I’ve added scans from next month’s issue of Esquire, which includes a story and some pretty new photoshoot pictures of Kiefer. I’ve also added the HQ pics to the photoshoot album. Make sure to check them out in the gallery!

Kiefer Sutherland has said that he doesn’t know how he coped with the physical demands of filming 24.

In an interview and photoshoot with Esquire, the 47-year-old actor opened up about filming the hit US series.

“Physically, 24 is a hard show to do,” he told the magazine. “I look back and see we did 192 episodes over eight seasons. I don’t know how we did it. It makes you want to go take a nap.”

Sutherland also said that he was struggling to cope with aging, and spoke about turning 45.

“That was the first age I ever hit where I started doing the maths,” he said. “‘In five years I will be 50. Oh my God, in 10 years I’ll be 55. In 20 years I will be 65. At 65 you get half-price tickets to f**king movies, holy s**t.

“It made me acknowledge how much I’ve enjoyed my life. I’ve got a really wonderful family, and some fantastic friends.”

He also spoke about starring alongside his father Donald Sutherland in upcoming movie Forsaken.

“There’s something about saying this dialog and telling this story and looking into that face and the experience I have had, like any son does, of wanting my father to be proud, wanting him to love me.

“My memory of my life with him took over. It may be one of my most honest moments as an actor.”

He also alluded to the fact that filming the movie together brought the father and son closer together.

“Every once in a while I will have a cigarette,” Sutherland continued. “My father is a staunch non-smoker and he finished a couple of days before I did on set.

“The last thing he said on his way out, and my father is not one for goodbyes, was over the walkie-talkie. He said: ‘I just want to tell all of you, including my son, that this has been one of the great joys of my career and my life. Smoke ’em if you got ’em.’ And everyone on set laughed, and lit up.”

The full interview appears in Esquire’s July issue, on sale Thursday, June 5. Also available as a digital edition.

Source

Kiefer Sutherland didn’t hesitate at the chance to get back in the skin of Jack Bauer when the opportunity arose to revisit “24” in limited-series form — a ride that begins May 5 with a two-hour premiere. In a candid Q&A, the actor routinely described by colleagues as “gentlemanly” and “gracious” discusses what it’s like to be synonymous with a character, the luxury of producing 12 episodes instead of 24 and his introduction to binge viewing with “Game of Thrones.”

Variety: How was it for you to get back into “24” mode as an actor.
Kiefer Sutherland: Probably for me it was the easiest out of anyone involved in the process of making the show — which has now become an international process. I think it’s hardest for (exec producers) Howard (Gordon), Manny (Coto) and Evan (Katz), and the rest of the writers. This (revival) was something Howard did on his own. It was something he’s been toying with in his head for quite some time. When he felt he really had something he wanted to do, that’s when he called me.

Were you nervous at all about being able to live up to the show’s legacy?
Sutherland: For me the character is something I did for eight seasons over a period of almost 10 years. It’s something that I feel so familiar with that it was not difficult for me at all. I rely very heavily on (director) Jon Cassar. If anything I’m doing seems out of the ordinary, he will tell me. It’s not that I wasn’t nervous about it after looking back on everything we did. But the character is something innate in me just because of the amount of time I played him.

Have you felt typecast in action roles because you are now synonymous with Jack Bauer?
Sutherland: No, I’ve been allowed to do other work, that’s not been a problem. I am proud of what we did (on ‘24’). It’s not something I tried to escape. I take it as a compliment that people think of me as Jack Bauer.

But have you ever felt a little haunted by him?
Sutherland: I think for some actors, they would have a hard time with it. I still have people come up to me and call me Jack. I find it amusing. I know that would bother some other people, but it doesn’t bother me. ‘24’ is such a big part of my life. When I started on it my daughter was 12. When I finally finished, she had graduated from university. It’s been a huge part of my life and my family’s life. It’s something I feel really positively about.

So when you got the call to do “Live Another Day,” you didn’t hesitate?
Sutherland: I was quite thrilled to have the opportunity to do it again. We’ve had a long break and we all had renewed energy to do it.

