Category Archives: Kiefer Sutherland

Fox Considering New ’24’ Miniseries

Well, this is an interesting development, after the Movie appeared dead in the water, apparently ’24’ might have a future back on TV…

“The clock may start ticking again on Fox. I’ve learned that the network is looking to bring back its signature real-time drama 24 as a limited series. Kiefer Sutherland is in talks to reprise his Emmy-winning role as Agent Jack Bauer. No deals are in place, but Fox is eying 24 as part of its recent push in limited event series.” ~ Deadline.com

We’ll be keeping a keen eye on this one, in the mean time sound off in the comments, do you think it’s a good idea or should it be a Movie or nothing?

’24’ Movie ‘Not Happening’

Antoine Fuqua the director previously attached to the ’24’ Movie has recently given the following update on the ’24’ Movie…

“Yeah, that’s not happening. I don’t think it’s gonna happen at all, definitely not with me, … I met with Kiefer, Fox wanted to do it, it was a matter of his schedule before he went off to do his new show. … I don’t think he was able to get a proper agreement with Fox. The time just passed, and I went off to go to what I was doing.”

Thats from indiewire.com

So it seems that the ’24’ Movie is as far from happening as it’s ever been. On a tangentially related point, it was today announced that fans of the long cancelled TV Show ‘Veronica Mars’ have the opportunity to make that shows long hoped for film version a reality by backing a Kickstarter Campaign, and it’s well on it’s way to being funded, reaching half it’s goal in less than 12 hours, they even found a location to finish filming. Speaking of location, where was the movie the silencing filmed? It’s likely a few people are watching this campaign with interest to see how well it goes.

Film to Start Filming in April 2012?

After a long period i’m breaking radio silence to bring you the news you’ve been waiting for….

The clock has started on 24, the feature version of the Imagine Entertainment/Fox series…..The goal is to get the film into production to match Sutherland’s availability, which begins in April … and it is certainly good news for fans of the show who were beginning to fear the project wouldn’t happen. – Deadline.com

Indeed I’d started to think it was unlikely, but it appears Fox is happy with progress being made on the polish of the script so it may finally happy. More info can be found in the Reuters video at the bottom of this article, which features Kiefer talking about the film at a recent DVD launch in Tokyo.

More info as we get it.

 

Movie set for 2012 release? – Kiefer & Grazer

Brian Grazer whose production company Imagine Entertainment produced the show has tweeted…

“Got off the phone Keifer yesterday and we are very excited about producing the ‘24′ movie for next year.”

Kiefer has also within the last month told TV show “The View” that the film would be released in 2012.

A note of caution, while all this sounds very positive, it should be noted that there is no firm word on a script, since Fox vetoed Billy Ray’s script and until a script and plot have been signed off then any greenlight from Fox and release date is probably provisional.

As ever more when we get it.

Kiefer On Twitter

A couple of days ago Kiefer joined Twitter as @RealKiefer, we can be sure it’s him thanks to Twitters “verified” service. So far he’s mostly be posting about the play he’s doing, but last night be responded to questions about the 24 Movie by saying he “hopes” production will begin in January next year, and that Tony Scott maybe directing.

That particular tweet is here: http://twitter.com/RealKiefer/status/43440084694990848

Fade To Black. The Finale Reviewed

What made ’24’ great was taking an idea so simple people couldn’t believe it hadn’t been thought of before, and doing it perfectly. The simpler a situation the show was depicting, the better it was, the purer it was.

Day One, A Federal agent is torn between his duty to protect a Senator, and his duty to protect his family. That’s all Day One was. Try as you might you won’t be able to come up with a similar one sentence description for Day Eight. Certainly there are parts which have been just a simple, the most simple an idea was Jack’s fight for justice during the last 7 hours. Which is why these last 7 hours where the best of these last 24. Why certain parts of these last two where so touching, emotional and even moving, whilst others where simply plot.

Everything involving Jack and Chloe was terrific. Logan was mostly the usual delight to watch. The action, as so often in these final episodes was tense and dramatic. Unfortunately however a number of other moments either fell flat or where horribly guilty of missed opportunities.

The show almost tortured those final moments at the UN podium until Taylor pulled out. How much better, more dramatic and hopeful would it have been if Taylor, looking resolved, steely, but oddly calm walked up to the podium after the others had signed and made a speech mirroring her Inauguration speech seen in Redemption, declaring her values of openness, peace and understanding – those which had lead her to seek high office, and whilst the initial work done in forging this peace her guiding principles meant she would unfortunately not be able to sign the treaty.

However in the places that mattered there was very little too complain about. These two hours wrapped up the Day 8 story nicely and neatly. But why then do I still feel a little reserved in my judgement?. Perhaps this is why…

The end of 24 needs to deal with what happens to those who go down that road. Can they turn back? Can there be a happy ending? Or is there simply a dead end?

I wrote that 6 months ago when looking back on 7×24 and looking forward to Series 8. Previously i’d written how 7×24 should be the last we saw of Jack Bauer, (and possibly 24) as it was the most perfect closure and judgement Jack was ever going to receive. The viewer could decide whether Jack died quietly and peacefully with Kim by his side or if simply the Jack Bauer we knew died on that hospital bed and a different man woke. Nothing in the past 24 episodes has fundamentally changed that opinion, most especially because we are no nearer an answer to the key question I pose above.

Perhaps it is an unanswerable question, perhaps that is precisely the point.

Overall a very fine end to the day, if only a satisfactory end to the show as a whole.

Best then perhaps that 8×24 is not “goodbye”, but merely “fair well, for now”.

In the meantime, back to the boxsets it is, and I would like to salute everyone who has contributed to the show these last 9 years.

Thank you very much for so much fine entertainment.

More than one 24 movie?

According to tvguide.com, plans exist for Jack Bauer to become the next James Bond or Jason Bourne. While it is well-known across the “24” fan community that Bauer has movie plans, it is still speculated whether his excursion to the big screen will be a one-time thing or a regular occurence.

The article linked to above now cites Howard Gordon stating that Jack might become a regular visitor to the big screen:

“Our idea is to make Jack Bauer someone we can revisit on a regular basis.”

I’ll leave you to judge for yourself whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I’m approaching it with mixed feelings. While I will probably miss the show on TV, I’m not sure how a show that fundamentally depended on real-time and a 24-hour time span can even successfully transition into 2 hours of screen time. Sure, we had “Redemption”, but I’m not a big fan of it, either. Redemption worked as a sort of a prequel to the following season, but a movie would be a stand-alone story and a whole different ball game.

The other reservation I have is about trying to raise Bauer to an indestructible status of James Bond, and that’s essentially what would happen if he became a serial movie killer. Is this really necessary? Won’t Jack become just another action  hero? Won’t the essence of “24” get lost in the process? Knowing that Jack will come back for another movie would make any real tension impossible because you’d know he can’t die (once I stopped believing they’d ever kill Jack on screen, that seriously dampened my “thrill” watching the seasons). Kiefer Sutherland has been saying for quite some time that he believed that Jack could go on as a character even if someone else played him. I suppose this might be the beginning idea of that transition. Just like Bond.

Nothing is etched in stone yet, of course, as a “revisit” will likely depend on how well the first movie does. So we’ll see.

In the meantime, let’s try to look forward to the movie and the return of

“…some familiar faces”

in the (first) movie, notably Chloe O’Brian. I’m still hoping for Tony, too.

More details on the film include “cold war themes”, and Jack’s remaining status of a “fugitive from everyone”, at least at the start of the movie. So it’s probably safe to say that Jack still has it in for the Russians. Suwarow is still alive, after all.