The interview has been translated from French to English.
(Thanks, Hoppel24!)
Interview with Kiefer Sutherland To meet Jack Bauer, that’s a little bit like having one of the last executors in front of oneself. If you approve the behaviour of this agent or not, it is a fact that the show “24” is a world wide success. And recently there was even shot a TV-movie, with a special of 1 and a half hours, in South Africa, entitled “Redemption”. The goal was to connect two seasons by a somewhat special way.
This article is not aiming at revealing to you what will happen in the course of next season, but to get to know a little better my neighbour in a certain quarter of Los Angeles. A cool actor, who wants to go to old cafés in order to produce rock-groups which make “Zanzana” by Karim Ben Amor look poor. Kiefer Sutherland has just returned into the room and suddenly there is this way intense. He asks me, in French, why he doesn’t see me anymore at “Millies’s”, a diner on Sunset Blvd. “Too much work” I am answering, above all since I have to write on American politics. “Good for you, man.” This proves that the most controversial agent in American fiction is on Obama’s side.
You started with the show at the age of 34 and now you have turned 42. How do you manage to stay in this character, adding every season something new? After all, he has changed in all the years.
You have to stay fit and physically you have to adapt. I remember the Fox-party for the 150th episode of the show. They had shot a funny documentary on the shooting of “24” – going from season 1 to season 6. When the documentary went by, you realized that you have grown older during this time. We played soccer and end of the 4th season there was nobody who wanted to run and get the ball! That’s when you notice that you have spent the best years of your life with this show. I am sure that I have changed. And I try to incorporate this change in my personality into the show. Jack Bauer is so complex that I have to be careful as as actor what I am doing so that Jack stays credible. So I try to get enough sleep, work out and to fight “gravity” in some way or other (laughs…)
How did the show change your life?
I have still the same hobbies, I like hockey, skiing and music. I like to do these things even more, as I learnt to appreciate them. I feel more at ease than at the end of season 1 where we were still searching our ground. The writers told us at that time that they were not even sure if they could write 24 episodes in real times. In the beginning we thought of making 13. Finally, they went on and I finally understood that my life would revolve around this show. And recently, there was the writer’s strike. It was difficult for everybody, as we were in an uncertain position. This affected everybody: the actors, the directors, the costume designers. It was not the situation where one could say: “It’s wonderful, I can have a holiday of 4 months!” We were very well aware of the seriousness of the situation. But in spite of this, I have not changed much, I still love what I do.
Could you be an agent like Jack Bauer?
I have had the chance to meet the people who work in this genre. Really, one week I met a woman who does exactly what I do on CTU. She is director of this section in Philadelphia. I realized that in reality they do much more than I do in the show. I even met a counter-terrorist expert from CIA who was scolded by his mum that he is not as quick as Jack Bauer. I felt like having to apologize to his mum (laughs). What I learnt above all when meeting these people is that they are very competent, very patient and that this is very different from what we are doing at the show. This is not reality. Our work means finding a balance between entertaining people and a certain reality so that they stay hooked.
You are a good shooter?
I am struggling, but I think I have become better. The most bizarre thing is that I do not like weapons. But I am able to dismantle a weapon and put it together again with my eyes closed, if I wear one. Moreover, I have improved at aiming at a goal. At the same time I am very well aware what you can do with a weapon and what I look at how I was wearing my gun in season 1, I find myself better now.
What is the power of Jack Bauer and the show?
Everybody loves this show for a different reason. From the beginning, when I met people and asked them, what they liked about my character, they all answered that the reason is that Jack Bauer does not win all the time. He succeeds in saving the president in season 1, but he loses his wife. In season 2, his daughter does not want to see him anymore, in season 4 he has a relationship with a character played by Kim Raver and finally this does not work. He always does a good job, but this has always consequences for his private life, more or less negative ones. This is the same for all people. People do their job and succeed in having a roof over their head, but it is never easy. Nobody can rest on one’s laurels. This allows me to identify with this character and I think the audience does as well. It’s true that at the movies, at the theatre or on TV the audience wants the hero to win. When writing the shows, I realize that there is a different development.
What did you watch on television before “24” started?
