a link between the concepts in the movie and his role in USA Network’s “Mr. Robot.”
“It’s great to hear how movies you make, they do influence people,” Slater said. “I’ve even heard [creator of the show] Sam Esmail say that ― certainly because there’s similarities between ‘Pump Up The Volume’ and the subject matters that we’re dealing with and ‘Mr. Robot,’ so that’s always amazing to me.”
Obviously, the film and TV show aren’t exactly the same ― “Pump Up The Volume” centers around a high school student who creates his own unauthorized radio station, while “Mr. Robot” focuses on a computer hacker ― but Slater drew a comparison between the two.
“The issues that we’re dealing with, they’re similar, but definitely taken to a more global scale in ‘Mr. Robot’ for sure,” he said.
Hear more from Slater in the clip above and check out his full HuffPost interview here.
“King Cobra,” which also stars James Franco and Molly Ringwald, is currently available in select theaters and On Demand.