2008
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Paris Match
Grâce à « 24 heures », il est l’acteur américain le plus vu dans le monde. A Los Angeles, il nous a accordé un tête-à-tête pour la sortie de son film « Mirrors ».
Hôtel Four Seasons, Beverly Hills, 14e étage.
En blue-jean et tee-shirt, Kiefer Sutherland est sobre… point de vue vestimentaire. Il assure la promotion du film « Mirrors », long-métrage d’horreur réalisé par le Français Alexandre Aja. Il y interprète Ben Carson, un ex-flic qui devient le gardien de nuit d’une immense bâtisse délabrée pleine de miroirs. Du sang, des gorges tranchées et une enquête à rebondissements pour un bon film de genre. L’attaché de presse de la Fox prévient en souriant : « Avez-vous l’intention de poser des questions personnelles ? L’interview télé précédente s’est mal terminée… » Réponse : « La vie sexuelle de Kiefer n’est pas l’objet de la rencontre… » Il est content. Kiefer se pointe dans la chambre.
Il est 12 heures. Il a le teint terre de soleil, restes des traces de maquillage de sa session télévisée. Puisque tout le monde pose la grande question, allons directement au fait : « Il est comment Jack Bauer ? » Il a 41 ans, le visage légèrement marqué, ridé. On dirait un ex-bouffi dégonflé, mais il est pas mal. Et, miracle, il cherche un cendrier, et fume. Puis il se met en mode « junket », le marathon promo. Soit démontrer à quel point c’était formidable de bosser avec Alexandre, que tout s’est bien déroulé pendant le tournage en Roumanie, que le scénario l’a emballé tout de suite, qu’il a toujours craint les miroirs, qu’il n’aime pas se regarder. Ça, c’est vrai. Il cause d’une voix suave, basse, de couche-tard. Si on sent que ce n’est pas son exercice préféré, il fait le boulot. « Je voulais que les gens éprouvent de la peur. J’ai toujours adoré “L’exorciste”, “Amityville”, “Shining”, ces films qui commencent comme un drame classique et qui dérapent. Je m’occupe d’abord du personnage avant l’action. »
12 h 08. « Le fait que ce type nage en pleine déprime vous a donc attiré davantage que l’horreur ? » L’interruption ne lui plaît pas : « Je n’ai pas terminé ! Ce que je trouvais effrayant à propos du personnage l’est deux fois plus car je tiens à lui… Pour un acteur, c’est pain bénit un type si mal en point ! » Il a tellement kiffé, Sutherland, qu’il a enchaîné le tournage à peine la saison 6 terminée. Sans même 24 heures de break. « Bien sûr que j’aime me reposer, “24 heures” demande beaucoup d’énergie. J’ai connu suffisamment de hauts et de bas dans ma carrière pour reconnaître une bonne histoire. Je préfère travailler que rester chez moi, dans ce cas-là. »
12 h 12. « Parce que vous vous ennuyez ? – Cela peut arriver », glisse-t-il malicieusement. « Avez-vous tiqué sur l’alcoolisme du personnage, qui rappellera vos écarts de conduite, de voiture ? – Je m’en fous. Je ne fais pas attention à ce que les gens racontent. » C’est vraiment un problème à Los Angeles de boire et de sortir. Ici personne ne titube, tout est loin de tout. Il faut une auto. Kiefer s’est fait prendre par la patrouille quatre fois en presque vingt ans. La dernière arrestation lui a valu quarante-huit jours de prison fin 2007. « Pourquoi n’engagez-vous pas un chauffeur ? » Il sourit. « Hum… je fais des erreurs quelquefois… »
12 h 16. Depuis sept saisons, Sutherland incarne parfaitement Jack Bauer, cet agent secret tendu, survolté, qui sauve le monde, mais peine à sauver sa relation avec sa fille. Un succès colossal qui a aussi sauvé l’acteur en perdition. « Avant “24”, ma carrière touchait le fond. Pendant dix ans, j’ai fait des figurations pour vivre. » Il était devenu le roi des séries… B, au mieux. « Les trois mousquetaires », « Deux cow-boys à New York ». Pourtant, ça partait bien pour lui. En 1990, il sortait avec Julia Roberts, « L’expérience interdite » cartonnait. Pourquoi n’est-il pas l’égal des Cruise, Pitt et autre Depp ? « Aucune idée. Je me souviens, “Young guns 2” marchait fort, “L’expérience interdite” aussi et je ne décrochais aucun boulot ! » Peut-être fallait-il davantage de mordant et un meilleur agent. Après des navets par cageots, il a un temps quitté le métier pour des compétitions de rodéos. « Si personne ne veut de vous, autant faire ce que vous voulez ! »