What was it like filming in London?
Sutherland: Fantastic. Everything is so unique and it’s new for all of us to be there. It’s also new for all of the characters. My character finds himself more comfortable in the situation and the resources he finds in London. It’s been good for the writers to have new context for the show.

From the start “24” was eerily ahead of its time in its depiction of geopolitical security issues — everything from 9/11 to drones to cyber-threats. It was also a forerunner for the TV biz in being a show that invited binge-viewing.
Sutherland: It was a courageous choice by Fox to stick with us and put us out on DVD (after the first season). I don’t think they intended to drive binge-viewing, I think they hoped people would use the DVDs if they’d missed an episode. I don’t think they imagined that the (DVDs) would do the numbers that they did, or that people would take two or three solid days to watch the season. … I did it with ‘Game of Thrones’ when I worked with Kit Harington on ‘Pompeii.’ I had a lot of downtime for a few days and I watched them all — I enjoyed it immensely.

What’s it like doing the show in 12 hours this time around instead of 24?
Sutherland: It’s a two-fold thing. For the writers, to be very candid with you, if we ever ran into a hiccup in the season it was usually around episode 13 or 14 when we had to make that shift to get to the last eight episodes. That was always the rough spot for us. We don’t have that situation now. The story can be more condensed, more focused and each episode more energized. The writers are given a lot of latitude that they never had before. For Jon and I, it was really funny — after the first couple of episodes I told him ‘This is almost done.’ And he went, ‘No, no, it’s not.’ And I went ‘Trust me, it’s almost done.’

It’s more of a cable schedule. Did that change affect your performance?
Sutherland: We were so trained in the past that we wouldn’t even start counting where we were until after episode 13 or 14. Now, when we finished episodes seven and eight, (Cassar) looked at me and said ‘Oh my god, we’re almost done.’ Somehow it’s been easier to focus when we could really see the light at the end of the tunnel from the get-go. We were really acutely aware of everything that was happening from scene to scene. … It also made us try to figure out how on earth we did eight full seasons of 24 episodes. Everything else I’m watching are shows that make 10-13 episodes a year. I remember when friends of mine on other shows would talk about their schedule, I would say ‘You’re not allowed to talk to me about that.’ It has made me have even more profound respect for Howard and the writers who just did such a prolific amount of work and did such an amazing job with it.

How has it been to reunite with your longtime costars such as Mary Lynn Rajskub and Kim Raver?
Sutherland: It’s fantastic and it’s emotional because we’re friends. We’ve all remained friends. There’s a real excitement because I have great faith in those actors, great trust and a sense of understanding of what they’re going to do with certain things. There’s a familiarity that allows us to move quicker with ideas and situations. For all those reasons it’s really exciting.

Would you be game to do “24” again in this limited-series format?
Sutherland: There’s so many factors. Right now we’re specifically focused on trying to make these 12 episodes live up to the audience’s expectations. That’s what I’m really focused on. I’ve had a wonderful time doing this, but I’m not in a place to answer that question.

Source

At this point, can anything stop Jack Bauer? For eight punishing seasons, the toughest man in TV weathered explosives, torture, his daughter’s kidnapping, his own kidnapping, the deaths of his wife and a girlfriend, the murders of his best friend and various bosses, and enough nuclear suitcases, psychos — and, oh, that damned ticking clock! — to send lesser heroes scampering off to a safe house (or an early grave).

Even 24’s series finale in 2010 could not keep our hero down. 24: Live Another Day brings Jack back for 12 new installments of murder, madness and more awkward eye contact with intelligence analyst Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Picking up four years later, with the action moved to London, the show packs twice the drama into half as many hours for a new season that star Kiefer Sutherland says is “darker, wilder and moves like a damned racehorse.”

