Kiefer Sutherland wanted to kill off “24’s” Jack Bauer, but Fox dramatically staged an intervention to keep the icon alive.

“24” co-creator and writer Howard Gordon said, “Kiefer actually wanted Jack Bauer to die, and we had many conversations about it … many of us, including his agent, tried to talk him out of it, but then there was an edict from very high up [within Fox] and Jack Bauer is still alive.”

Gordon said Sutherland’s desire to kill Bauer was inspired by the actor’s ambition to “do something different,” but also his somewhat “self-destructive personality.” But he added, “We were ready to move on. We all felt that character’s story has been told.” The last season saw Bauer hand himself over to the terrorists.

Sutherland had said last year, “’24’ is definitely over now for me … It’s one of the greatest gifts I’ve been given as an actor. But it’s moving on without me.” However, earlier this year, he softened his stance, saying, “I’ve learned enough over the last few years to not say ‘never.’”

Multiple Emmy-winning TV writer and producer Gordon spoke at a 21st Century Fox luncheon at the Cannes Lions festival hosted by executive chairmen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch.

He discussed the spinoff “24: Legacy” that won’t star Sutherland — instead Corey Hawkins headlines as Bauer’s CTU successor — but said he hopes Jack Bauer could make a cameo. “There’s always a chance he could come back.” Fox green-lit the series in April with a 12-episode order.

Gordon, who also co-created and wrote “Homeland,” continued: “Jack Bauer has cast a very long and powerful shadow … Carrie Mathison [Claire Danes’ character in ‘Homeland’] was born out of Jack Bauer. So was Corey’s character. We are fishing in the same pond for stories … Jack Bauer is the atom.”

He added, “When ‘Homeland’ came, at the end of ’24’ … I realized there was no soldier represented on television who had come home from war, so that was the genesis of that.

“It was 10 years after 9/11 and the questions I was asking, was that we are 10 years later and well into two wars, what is the price we have paid for it, what does it mean to be afraid? Good drama is not answering the questions, but helping you pose the questions, and having the right characters to tell the story.”

Kiefer Sutherland knows better than to assume he’s done with 24. “I’ve said that twice and have been wrong, so I won’t say that again,” he tells Rolling Stone. The actor, who recently launched a country-music career, has signed on as a producer for 24: Legacy – a new show in the same universe that stars Web Therapy’s Dan Bucatinsky and Straight Outta Compton’s Corey Hawkins, among others – and has not ruled out reprising his Jack Bauer character. Shooting will begin imminently.

“It’s a phenomenal script,” he says of the new series. “I think it’s going to be incredibly liberating for the writers to not have to figure out one more bad day for Jack Bauer. They get to write for new characters. And Bauer’s still out there, so you never know what’s going to happen.”

Sutherland is currently focusing on his new TV series, Designated Survivor, which he’s filming right now for ABC. “It’s got the feeling of The West Wing, but there’s a thrilling aspect to the show as well,” he says. “I have not been as excited about doing something as I am right now, since the early days of 24.”

On the show, he plays Tom Kirkman, a low-ranking cabinet member who becomes president after an attack on the State of the Union address. It also features Natascha McElhone (Californication) as his wife, Maggie Q (Nikita) as an FBI investigator and Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) — who worked in various capacities for the Obama administration off and on since 2009 — as Kirkman’s speechwriter.

“‘Designated survivor’ refers to a member of each party during a State of the Union who is sequestered, so if the entire ascendency to the president is wiped out, you have a representative for each party from the cabinet and one of those people becomes president,” Sutherland explains. “I play a housing minister who is about to be fired and, as punishment, is made to be the designated survivor during the State of the Union.”

After a “terrible attack,” he is appointed president and faces three problems: How does his family adapt to his new role? How does he deal with political rivals and a power-hungry military? And how will he find the person or persons responsible for the attack. “The character has to face all of these fights and figure out the appropriate response,” he says. “That’s what the first season is about.”