I made a small movie, named “Last Light” with Forest Whitaker and Amanda Plummer. This was a drama about a prisoner sentenced to death, which dealt with the death sentence here in the United States. It was made with a budget of 1,2 Million Dollars, that’s nothing big. At that time I watched the show “Emergency Room”. I was told their camera movements were great. I immediately got hooked.
I contacted the people responsible for this show, asked them a lot of questions about the costs of an episode, their way of filming, number of rehearsals before shooting the scene. This show had an extraordinary look. I suddenly realized that all these qualities which you do not see at the movie theatres right now, you can see on TV-shows now, like “Emergency Room” or “NYPD Blue”. I realized that the real innovation took place on TV and I was very much interested beforehand. There were “West Wing”, “The Sopranos”, “Sex and the City”. In these shows I found everything what I had loved in movies. And then “24” came.
Which TV-actors do you like most?
There are a lot. David Duchovny, for example. I discovered him in “X-Files” and he is absolutely awesome in “Californication”. Martin Sheen in “West Wing.” Anthony Edwards and George Clooney at the great time of “Emergency Room”. Mostly because of them I watch these shows.
I realized that you have become a grandfather – with 42!
It’s phenomenal. I will never forget the marriage of my daughter Michelle. Her dad dies when she was three years and I was a sort of replacement when I married her mother. I lived through two of the best days of my life during her marriage in Scotland about 6 years ago and when she gave birth. When she was small, she had some health issues and I was worried because of the baby she was expecting. I made a huge sigh of relief when I saw that the mum and the baby were ok. It was late and I returned from a long day of shooting “24”. She hardly made it to the hospital, waited for a while and gave birth 10 minutes later. I will never forget this joy and excitement I felt when she had given birth to her baby. And I felt the same joy, but still more hug, when my daughter Sarah was born. It’s very interesting to watch the own children raise their children, finding themselves in the same difficulties. My grandson is very funny, he is the only boy in the family. He is surrounded by girls and gets all the attention. It’s super to watch.
Last question: You still have your music label?
Yes, it’s called “Ironworks” and we have four groups on the label, “Honey Honey”, “Rocco de Luca and the Burden”, “Billy Boy on Poison” and a young English artist, who has just signed and is called Jim Stapley. I am very proud of this adventure. It is very gratifying to watch them grow and to be able to help them in a situation in the record market which is not easy. I feel really luck that I can listen to rock-music I love and help these young ones produce their own record. "
Source Link: JetSetMagazine.Net
Thanks again Hoppel24 for the translation.
This article is not aiming at revealing to you what will happen in the course of next season, but to get to know a little better my neighbour in a certain quarter of Los Angeles. A cool actor, who wants to go to old cafés in order to produce rock-groups which make “Zanzana” by Karim Ben Amor look poor. Kiefer Sutherland has just returned into the room and suddenly there is this way intense. He asks me, in French, why he doesn’t see me anymore at “Millies’s”, a diner on Sunset Blvd. “Too much work” I am answering, above all since I have to write on American politics. “Good for you, man.” This proves that the most controversial agent in American fiction is on Obama’s side.
You started with the show at the age of 34 and now you have turned 42. How do you manage to stay in this character, adding every season something new? After all, he has changed in all the years.
You have to stay fit and physically you have to adapt. I remember the Fox-party for the 150th episode of the show. They had shot a funny documentary on the shooting of “24” – going from season 1 to season 6. When the documentary went by, you realized that you have grown older during this time. We played soccer and end of the 4th season there was nobody who wanted to run and get the ball! That’s when you notice that you have spent the best years of your life with this show. I am sure that I have changed. And I try to incorporate this change in my personality into the show. Jack Bauer is so complex that I have to be careful as as actor what I am doing so that Jack stays credible. So I try to get enough sleep, work out and to fight “gravity” in some way or other (laughs…)
How did the show change your life?
I have still the same hobbies, I like hockey, skiing and music. I like to do these things even more, as I learnt to appreciate them. I feel more at ease than at the end of season 1 where we were still searching our ground. The writers told us at that time that they were not even sure if they could write 24 episodes in real times. In the beginning we thought of making 13. Finally, they went on and I finally understood that my life would revolve around this show. And recently, there was the writer’s strike. It was difficult for everybody, as we were in an uncertain position. This affected everybody: the actors, the directors, the costume designers. It was not the situation where one could say: “It’s wonderful, I can have a holiday of 4 months!” We were very well aware of the seriousness of the situation. But in spite of this, I have not changed much, I still love what I do.