TV Guide Magazine: 24 went out with a glorious bang. Why not leave well enough alone?
Kiefer Sutherland: It was done for me. I went off to do a play in New York, a movie in Sweden and then got involved with Touch. But when I called [executive producer] Howard Gordon to congratulate him for winning the Golden Globe for Homeland, he said, “So, I have this thing that’s been gnawing at me.” I thought he had a new show in mind. I was pleasantly surprised when he brought up 24. The decision to get back into it took me about 15 minutes. Then I spent the next six months going, “What the hell did I take on?”

TV Guide Magazine: You’re nervous about it?
Sutherland: Absolutely. Walking away as cleanly as we did, there was a real sense of accomplishment. We always said there were things we could do better or tried to improve on, but I was as proud of 24 as anything I’ve ever done. So now we owe it to the franchise and our audience to maintain that extraordinary level of quality and heart-pounding drama. I remember looking at [executive producer] Jon Cassar that first day of shooting and saying, “Look, if you see me doing anything that doesn’t remind you of Jack Bauer, you’ve got to tell me right away.”

TV Guide Magazine: Set the scene for Live Another Day.
Sutherland: This may not sound possible, but Jack is harder and colder than he’s ever been. When we first see him, he’s no longer affiliated with CTU or governed by an administration. He’s been displaced from his family, from his country, and he’s unable to explain his side of the story [since going off the grid after killing a slew of Russian diplomats]. He’s being hunted by the CIA and FBI and is in a very angry place where he doesn’t trust anybody. And Chloe starts off as Jack’s adversary this time. She’s nearly as dark as Jack is. But in a reverse of previous seasons, Jack gets more in touch with the human aspects of his character as time progress.

TV Guide Magazine: Was it like seeing ghosts when you did scenes with President James Heller (William Devane) and his daughter, Audrey Raines (Kim Raver), who last appeared at the end of Day 6?
Sutherland: Not for me personally, because I’ve remained friends with Bill and Kim all these years. But certainly when Jack sees Audrey again for the first time, it’s a bomb drop for him and one of the most emotional moments the character has ever had.

TV Guide Magazine: Yvonne Strahovski plays CIA operative Kate Morgan. Is she friend or foe?
Sutherland: He’s running from her in the beginning. She reminds Jack of a younger version of himself. She believes in doing the right thing, which doesn’t always mean following the rules. The objective is the most important thing for her.

TV Guide Magazine: You were born in London. What’s it like shooting there?
Sutherland: The city’s taken a real interest in us and it’s been fun running through those beautiful streets. We shoot on Sundays because London’s traffic is so bad during the week, and we don’t want to add to that. But you won’t see us in front of Tower Bridge or Westminster Abbey. It’s a different London we’re after.

TV Guide Magazine: When 24 premiered in November 2001, you were 34. Being an action hero must be harder at 47.
Sutherland: Good Lord, yes. I am older. There’s no way around that. But I had the luxury of training for four or five months coming into this, and when we started, I was in the best shape of my life. That helped me bounce back faster.

TV Guide Magazine: Did you suffer any injuries?
Sutherland: I was definitely bruised and battered this time around. Once, I went to open a metal door while being shot at and didn’t realize it was a prop. I pulled the door handle off completely and fragments shattered in my face. Then a bullet cartridge firing multiple rounds freakishly hit a metal beam and bounced three inches from my face. I had blood pouring out. But, listen, I’d do anything for this character.

24: Live Another Day premieres Monday, May 5 at 8/7c on Fox.

Source

Kiefer continued his small promotional tour for “24: Live Another Day,” where he stopped “Late Night with Seth Meyers” last night (May 1). You can check out a 4-minute clip of the interview below, as well 293 HD screen captures in our photo gallery. I will be replacing the clip with the full interview later today. So keep checking back for that. Enjoy!

Kiefer stopped by “Live with Kelly & Michael” yesterday morning to promote “24: Live Another Day.” He talked with the hosts about the return of the series, his daughter’s acting career, working with his father, and more. You can check out the 7-minute interview below, as well as 358 HD screen captures in our photo gallery. Enjoy!