Sutherland, who previously told Rolling Stone that he did not want people to underestimate his commitment to his music career, says another thing he likes about his show is its shooting schedule. “I’m touring in April and May and we begin shooting again in June,” he says. “The way I was able to schedule that work, I will still be able to play five, six dates a month.”

Actor Kiefer Sutherland quit hit show 24 because he wants to work on other TV projects.

The Lost Boys star has played the show’s main character, agent Jack Bauer, for more than a decade, but producers recently confirmed 2014’s mini-series 24: Live Another Day would be his last outing.

Kiefer has now declared he is glad to finally leave Bauer behind because he longs to tackle other TV roles.

“24 is definitely over now for me,” he tells the BBC. “It’s one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever been given as an actor, but it’s moving on without me, I want to do other things… I want to do more television. My experience of 24 was unbelievable… I don’t think there’s a better medium than television out there at the moment. So I think I want to do more of it and look for projects where I can repeat my experience.

“You have to take your time though to find something like it – and that means you have to work less. So I’ll be waiting for something that’s worth it, with the potential for the kind of audience access that 24 had.”

However, Kiefer admits he may still make a guest appearance in the revamped show, adding that he has not “ruled out a cameo”.

24 premiered in 2001 and became a huge international success, winning 20 Emmy Awards over the years.

It racked up eight full seasons, as well as 2008 TV movie 24: Redemption and the shortened 24: Live Another Day series.

Kiefer Sutherland will only make guest appearances in a new version of 24, according to executive producer Howard Gordon.

The producer confirmed media reports that a spinoff of 24 is in the works from franchise veterans Manny Coto and Evan Katz, with a new male hero being introduced at the center of the series.

Gordon told TV Line that the proposed spinoff will pair this agent with an older, experienced female partner for an entirely new adventure.

Sutherland is being eyed to make a few appearances as Counter Terrorist Unit operative Jack Bauer (Sutherland) during the season.

This 24 is initially planned as a one-off event like the Live Another Day miniseries, but Gordon hinted that it could grow into a long-running series.

Fox chairman and CEO Gary Newman revealed in May that his network was in the “early” stages of creating a spinoff to the main 24 program.

Earlier this year, it was suggested that 24 might return without Sutherland, as he previously admitted that he couldn’t see himself returning to the series.

Fox later clarified that Sutherland would always be welcomed back to the franchise.

The sight of Kiefer Sutherland on screen holding a gun to a man’s head is not unusual. He spent nine series as Jack Bauer in 24 doing little else. But the sight of Kiefer Sutherland holding a gun to Stephen Fry’s head while Fry is lying on top of him wearing a Santa outfit, definitely is.

“He’s a big fella,” says Sutherland, with a gravelly laugh at the recollection. “I think he stands about 6’ 4” and he’s built – he’s not wire skinny. So when he landed on me I think the two of us laughed the first time. In fact, there were a couple of moments where we had to really focus because situations made us laugh so much.”

Just as you don’t think of Kiefer Sutherland with Stephen Fry on top of him, you don’t think of him in a comedy either. But Marked is a comedy, a standalone half-hour in Sky’s Playhouse Presents strand. It sees Sutherland play a middle-aged, browbeaten, debt-laden nebbish called James. When he is offered a “hit” to take out his neighbour’s archenemy it’s money he cannot refuse, but his efforts to do the deed soon descend in to a high – and festive – farce.

Continue Reading  

Kiefer Sutherland says there are “no plans” to continue making new seasons of 24 and he worries he is too old to play action man Jack Bauer.

The 45-year-old star isn’t sure he can sustain playing action man Jack Bauer in the hit counter-terrorism drama – which was recently revived for a new season, 24: Live Another Day, three years after it initially ended – and worries his body can’t keep up with the death-defying stunts required for the role.

Kiefer is quoted by the Daily Star as saying: “I have loved bringing Jack back and my heart says I want to play him until I am an old man. But my head says that now is the right time to stop.

“There are no plans to kill Jack off, and while he is alive I guess there is always a chance for a new season. But at the moment there are no plans.”

