Kiefer Sutherland Quotes (41 Quotes)


    This time, something happens to Jack on a very personal level. Because he's presumed dead, a lot of the boundaries he was restricted by -- by virtue of who he was working for -- don't exist now. And he's mad.

    Youth is an amazing thing: I think back on when we did The Lost Boys, and I didn't think I could do anything wrong.

    I couldn't see my father's films because they were restricted and we didn't have videos or DVDs back then.

    When you're a young actor you like to go for characters with a bit of flair, so in many films I ended up playing the weirdos. I can assure you I'm not a psycho or a criminal or a bully.

    I did a play called Throne of Straw when I was 11, at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. It became really clear to me at that point that I enjoyed acting more than any other experience I was having.


    I liked the ceremony, the ritual of preparing cocaine, as much as doing it. I did it for a year, loved it, then stopped. Now I feel the same way about cooking.

    The writers keep managing to turn the show in on itself, coming up with something that's well thought-out and miraculous.

    I've always traveled with a picture of my daughter from 1989, her kindergarten school picture, that has 'I love you, Daddy' written on it. She's always made fun of me because I never changed that picture out. It's like my resistance to her getting older. It was the first thing she'd ever written to me and it means the world to me.


    We're kind of in our own cocoon making it. Every once in a while you stick your head up for a second, and you just can't believe how successful the show has become.

    I've had some amazing people in my life. Look at my father - he came from a small fishing village of five hundred people and at six foot four with giant ears and a kind of very odd expression, thought he could be a movie star. So go figure, you know?

    When I wasn't the flavor of the week or month or day, those were hard times.

    One of the big draws of the show is here's a guy who is ordinary in a lot of ways but, due to his profession, he's placed in extraordinary situations that he has to make right with action and with thought. That's what is appealing about Jack - he takes charge.

    My whole mood or sense can change by virtue of the music that I'm listening to. It really does affect me on a visceral and emotional level.

    There are three things we need to do for a band. We need to make a great record; we need to get the record played; and we need to find an audience for the live shows.

    The graphics are the really freaky thing. I have two stepsons who are really good at the games, and they saw the likenesses. They had a gleam in their eyes, and I could see that the reason they liked it was because they could play to a point and then just stop, and I would get wasted. I think there's a certain amount of joy in, like, 'Let's watch him get shot again Do it again' You can make him really get riddled.

    I didn't realize that television has gone through immense changes and has become very progressive.


    When I saw Virginia Woolf, somewhere between the first and second acts, someone I had known as my mother became somebody else.

    When I was younger, my whole sense of self-worth was based on whether or not I was working, which was awful. And I had a baby at 20 years old, so it wasn't just about me. At around the age of 30 there was a stretch where I wasn't working - certainly not on anything I liked, anyway - and I started to do other things.

    You're going to tell me what I want to know. It's just a question of how much you want it to hurt.

    When we shoot 24, there are so many things I have to worry about, from the script to technical things to my performance, that I don't have a second to be bored or take anything for granted. We produce 24 hours of film a season, which is like making 12 movies.

    I've made films that I've given all I had to, that no one has seen. The bottom line is I want to work and I want someone to enjoy it.

    I'm federal agent Jack Bauer, and this is the longest day of my life.

    I like chatting with people. If people ask me a direct question, I give them a direct answer and I feel I've always done that with the press.

    My mother's five-foot-two, and I'll be honest with you - she's the only person I'm scared of.

    The most significant piece of advice my father gave me early on about acting was, don't get caught acting. Really believe in what you're doing and then commit to it. Even if it feels uncomfortable, even if you feel that you're gonna look like an ass. It's all acting, but find the truth in a moment as opposed to just pretending you have and rather than trying to act your way out of it.

    That'll be up to an audience when they start to feel that someone else should come in and do it. Personally, I'm hoping that's a long way off.

    I think the most attractive thing is a sense of humour. If someone can make you laugh, you've gotten a lot out of the way.

    I'm committed to the show as long as I feel that we're moving forward. And I'm committed to the show as long as an audience will allow me to do it. I think they'll be very clear in the end, as will you all, when (the show) is no longer effective.

    For me to have an opportunity to work with someone like that, it's a fantastic learning experience.

    The timing issue is something the writers are working on right now. But the sky's the limit at that point for them, because we would not be restricted by the time element.

    I'm a huge fan of Canadian rock-and-roll. When I was growing up, Rush came out with a record called Hemispheres, and I must have listened to that record for two years straight. Even when I was asleep I had it on. So, yeah, whenever I hear a Rush tune, the first thing I think of is Toronto.

    There's a confidence that comes from youth and not knowing better. But there comes a point, as an actor, when you do know better, and that is when the fear starts.

    My parents not only did it for a living, but they were really good at it.

    We saw that the music industry was changing and we felt that it needed to change. We have wanted to do this for a very long time.

    When Julia and I broke up and I was really scared to go into a market or anywhere because I thought, 'Oh God, everyone must hate me. And that wasn't the case. People said, 'I'm sorry this happened, man. Are you alright?'

    I think that the day you've figured out the differences between women and men is the day that you're no longer attracted to women. It's the difference that is so fantastic and frustrating and angering, and really sexy.

    I'm not that complicated as an actor. I have a formula in which I work, yeah. But not like Sean Penn does. Sean is one of the few actors I know who can work like that, actually becoming the character he is playing, and get consistent results. I don't believe you can ever be someone else. You manifest different levels of your own personality to come up with a character.

    There are two things that Jack Bauer never does. Show mercy, and go to the bathroom.

    There are a lot of movies I'd like to throw away. That's not to say that I went in with that attitude. Any film I ever started, I went in with all the hope and best intentions in the world, but some films just don't work.


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