'Touch' star Kiefer Sutherland on acting with his young costar, David Mazouz
'Touch' star Kiefer Sutherland says playing a father persevering against impossible odds appealed to him right away. A Q&A with Kiefer Sutherland.
'Touch' star Kiefer Sutherland (l.) attended the FOX Winter TCA Press Tour with 'Touch' creator and executive director Tim Kring (r.).
Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters
Giving credence to the old idiom that you can’t keep a good man down, Kiefer Sutherland returned to television Wednesday night in Tim Kring’s 'Touch.' Cooler still, much like his most famous small screen ego that saw him defeat evildoers twenty-four-hours at a time, the artist formerly known as Jack Bauer will once be asked to save the world. Except this time, as widower Martin Bohm, he’ll be doing so through a [misdiagnosed] "autistic" son [David Mazouz] whose obsession with numbers may turns out to be a ... lot more than meets the eye.
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When an actor has had the type of success you had with such a groundbreaking series like 24, they rarely come back to television so quickly. What was it about 'Touch' that enticed you to return so soon?
Kiefer Sutherland: It was a combination of things. I had an unbelievable experience on 24, we shot 198 episodes and I was as excited about shooting the 198th as I was the first. And so that combined with this script, it wasn’t even really a choice anymore. It was something that I knew I had to do. I remember thinking about it really strongly when I was crossing the street in New York and the person who I work with Susan, I remember saying to her if we don’t do this, how are we going to feel in September watching it knowing all of its potential and how great we both think it can be. And that answered my question for me. I didn’t want to be sitting there watching this fantastic show in September if I had had the opportunity to be a part of it.
In terms of the script, at what point did you connect with this new character of Martin Bohm?
I identified with him out of the gate. There was something interesting because obviously this is very different than 24. Yet there is a real similar through line in the kind of character of the man. Jack Bauer would be faced with unbelievable circumstances in the course of a day and he would never win completely and this guy is never going to win either. He’s never going to have the quintessential relationship of a father and a son. Yet he perseveres and that’s a great kind of character statement and so I identified with him greatly on that and I think as a parent as well just the sense of responsibility combined with not knowing what to do all the time. Even though this is again a heightened experience, I think every parent feels that.
For audience members out there who are so used to associating you with Jack Bauer on 24, how do you convince them that this is going to be just as entertaining, just as interesting and intriguing as that series was?
I don’t know if there is convincing. I think that ultimately almost in the way that 24 started, people that are initially interested, whether they’re a fan of Tim Kring or a fan of mine or like the trailer, they’ll watch it and then if they feel strongly about it, they’ll tell friends and we have to rely on that. For me personally I feel that there is a great deal of suspense within the context of the show, even in the not knowing what the numbers are and the narrative where the audience actually knows more than the lead character. So I think that even though we’re not blowing things up, I think that there is enough excitement around the drama of this show, that people will not be that thrown by it who enjoyed 24. And we really do rely on you guys telling people about it and hopefully it will be something that grows.
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