The Edinburgh Festival is set to get a touch of Hollywood as actor Christian Slater is set to present one of the top prizes.The actor, who appeared at the prestigious comedy festival in 2004 in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, will award one of 350 shows on the bill the £8,000 ($16,000) if.comedy prize - formerly known as the Perrier award. He says, "Having made my U.K. stage debut at the Fringe, I am delighted to be returning to Edinburgh."Past winners of the gong include eminent British comics Steve Coogan, Lee Evans and The League Of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith.Slater made his movie debut in The Legend of Billie Jean in 1985 and throughout the late eighties and nineties was widely regarded as a leading man starring in Heathers, True Romance and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.In recent years Slater has struggled to maintain this leading man status. In 2004 he switched the big screen for the stage when he took Jack Nicholson's part of Randle P.McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.The play opened at the Edinburgh fringe Festival before having a successful run in the West End. Slater is set to return to the West End in the stage adaptation of Swimming With Sharks.

The show opens at the London Vaudeville Theatre on 16 October for a 15 week run.


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