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Kiefer Sutherland Q&A - Radio Times, February 2004 |
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Benji Wilson talked to the star of 24 about his career revival.
BW: So, this is the third worst
day of Jack Bauer's life, and
series three has already
won a Golden Globe in
America - what's the
magic formula?
KS: The set-up and the dramatic
structure are the same in every
detail - it's still in real time,
there's a crisis and my character
is dealing with it. This time
round we're three years on from
the last series and the situation
Jack's up against is a bio-terrorist
threat .
24 has habitually killed off
major characters at
unexpected moments.
Is there any chance that
you could find yourself
suddenly unemployed?
No one on our show is safe. The
most important thing is every
actor knows that, to maintain the
level of surprise.
All the actors always swear
blind they don't know
what's going to happen -
do you know?
Well in many cases the writers
don't know what's going to
happen, either.
Before 24 you were best
known as one of the 80s
Hollywood Brat Pack. Is the
image of bad boys causing
a ruckus true?
It's not really true. The term
Brat Pack was actually
coined in an article in
Vanity Fair. And I wasn't
mentioned in it. In fact, a lot
of the people in the article, like
Rob Lowe, I've never even
been in a film with.
But it is true that in your
work pre-24 you always
used to get cast as
criminals, bullies or
psychos. Why do you
think that was?
Part of it was my fault. When
you're a young actor you like to
go for characters with a bit of
flair, so in films like The Lost
Boys and Stand by Me I ended
up playing the weirdos .
In the late 90s you were
a big hit on the rodeo
circuit. Did you get thrown off
bulls for fun?
Bull riding? No. There are two
kinds of event in rodeo and
bull riding's one of the
roughstock events. I was into
immobilising cows - roping
and securing them.
Is it fair to say that you
were taking time to rope
cows because your movie
career wasn't exactly
flying high?
Yes. Very fair. I think that's one
of the fairest descriptions of
my 90s career I've ever heard!
You could say I was not on
everybody's first list to do the
bigger films. Luckily other
opportunities have come along.
They certainly have! So
back to 24 then. Will
there be a fourth series?
I think if it keeps winning
Golden Globes that makes it
pretty hard to cancel, but
stranger things have happened.
One final question: you're
the executive producer as
well as the star of the
series. Does that mean you
could order the writers to
plonk Jack in a champagne
bath with a different
supermodel at the end
of each episode?
Unfortunately not. If I do have
a say in what happens to Jack,
I certainly haven't exercised it.
But it's a good idea…
I might look in to it.
**
Read our interview with Kiefer Sutherland - or take a look at our full 24 guide.
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