Kiefer Sutherland onsinging,keeping fit... and fight with Shane Macgowan
24 star hits road with acoustic tour fuelled by secret weapons for stage
to have an insight into how to perform in a play better than the average 15 year old? Of course I am. You have to judge each person on their work.
“You still have to fight incredibly hard to get that job.”
Kiefer smiles at the memory of a director leaving him sitting outside an audition room for six hours, without offering him a role, following a spat with his dad.
By his 30s, work had dried up.
It came after his wedding to Julia Roberts was abruptly cancelled in 1991, and for a period in the 1990s, he was a rodeo champion, which has inspired his country music career.
He credits the role of Jack Bauer in 24, which he was cast as in 2001, with saving his acting career, and says he considers himself to be “one of the luckiest people know”.
Although his career has not been plain sailing since then.
In 2007, he was put in county jail for 48 days for drink driving. He has explored his sometimes frustrating relationship with alcohol in his music.
Sutherland previously revealed he got into a physical fight with The
I
Pogues frontman Shane Macgowan on the night they met.
The actor said the “cardinal mistake” of discussing politics and revealed the pair did not agree on the history of Scotland.
Sutherland, who told the story on The Late Late Show, went into detail about how they ended up having an actual physical fight, “rolling around on the floor”.
After it finished, Sutherland said he apologised and told Macgowan he was embarrassed.
Twice married Kiefer has also written love song Two Stepping in Time about his partner Cindy Vela, 45 – though he insists there are no plans to marry. “We’re not engaged,” he confirms. “We’re together, we’ve lived together for over a decade, and if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” he chuckles.
While he might admit to being lucky, it was more than luck that secured him a role in Clint Eastwood’s yet-to-be released final film Juror No. 2. Kiefer wrote him a letter begging to work with the legendary director.
“I don’t think I could have just phoned him up, I wouldn’t have been that presumptuous,” he laughs. “But I was impressed he got the letter. He was really sweet, and generous.”
I grew up in theatre. Am I going to have insight into how to perform in a play better than the average 15yr old? Of course I am