12 h 17. La popularité de Bauer l’écrase-t-elle au point de le dé-crédibiliser s’il s’aventure dans la comédie romantique ? « Si je dois être identifié à lui pour le restant de mes jours, j’assume. Je continuerai tant que les scénaristes et les producteurs le souhaiteront. Contrairement aux rumeurs, je n’ai pas re-signé mon contrat depuis longtemps. Cela pourrait donc s’arrêter très vite ! »
12 h 18. Mais il ne sera jamais bien loin d’une caméra. Parce que ce Canadien natif de Londres ne veut rien d’autre depuis ses 15 ans. Et la grande ombre paternelle, celle de M. Klute, le Casanova Donald Sutherland, n’a pas éclairé ses débuts difficiles. « On ne se voyait pas. Il tournait des films peu commerciaux, habitait en France avec son épouse Francine [Racette]. Personne ne l’évoquait lors des auditions. Ici, si vous n’avez pas sorti un truc la veille, vous n’existez pas. » Désormais, ça tourne à peu près rond. Kiefer mène une vie de patachon de luxe dans le quartier de Silver Lake, vaguement excessive, et manage deux groupes de rock, Billy Boy on Poison et Honey Honey. Aurait-il pu tenter le plan rock star ? « Impossible, je serais mort depuis longtemps. »
12 h 20. L’attaché de presse signifie la fin de la visite de Kiefer Sutherland. Royal, Kiefer extirpe une cigarette et lâche doucement : « On continue le temps que je la fume. » Alors, on reprend, cool. « Adolescent, on veut toujours fuir ses parents. Mon frère Rossif, le fils de Francine et Donald, se voyait acteur, pourtant il a renoncé. Il écrit de la musique. C’est triste. Pareil pour ma fille de 20 ans, Sarah. Elle est douée, pourtant. Tous deux ont peur de se lancer à cause de mon père et moi », constate-t-il.
12 h 24. Clap de fin. Il salue en français, « enchanté », et offre la bise. On se verrait bien vadrouiller en soirée avec le garçon. A condition qu’il recrute un chauffeur.
François Bourboulon – Parismatch.com
Par Aurélie Raya
Comic-Con 2008 Kiefer Sutherland pour Mirrors et 24
| hanks Benny |
With new movie Mirrors out this weekend and a return to 24, Sutherland has more than one reason to be in a reflective mood.
The 41-year-old actor has had a colourful 25 years in Hollywood to say the least and he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down even if he may at last be settling down. Having started 2008 in the news for a drink driving conviction, for which he was sentenced to 48 days in jail, Kiefer is making headlines in the latter half of the year for all the right reasons.
Professionally he is on a high with the return of hit show 24 which opens for a seventh season with a big-budget feature length episode. He also has Mirrors, a chilling horror movie that is set to get pulses racing at Irish cinemas this weekend.
Q: You are so well known for 24 now. Does that make it harder to disappear into a movie character?
A: “No, I think actually easier. I think 24 exists in such a strong backdrop, it’s very easy to counter balance something against it. This character is obviously very different. I’m still trapped in my own physical body, with my own voice, and my sense of interpretation. There are going to be similarities in everything that I do. But, I think the fact that 24 is such a strong backdrop of where I am in my career right now, this film was a great opportunity to show another part of a reflected image.” Q: How excited are you about 24 coming back?
A: “Very. There is a two-hour movie that we just finished shooting about almost two months ago now. It was in Africa. As difficult as it was for us to take the break, because of the strike, and I think the audience was affected the most. It was something that no one wanted to do. I don’t think the writers wanted to do it, the actors didn’t want to do it, and (Jon) Cassar didn’t want to do it. It happened nonetheless. I think Fox made a very smart decision with regards to 24 because I think it is at its best when it’s released continuously so you can watch all 24 episodes in a row. So we waited ‘til January. The one benefit if you are looking for a silver lining is that it gave the writers an unbelievable amount of time to really craft this season. We as actors had scripts available to us, which we’ve never had in the past six years of making the show. I believe it’s the best work we’ve ever done. The stuff we did in Africa is really some of the stuff I’m the most excited about in regards to 24.”