While his famous role has earned him numerous accolades, the Emmy Award-winning actor admits he can’t quite fathom how he managed to film 192 episodes of 24 during its initial run from 2001 to 2010.

Kiefer explained: “Physically, 24 is a hard show to do. 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.”

Source

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

If you are a fan of Kiefer Sutherland playing the terrorism fighting Jack Bauer, you might like to know that there is a possibility that the new series of 24 might be the last time Sutherland plays Bauer.

Kiefer Sutherland was speaking at the launch of 24: Die Another Day the actor stated that head writer Howard Gordon revisited the show after four years to deliver a ‘sense of closure’ reports Onthebox.

Sutherland also commented that ‘condensing the 24-hour format into two-hours for the big screen was also unlikely to happen,’ so it seems fans can’t expect a 24 movie at some point in the future, but who knows.

The actor also remarked… “In season eight, when [Jack] looks up into that camera he’s given a 15-minute window to ‘go dark’ and disappear, that was the setup for a potential movie. I think one of the reasons why Howard wanted to do these 12 episodes and where the idea came for him to write was to end it and bring a sense of closure to the show. So I don’t see a film shaping itself around what we’re doing right now.”

Sutherland has believed that season eight would be the last, “We had put this to bed for a reason: Howard was tired. He had written 196 episodes – almost the equivalent of 100 films – in an eight-year period. I actually called to congratulate him on his Golden Globe win for Homeland, and he told me he was glad I’d done so as he wanted to talk to me about something. So it was a surprise.”

So there you have it, it looks like the new series of 24 just might be the last, disappointed?

Source

KIEFER Sutherland missed his ’24’ “family” while the show was off air.

The 47-year-old actor is back as fugitive ex-Counter Terrorist Agent Jack Bauer in new FOX series ’24: Live Another Day’ and he admits when the show ended in 2010 after eight seasons he found it hard to know he wouldn’t get to see the friends he had made working on the program.

Speaking at a special screening of the first episode at Old Billingsgate Market in London on Tuesday night (07.05.14), Kiefer said: “I was fine putting the character to bed but we had worked with the crew for eight years, 98 percent of those people were there from day one to the very end. I think over the course of the eight years 32 children were born and 42 marriages happened. I know it sounds trite but we were a family.

“I went to say goodbye to the camera operator Guy on the last day and we used to have a phrase ‘we danced together’. He did some of the most beautiful handheld work I’ve ever seen in my life and he was like working with a really talented actor and I went to shake his hand I wanted to say, ‘It’s been an honor.’ I’m not a real crier but my lip went and I had to look away and so did he. I miss that, I miss my friends … I just knew that I wasn’t going to be able to see those people every day; I knew I wasn’t going to work with those actors everyday and I think that was the hardest thing for me to let go of and that will always be the thing I missed the most about the show. With regards to the character if I want to pull out some costumes I can do that stuff in my house but I miss the people.”

Kiefer admits he was as surprised as anyone when he was told by lead writer Howard Gordon that ’24’ was coming back.

The action hero was initially worried the new series wouldn’t be able to match the show’s high standards but he thinks the London-based adventure about a plot to assassinate the US President is the best series ever.

Kiefer – who was joined at the Q&A by his co-stars Mary Lynn Rajskub and Yvonne Strahovski – said: “What’s it like having Jack back in my life? Well, surprising would be the first word. We put this to bed for a reason, Howard Gordon our lead writer was tired, he’d written 196 episodes which is an unbelievably prolific amount of work it’s almost equivalent to a hundred in an eight-year period, so I was very surprised. I actually called him to congratulate him on his Golden Globe win for ‘Homeland’ and he said, ‘I’m really glad you called, I want to talk to you about something.’

“We had set the bar for ourselves with the eight seasons we had done and the last thing we want to do is damage the legacy of a show you’ve put to bed. Having said that now we’ve almost finished I’m so glad that this was the decision we made, it’s just been an unbelievable experience. I think we’ve made the best ever season of ’24’.”

Source