Sutherland Quotes

I got really lucky in that my dad stopped working just as I started. He took a few years off, not on purpose, but he has three sons with his wife of 30 years and he wanted to be involved with them. As much as I missed him being around when I was growing up, I think he missed us too and he wasn`t going to let that happen again. So it wasn`t until much later that people started making comparisons. When I started, with films like The Bay Boy and Stand by Me, I look back on those interviews and I`m amazed; there`s no mention of my father, it`s not even "son of Donald Sutherland". I caught a bit of a break in that it never felt like a weight to me. It`s amazing that I was stupid enough to try it - we`re talking about one of the most prolific actors in film history - but my parents were very gracious about making me feel like I at least had a shot at making my own path.

(Talking about his father, actor Donald Sutherland, being a fan of his TV series "24"): I remember last year we were having dinner and I made the mistake of saying I had to go home soon because we`re shooting x, y and z. And he got cross with me, because I had told him what I was shooting, just not thinking about it, and obviously gave away a piece of the plot.

Pauline Kael reviewed The Day of the Locust (1975): "There`s nothing specifically wrong with Donald Sutherland`s performance. It`s just awful." That was the most destructive, stupid piece of criticism I`ve ever received. I stopped reading reviews after that.

(on getting his part in "24" (2001)) That was a funny situation, because Kiefer (Kiefer Sutherland) and I are still very tight. We`ve done something like five projects together over the years, and we see each other socially every so often since Young Guns (1988). We got the call from the people at "24", saying, "Listen, we don`t have a script yet, but the episodes are going to revolve around Kiefer, Dennis Hopper and a role that we`d like you to do". That`s really all I needed to hear. So I made one phone call -- to Kiefer`s cell phone on the set -- and said, "Listen, man, they want me to come on the show. Is that cool with you?" And he said, "Yeah, c`mon, let`s go!"

We`ve never had that before, usually there`s just a couple of injuries, ... But Sutherland wasn`t going to walk it off... I imagine he was a sore boy the next morning.