Q: When will there be a 24 movie?
A: “We have this prequel movie coming out for TV in August but we really don’t want to entertain the notion of a theatrical release film until after the show is over. The demand on the writers to keep the show going is so great we really couldn’t take them out of that.”
Q: When does Jack or any of the other characters take a pee?
A: “(Laughs) Actually we did shoot a scene where Jack raids an office and runs into the washroom in the lobby and comes out nine seconds later a lot
happier. But they cut it out! Our stock answer is, whenever they cut to the Whitehouse, Jack is in the bathroom. And not only is he taking a leak, he’s
having a drink and getting something to eat.”
Q: Let’s talk about this new movie. What drew you to Mirrors?
A: “Horror films, for me growing up certainly, there wasn’t a genre of film that could give you any stronger a visceral reaction through watching
it. I had always heard that as an actor that is something that would draw you to a genre film. You can actually affect an audience that powerfully, and that quickly, so the genre was something I was really interested in. Alex had made The Hills Have Eyes which was a film that really kind of harkened back to the 70s horror films. They dealt with things in most film that I think were much more different than what we now term as slasher films. Amityville Horror, The Exorcist, The Omen; those films all had character-driven plots that made you invested in the characters. The horror was really a combination of the affection that the audience had with a character, combined with the horrific circumstances that the character was put in. For me, I remember at the very first meeting I had read the script and loved it for the same reason.” To play hope and fear at the same time
was something that was a real challenge for me.”
Q: What is your favourite horror movie?
A: “This is going to be kind of embarrassing. I think the one that scared me most was not The Exorcist. I know that is it for so many people. It was not The Omen. There was a film made in 1972 or 73 called The Car. The irony of this is that I lived on a 14th floor in an apartment complex in Toronto called Crescent Town. The Car in the movie was basically possessed by the devil, and it was a black Lincoln, with yellow windows. It went into this small town and ran everybody over. This car could go through houses. The only place it couldn’t go was a graveyard or a church. Every time the car came into town the wind would start to blow and music would start to go. I don’t think I’ve ever been scared by anything more in my life. I lived on the 14th floor and I was still scared that this car was going to manage to get through, get up there, and run me over. I wasn’t that young either. I think I was 12-years-old. I should have known better. It stayed with me for months.”
Q: When you look back at Lost Boys and Stand By Me then you see yourself now in this film, what has the journey been like? What’s the growth and lessons learned along the way as an actor?
A: “Well, the lessons learned never stop. It’s a really deep question. Stand By Me was the first film I got to do in the United States. I remember when I first went to go see that film I thought my career was over. Then the film became the success that it was and certainly at that time it was a part of American film history. I realized the first thing was that I should probably not watch my work again. The best thing for me to do was to just make it and the audience would be the judge. That has served me quite well. The journey from there to now, has been an unbelievable experience for me. I think that acting is almost like working out. It’s a physical exercise that one has to go through. The more that you train it and the more you use whatever that instrument is – your body, your brain, your voice, and all those things combined. I hope I still approach each project with the same kind of youthful exuberance that I did with something like Stand By Me or Lost Boys.”
Q: Do you discuss the business much with your father?
A: We don’t talk about it a whole lot. We don’t get to see each other enough anyway, so when we do, he wants to know about my daughter. We talk about my brothers. We talk about him and Francine. Our family stuff. He’s been very supportive – apparently he likes 24 and he’s very funny about that. But the work itself, we don’t really talk about it at all.
Q: Looking back, do you feel like you have missed out on anything because you worked so hard when you were younger?
A: “In a way because in some respects, I’ve done all my growing up backwards. I mean, I dropped out of school at 15 so I missed out on graduation or going to college. I’d never had buddies and, in a way, I didn’t even know how to deal with people my own age because from the time I was 15, the youngest people I was around were 30. Then, when I was 19, I married a 33-year-old woman, and had a baby of my own by the time I was 20,”
Q: You still have quite a reputation for going wild on those rare times when you have a break from work. A few drunk and disorderly arrests along the way? Why are you such a rebel?
A: “If you work as hard as I do, you should be allowed to reward yourself by going over the top from time to time.”
Mirrors is at Irish cinemas from October 10th