What a relief: Our national nightmare has ended, and Jack Bauer is back to save the day. 24 star Kiefer Sutherland returns Monday evening for a 12-episode mini-season of the enormously popular Fox TV drama that ran from 2001 to 2010. This time it’s called 24: Live Another Day (see the tick-down time clock, previews and more info at the link), and will be slightly different in that it won’t be played out in an actual-timeframe. As Sutherland said in a media conference call Wednesday, “Now you can see me getting on a train or a plane, then getting off the train, as opposing to having to see me struck on the train for the next two hours.”

24: Live Another Day debuts Monday (May 7) with a two-hour premiere from 8 to 10 p.m. on Fox.

The conference call, from New York, actually was broken into two segments, a very short portion on Wednesday that was canceled because of telephone issues on Sutherland’s end, and then a half-hour session with journalists from all over the country (questions and news organization precede Sutherland’s answers; if you don’t see them now, it means I couldn’t understand the name over the phone, but this blog will be updated in a few hours when the transcript becomes available).

Because I know you want to know, yes, Kiefer Sutherland is a great guy, soft-spoken, funny without being snarky, smart, and so gracious and apologetic about the phone problems on Wednesday. He might not be able to defuse a bomb for you, but he’d sure be fun to have lunch with. (And Kiefer: I’m available, anytime.)

So here we go:

The Dallas Morning News: With all the phone problems yesterday, our first thoughts were, “Dammit, Chloe! We only have five minutes! Get this fixed.” [“Dammit, Chloe” was an oft-uttered epithet on the old show. Mary Lynn Rajskub returns as the character in the reboot.] Also, if this is successful, would you consider doing more of these limited 12-episode seasons, which are becoming more popular on cable, network and Internet shows?

Kiefer, chuckling: “The questions I usually got [about the show’s technology] were about how my [Jack’s] cellphone never seems to fail. Well, let me tell you, my cellphone, Kiefer Sutherland’s cellphone, wasn’t working at all yesterday.” As for the possibility of another season or more, “That’s not something I would ever say ‘no’ to categorically,” but there are a lot of factors that would have to be considered.

TVLine.com: How do you separate the wheat from the chaff, getting the best (or worst) 12 hours of Jack Bauer for this?

Kiefer: “We’ve managed to take the 12 episodes and make them as concentrated and focused in the storytelling as possible. … Before, we always kind of ran into an issue in the storytelling in episode 14 or 15, trying to turn it for the last eight [in a 24-episode season].

Niagara Frontier Publications (Western New York): How did you approach this iconic role the second time around? And what’s Bauer’s motivation to even come out of hiding and do this, as mad as he was when the last season ended?

Kiefer: “I felt really confident about the eight seasons we had done, and there was no different approach for me. We weren’t trying to retell the story. … It was just kind of getting back into the character and the nervousness of opening up the can again.” As for Bauer’s motivation, Kiefer didn’t want to spoil too much, but let’s just say there’s a threat that could easily set off World War III, and he’s worried for his family, President James Heller (William Devane) and Heller’s daughter Audrey (Kim Raver), “who’s kind of the love of his [Bauer’s] life,” and all that plays into his decision to go back into action.

The New York Times Syndicate: Did you get a lot of questions about the show in odd places, when the show was on the air and now that it’s coming back? And why do you think people are so obsessed with Jack Bauer?

Kiefer: “It’s always amazed me … even with another show I did called Touch, the reaction we’d get in Russia, South Africa .. I was always amazed at how successful the show was and that it somehow managed to transcend culture, politics, religion. … I’ve never been part of another project that was so successful in Europe, Asia, even parts of Africa. That’s a really rare thing for an American television show. It’s something I’m quite proud of.” As for the Bauer fixation, “I think he’s hugely relatable. Obviously the circumstances are massively exaggerated, but all of us on some level feel a connection to Jack Bauer: Facing insurmountable odds, he goes into the fight nonetheless. Life does that to us, too. … After 9-11, there was a real feeling of helplessness. I felt helpless. Jack Bauer as a character was dogmatic; regardless of the circumstances, he was going to push forward.”

