Kiefer Sutherland: ‘After 24, I thought opportunities would be staring me in the face – but they weren’t’

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/kiefer-sutherland-interview-24-tinsel-town-donald-b2879024.html

43 comments

  2. Was never a huge fan, I think it was the material that drove the show , not the actor,

  3. That’s what the pros call typecast, Kiefer. In other words, suffering from success.

  5. “Torture good” isn’t a great concept to be associated with dummy

  6. I think there are a lot of factors here:

    -24 was the perfect role for him at the exact right time, and there was nothing else like it.

    -He has a reputation for being a bit difficult which I’m sure hasn’t helped.

    -I don’t think he a great actor (this one is just my personal opinion). Always solid, but he’s never blown me away with a performance.

    Honestly, Kiefer’s best quality is his voice. He was really good in ‘Phone Booth’ and it’s a completely forgotten performance.

  7. Ngl I think he’s being a bit weird saying this. He had atleast two shows on major networks (Touch and Designated Survivor) which he is the clear lead. Maybe he never cracked the A list but he was a relatively popular choice to lead shows in the 2010s those shows just didn’t hit the levels of popularity of 24

  8. They weren’t exactly pouring in after Young Guns, either…

    “Do TV. No one will ever take you seriously again. Doesn’t matter how big a movie star you are, even if you have the kind of career where you walked away from a blockbuster franchise or worked with Meryl Streep or Anthony Hopkins, made important movies about things like civil rights or Pearl Harbor, stole films with supporting roles and then turned around and blew them away on Broadway. None of that will matter once you do television.”

    – Jack Donaghy to Tracy Jordan on how to lose worldwide respect and admiration

  9. Maybe it was that drunken dive into a Christmas tree

  11. Surprised by the negative comments about the guy, but what do I know. Aside from the stuff he’s known for I really enjoyed that documentary he did a while back, “I Trust You To Kill Me” which I see has been reuploaded to YT. Came across as a really gracious guy with fans. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqMCkl_wxq8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqMCkl_wxq8)

    Good comment this, though “*24* made 24 episodes a year, and that takes three years for a modern show to do. And it’s the difference between having a serious relationship or an affair”. He’s right.

  14. The show that normalized torturing people. Fox propaganda programming.

  18. Isn’t he a well-known a-hole? Who wants that in their production? He and Katherine Heigl can go make movies

  19. Most actors never get a role as consistent or iconic

    Gratitude is lost on most people

    “Oh I’m so thankful I made a bunch of money for a hugely popular show” vs “It was bullshit that I didn’t get more.”

  20. Do people think he looks like his father? I don’t see any real resemblance. The article mentions it twice.

  21. Didn’t he have some personal issues during the show and after the show?

  22. That’s how it works for every actor with a big hit series. Especially long running ones.

  24. He will forever be the best bad guy vampire in Lost Boys. Nothing will ever compare. 

  25. One of the best shows ever. He should have kept it going. He was too good as the agent. He will forever be known as agent Bauer.

  26. I remember the constant news about his drunken antics at that time. He’s the reason no one was calling.

  27. 24 was one of the most intense public access shows I’ve ever seen. Straight up nerve gas attacks on malls and shit.

  29. Man, imagine if his dad wasn’t Donald Sutherland. Poor guy has it rough.

  30. His range is limited to varying levels of consternation.

  33. While I get his “philosophical” musings about his career trajectory, you just have to look and say “damn, I got an actors dream opportunity that employed me for 9 years and made me hyper wealthy.

    Even in the early seasons he was paid $400K an episode (~$10M a year). That steadily increased until he got a whopping $40M deal to do the last two seasons.

    Guy made $100M playing a character ON TV!!

  34. Wait a minute. What if he honored his father’s legacy and played Coriolanus Snow in Sunrise on the Reaping? What if it was him instead of Ralph Finnes.

  35. He was great as FBI agent Sam Stantly, though he was playing an unlikable Toehead, he pulled it off!

  37. I don’t know. Could be the rampant alcoholism that made it hard to cast him as well…

  40. Dude had a drug and alcohol problem. Maybe thats why.

    Didnt he get like multiple DUIs?

  41. It didn’t help being an alcoholic who slowed down many productions he was on either.

  42. I mean, Kiefer did great either as an authority figure or as a loose cannon, but as he began to age, he never really found the parts that would explore more depth than that. He also has very 90’s kind of looks and mannerism that make it harder to cast him in films taking place in other time periods.

  43. I’m not surprised. When you play a character that long, you run the risk of being typecast. I’ve seen Sutherland in stuff before and after 24, but it’s hard for me now to see him as anyone other than Jack Bauer

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