Exclusive Profile: KIEFER SUTHERLAND TALKS 24 AND HIS FILM CAREER
Kiefer Sutherland had a successful career when he was young making some of the classic films from the 1980s and early 1990s. But after that he had stopped making movies before 24 came across his lap. He was burned out and working on a farm wasn’t helping. For him, the series gave him his opportunity to become the star he once was and would be again.
In honor of the Fox network re-airing two hour blocks of the exceptional fifth season of 24 every Friday night, an older, wiser Sutherland reflects on his career, the future of 24, and being a second generation Hollywood actor.
iF MAGAZINE: So how many bad days can one man have?
KIEFER SUTHERLAND: I think an audience is going to finally tell us that. Apparently five is alright and we will try for six. It’s going to be up to the audience and they will decide that. We always believe that the idea of the show – the time format – was the star of the show. I want to do it for as long as an audience will allow me to do that. But I think the show will go on longer than I go on because I think if I go on much longer, I will be walking down the street with a cane.
iF: How many injuries have you incurred this season?
SUTHERLAND: Well, I don’t talk about it very often because I don’t want to jinx it but nothing’s happened this year.
iF: What did Jack bring to your career?
SUTHERLAND: Everything. I had stopped for a long time because I wasn’t getting the films that I wanted to do and I was making films that I didn’t like. I had to stop and take a serious break and figure out what I was going to do. I had a farm and stayed there for a while and realized that wasn’t going to work. And I missed it after a while. I realized that there was some fantastic drama on TV and I had some opportunities. The funny thing about TV, is I read 24 and it was very different and it was one of those things that was either going to work or not work. If it doesn’t work it’s a pilot no one will ever see it and bury it. If it does, you get lucky. We just got incredibly lucky. In all fairness it’s given me my opportunity back.
iF: How do you feel about people remembering you for Jack Bauer over anything else?
SUTHERLAND: If that happens, I’m not that worried about it. I am very lucky to have made 40-odd films before 24 and 10 of those were No. 1 films and are still very successful. I have also been fortunate enough to do films in the break. Look, if this is what I am remembered for as an actor, I can live with that.
iF: If you could go back to when you were 18 and tell yourself something, what advice would you give yourself knowing what you now know?
SUTHERLAND: Well, I started at 17 and 18 with STAND BY ME, LOST BOYS, YOUNG GUNS, FLATLINERS and I thought, "Wow! This is cool. I thought it was going to be a lot harder." I had no idea the hard was coming around the corner. I would have told myself to enjoy it, not to take it for granted. It’s a gift, it’s an absolute privilege to be able to do this. And to take that for granted is something you do because you are so young. I would have told myself to enjoy it and not take it for granted.
iF: Have you found people’s reactions to you different since you have come into their TV screens as opposed to on the big screen?
SUTHERLAND: No, because I think that really existed before I started working. That existed with my Dad. With VHS and DVD and 500 cable channels, the line between TV and film, which used to be very defined, is very muddy now. The size of the screen is smaller but not much. I have seen guys with bigger TVs in their house than some of the smaller theaters that I go to. What I have noticed which is really amazing is when I started working there were six studios that made 56 movies a year and now there are four studios that make 29 to 31 movies a year. They have figured out that they can make more money investing $200 million in one film as opposed to making five films for $40 million.
And so out of that was born the great special effects, action extravaganza. Films that I grew up loving, BREAKING AWAY, ORDINARY PEOPLE, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, those films just went away. And TV almost adopted story telling and drama. Look at HBO who has made the best shows of the past five years like THE SOPRANOS. All of those shows were made possible because ER and NYPD BLUE broke a lot of ground. And then you had writers like Aaron Sorkin who loved making THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT. He wanted to do that film again, nobody wanted to do it, so he went and made THE WEST WING, an amazing show. All of a sudden you watch this shift take place. You are going to find great drama on TV. You have a hard time finding it in the theater on any consistent level. Unless of course it is Academy Award time and then you’ll find you’re small independent films with great stories and with the right campaign will finally get it into the theater.
iF: What do you consider your best work and worst work?
SUTHERLAND: I would have to say films like PROMISED LAND with Meg Ryan. It really wasn’t as much my best work. I was so young at the time. It was what directors really knew how to work with a young person and help them get to a place. But I had a blast on LOST BOYS. I made 4 or 5 films with Joel Schumacher – PHONE BOOTH, LOST BOYS, FLATLINERS, A TIME TO KILL. I loved working with him. STAND BY ME with Rob Reiner I loved doing. That thing with Meg Ryan I liked a lot. There were films where I thought "what am I doing." A film like 1969, I thought was just not good. There was a couple like that. I don’t like to talk about those because I had friends who worked on those. But trust me I am very aware there were many films where I made bad choices and was not very good in them. There were a lot of films where I had a lot of help and guidance…those were guys I loved. They were really helpful.
iF: Is being second generation Hollywood royalty a curse or a blessing?
SUTHERLAND: It’s a blessing. The fact I had a father who was so successful and prolific was an incredible help. Between my mother and father I had a very good idea about what was good for an actor. By that I mean if you look at DON’T LOOK NOW, 1900, ORDINARY PEOPLE and KELLY’S HEROES – and that’s just pulling out a few – that’s what you want as an actor. At a very early age as a young actor I knew what to aspire to, what to try to get to. More importantly, I also knew that it went up and down. I watched it happen with my father and mother. So I was a little more prepared for the down when it finally hit. It hit me quite early. And I also knew that it wasn’t the end of my life. Because you come out the other end if you just don’t panic. It’s like getting hit by a wave. If you don’t fight it, the wave will spit you out. I knew that because my parents had done this for a living. I watched other young actors who did it at that time and similar things happened to them. And you can’t help but take it personally. They took it very personally because they had no point of reference. And I have always had a point of reference with my father.
iF: What kind of feedback are you getting from your Dad about 24?
SUTHERLAND: He’s been so nice. He’s been a dad. He’s so gracious about it. I believe he generally likes the show. He’s gone out of his way to make me feel really good about it. He always makes a point of phoning me to say, “Hey, I just wanted to say Hi, but don’t call me back because I am watching your show.” He is so glad that I have a job. As a Dad he is glad I have a job. I phoned him to congratulate him when his show got picked up. He sounded exactly like I did when I found out 24 got picked up. Because when you make the pilot, the first thing they tell you is these things never get picked up. So you don’t think about the reality of maybe doing something for seven years. So I phoned him to congratulate him and he sounded so scared. He was like, “I didn’t think it would get picked up.” I started laughing and said that’s exactly how I felt, trust me, you’ll love it.
iF: THE THREE MUSKETEERS, Do you have good memories?
SUTHERLAND: I have fantastic memories. There was an area called The Bermuda Triangle. There was a rock and roll bar. I spent the next two months trying to find it and I never could. It was only in a four-block radius. I thought I had found every place there.
(Source)
"if this is what I am remembered for as an actor, I can live with that." ==> C'est clair, il fait du sacré bon boulot pour ça !
Sujet: Re: INTERVIEW PRESSE DE KIEFER OU SUR 24H 
Mer 7 Juin - 19:51
Tout ça pour 
tranquille en terrasse !!
Quelqu'un a une idée ?
Merci pour l'article, je l'ai agrandit et imprimé, c'est super 
Quelle rapidité, il a l'air assez bref et peu de photos finalement...Je ne l'ai pas lu, je vais me l'acheter à l'aéroport ;)
source