CNN.com: What happened to the plan for a 24 movie, and how is this series different from what had been planned for the film? Also, how has Jack changed in these four intervening years, and how is he the same?

Kiefer: ”It’s a very different script than we had for the movie. … I couldn’t exactly tell you why it didn’t happen, but then Howard [Gordon, one of the executive producers] came to me with this.” As for Bauer’s personality: “There’s a very strong moral compass with Jack. Whether he is right or wrong, he’s going to do what he thinks is the right thing, at the risk of his own life. … It’s very structurally different” in that before, he’s always started out, at least, working under the auspices of a government agency or the president. “This season, not only is he working on his own, the people he’s trying to help are actually hunting him, trying to kill or arrest him. He’s harder and I think angrier than he’s ever been,” from having had to hide out in Eastern Europe for all that time, away from his daughter, grandchildren and the country he thought he had been serving. There’s also a dramatic shift in the relationship between Jack and tech-whiz Chloe, Kiefer teases.

Examiner.com: How did you jump back into the character after four years away?

Kiefer: ”I’d like to say it’s really innate in me now, but that’s not true. … when you put something away and we were done with it … the longer you’re away, the more precious you get with it. The six months leading up to it I was really dealing with my nerves, and I was very fortunate to have Jon Cassar as director. … The first three days, I kept asking him does that feel right to you, does that look right, does that sound right? And he’d say, ‘Of course, Kiefer, it’s perfect.’ And clearly I didn’t believe him.” But then during a scene with Rajskub and another actor, Sutherland says, “There was something about the vocal dynamic. He [Jack] comes in really hot and then goes down to almost a whispering tone, and that triggered something for me, made me feel really comfortable and at ease.”

The North Texas Daily (the campus paper of the University of North Texas): What’s been the most pressure you’ve felt in your career?

Kiefer: “It centers around 24. Certainly by the end of the second season — very rarely do you get that, captured lightning in a bottle, and there was a real pressure to continually make it better … that comes from within. … When we finished the eighth season, I think my shoulders dropped 3 inches … there was a relief” in knowing that pressure was off.

TVWise.co.uk: Was the early success in the United Kingdom key to the series’ success, and how did you feel when you found out this one would be shot here?

Kiefer: ”It made me smile. If there was one place that I thought deserved the attention [of having the shoot there], it was London. It was a hit out of the box there … 24 was on the fence [for a second-season order] and I think the success in Europe, and ultimately in Japan as well, were instrumental for the pick up. A part of me felt that London was very fitting” for the new iteration.

Rock On Request Magazine: Jack’s always had an adversary who at first is working by his side, but then sets up roadblocks and becomes an enemy, the character we love to hate. Can you tell us who that’ll be this season?

Kiefer (laughing): Of course I can’t tell you, that would ruin the whole thing. … It will surprise you, I think. It’s multilayered, it’s more than one person.”

Premier Guide Media: If you were as skilled as Jack and a similar event to one he routinely faces took place, would you fight or take flight?

Kiefer: “I’ve thought about that in trying to kind of understand and develop the character. … I’ll be the first person to tell you I am not Jack Bauer. … But if someone threatened or endangered my family or children, that reaction is instinctual, it’s guttural, and I would fight to the death for that.”

Source

Hello everybody! First off, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Eric and I am a new co-web here at Kiefer Sutherland Network. You may know me from several of my sites, which include Stana Katic Fan, Kerry Washington Archives, and Bradley Cooper Network. I have been a huge fan of Kiefer’s for many years now and I am so excited that Courtney offered to let me help her out with the site. To start off, I figured I’d go ahead and get some of Kiefer’s promotion for “24: Live Another Day” out of the way.

He has been making the talk show rounds these past 2 days and his first stop was last night (April 30), where he visited “Late Show with David Letterman.” You can check out the full 9-minute interview below, as well as 380 HD screen captures in our photo gallery. I will be updating here soon with a few more talk show updates. So enjoy and keep checking back for more updates!