Could you be an agent like Jack Bauer?
I have had the chance to meet the people who work in this genre. Really, one week I met a woman who does exactly what I do on CTU. She is director of this section in Philadelphia. I realized that in reality they do much more than I do in the show. I even met a counter-terrorist expert from CIA who was scolded by his mum that he is not as quick as Jack Bauer. I felt like having to apologize to his mum (laughs). What I learnt above all when meeting these people is that they are very competent, very patient and that this is very different from what we are doing at the show. This is not reality. Our work means finding a balance between entertaining people and a certain reality so that they stay hooked.
You are a good shooter?
I am struggling, but I think I have become better. The most bizarre thing is that I do not like weapons. But I am able to dismantle a weapon and put it together again with my eyes closed, if I wear one. Moreover, I have improved at aiming at a goal. At the same time I am very well aware what you can do with a weapon and what I look at how I was wearing my gun in season 1, I find myself better now.
What is the power of Jack Bauer and the show?
Everybody loves this show for a different reason. From the beginning, when I met people and asked them, what they liked about my character, they all answered that the reason is that Jack Bauer does not win all the time. He succeeds in saving the president in season 1, but he loses his wife. In season 2, his daughter does not want to see him anymore, in season 4 he has a relationship with a character played by Kim Raver and finally this does not work. He always does a good job, but this has always consequences for his private life, more or less negative ones. This is the same for all people. People do their job and succeed in having a roof over their head, but it is never easy. Nobody can rest on one’s laurels. This allows me to identify with this character and I think the audience does as well. It’s true that at the movies, at the theatre or on TV the audience wants the hero to win. When writing the shows, I realize that there is a different development.
What did you watch on television before “24” started?
I made a small movie, named “Last Light” with Forest Whitaker and Amanda Plummer. This was a drama about a prisoner sentenced to death, which dealt with the death sentence here in the United States. It was made with a budget of 1,2 Million Dollars, that’s nothing big. At that time I watched the show “Emergency Room”. I was told their camera movements were great. I immediately got hooked.
I contacted the people responsible for this show, asked them a lot of questions about the costs of an episode, their way of filming, number of rehearsals before shooting the scene. This show had an extraordinary look. I suddenly realized that all these qualities which you do not see at the movie theatres right now, you can see on TV-shows now, like “Emergency Room” or “NYPD Blue”. I realized that the real innovation took place on TV and I was very much interested beforehand. There were “West Wing”, “The Sopranos”, “Sex and the City”. In these shows I found everything what I had loved in movies. And then “24” came.
Which TV-actors do you like most?
There are a lot. David Duchovny, for example. I discovered him in “X-Files” and he is absolutely awesome in “Californication”. Martin Sheen in “West Wing.” Anthony Edwards and George Clooney at the great time of “Emergency Room”. Mostly because of them I watch these shows.
I realized that you have become a grandfather – with 42!
It’s phenomenal. I will never forget the marriage of my daughter Michelle. Her dad dies when she was three years and I was a sort of replacement when I married her mother. I lived through two of the best days of my life during her marriage in Scotland about 6 years ago and when she gave birth. When she was small, she had some health issues and I was worried because of the baby she was expecting. I made a huge sigh of relief when I saw that the mum and the baby were ok. It was late and I returned from a long day of shooting “24”. She hardly made it to the hospital, waited for a while and gave birth 10 minutes later. I will never forget this joy and excitement I felt when she had given birth to her baby. And I felt the same joy, but still more hug, when my daughter Sarah was born. It’s very interesting to watch the own children raise their children, finding themselves in the same difficulties. My grandson is very funny, he is the only boy in the family. He is surrounded by girls and gets all the attention. It’s super to watch.
Last question: You still have your music label?
Yes, it’s called “Ironworks” and we have four groups on the label, “Honey Honey”, “Rocco de Luca and the Burden”, “Billy Boy on Poison” and a young English artist, who has just signed and is called Jim Stapley. I am very proud of this adventure. It is very gratifying to watch them grow and to be able to help them in a situation in the record market which is not easy. I feel really luck that I can listen to rock-music I love and help these young ones produce their own record. "
Source Link: JetSetMagazine.Net
Thanks again Hoppel24 for the translation.
No comments:
Post a Comment