WELL Donald Sutherland 10As.Indd
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PROFILE Still hungry after all to Pride & Prejudice to his latest star turn as these years, actor and President Snow in The Hunger Games trilogy. Indeed, a quick scan of his IMDB entry and icon Donald Sutherland you’re hard-pressed to nd a year since 1962 that Sutherland hasn’t appeared in a lm or is crossing borders and television show – and many years there are several entries. He’s a busy guy. generations By Kim Izzo The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 is out this month. Sutherland portrays President KISSED DONALD SUTHERLAND. Coriolanus Snow who rules with ruthless vig- By accident. Or, rather, by miscal- our. In case you haven’t read the YA novels or culation. You see, he had already watched the rst two lms, The Hunger Games TRUE rolled up his pant leg and shown is set in a dystopian world called Panem, a me the scar from his knee replace- country consisting of the wealthy Capitol ment, so I took that to mean we had and 12 districts in varying states of poverty. bonded. When I reached for his Every year, children are chosen to participate hand to say goodbye, he held onto mine and in a compulsory annual televised death match leaned toward me. And as any woman with- called The Hunger Games. The main foil to his I in inches of a handsome movie star’s face, rule is Katniss Everdeen, a teenage girl who naturally I leaned forward, too, and instinc- originally volunteered for the Games to save tually kissed his cheek. Only after my lips her sister and, as the third lm opens, she is brushed his snow-white beard (full and soft at the forefront of a rebellion. like a lamb) did I realize he wasn’t leaning Every great movie needs an even greater in to kiss me goodbye – he was asking me a villain, but to create such a character re- question. “How tall are you?” quires a certain level of nesse and human- The horror came on as fast as the colour ity. “It’s easy to judge a character if that char- rushed to my cheeks, yet as though on some acter happens to be the antagonist of a story. sort of kissing auto-pilot, I continued the pro- Donald doesn’t do that and didn’t do that with cess I’d begun and leaned in to buss his other President Snow,” explains Francis Lawrence, cheek while stammering, “5-10 but in these the director of The Hunger Games: Catching heels about 6-1.” My embarrassment was Fire and Mockingjay, Parts 1 and 2. “He loves made all the more unbearable by his long- the character. He lled him with humanity, time publicist standing in the room watch- conviction and many other layers that bring a ing. I choose to believe she didn’t see a thing. rich and honest life to the character. Donald As I left the Beverly Hills Montage Hotel that also has a gravity, intelligence and elegance August morning, I decided not to be too hard that no one else can match.” on myself. After all, who could blame me? To wit, when I refer to President Snow as a The man is Donald Sutherland. Canadian malevolent dictator, Sutherland very quickly icon. Movie star. Outspoken activist. And at corrects me. “He is not! He’s old and he has a 79, his 6-foot-4 frame is as lanky as ever, his society that he’s maintained and, for the most blue eyes as bright and soulful as when he rst part, except for 23 kids [each year] he’s done VE burst onto the scene in Robert Aldrich’s 1967 very well. The rest of them have suered but Second World War drama The Dirty Dozen. not as badly really as the poor in this country K ARCHI It wasn’t his rst on-screen part but arguably for which this is an allegory for,” he explains RUN T it was the role that brought the young actor emphatically. “We kill loads of people in this O/ K from New Brunswick to the Hollywood table country. We have loads of war criminals in EN I and granted him access to other seminal parts this country from George Bush to Lyndon of the era of discontent such as MASH, Kelly’s Johnson. So I don’t think he’s malevolent. In Heroes and Klute (where he began a passion- fact, the person who he would have succeed ate aair with co-star Jane Fonda). him would be Katniss Everdeen because that’s From there, his lmography runs the gamut the person that he recognizes himself in. She from Animal House to Ordinary People, JFK delights him and gives him such joy, and he PHOTOGRAPHY, KURT ISWAR KURT PHOTOGRAPHY, NORTH 61 relishes it. He tries to control her but he can’t.” technique goes beyond family. Francis Katniss Everdeen, as anyone who doesn’t Lawrence writes in an email about one day live in a cave knows, is played by Oscar- in Atlanta while lming Mockingjay where winner Jennifer Lawrence who Sutherland a massive outdoor shoot was disrupted by calls “a bloody genius. She’s Joan of Arc.” bad weather so the crew had to improvise. Su§ce to say, Sutherland knows how to “We were going to have to cancel the rest of recognize talent in young artists. He is the the day. Our only other option was to change father of ve, after all: Kiefer and Rachel, locations midday and shoot a really import- from his former marriage to Canadian ac- ant interior scene with Donald and Jen,” he tress Shirley Douglas, and three sons, Rossif, explains. “Trying to move everyone to the ARNER ARNER Angus and Roeg, with his wife, Francine stage was going to be hard enough but, to W Racette. Rossif has been making a splash in make things worse, that interior scene wasn’t AND; Canadian independent lms, most recent- scheduled to be shot for several days. We were L ly in Big Muddy, a neo-noir ©ick that pre- concerned about giving Donald, who had the GAMES HUNGER THE miered at TIFF in September. And, of course, bulk of the dialogue, zero time to prepare. Kiefer is familiar to many, most indelibly for But Donald, the total professional that he is, his role as Jack Bauer on 24. showed up with every single one of his lines AWRENCE & SUTHER & AWRENCE Sutherland and Kiefer rst began discuss- already memorized and absolutely nailed it.” L ing their desire to make a lm together 25 It’s that kind of technique and skill that HEARER/WIREIMAGE HEARER/WIREIMAGE years ago, and now that dream has become a S inspires actors of all ages, although working EWSCOM reality. While they have appeared on screen with a star of Sutherland’s stature would be /N COM . before in Max Dugan and A Time to Kill, enough to send most actors into new heights JOHN ER; EF this latest picture marks the rst time they of stage fright. I asked Kiefer if he was a lit- KI have starred in a leading role opposite one tle in awe of working with his father? “There ACAUSA AB TH SON another. John Henry Clayton is a Western are a couple of moments in the lm where he I shot on location in Alberta and helmed by and I really do go after each other. And I felt ONW 24 director, Canadian Jon Cassar. The story that dynamically as actors, we would really I D; BAXTER/ D; L ECT idea was Kiefer’s, and he commissioned a be able to handle that and, having said all of LL OU G screenplay from writer Brad Mirman. Before that grand stu, when I went to go do it with CO shooting began, father and son reworked the him, I was scared to death! I don’t think I’ve AND & L script to make it their own. ever been that nervous as an actor in my PICTURE E “It had our blood in it. Our morality. Our life!” he says with a laugh. “I can’t deny that UTHER S HE LIF HE commitment to each other. Our respect and I’m working with this force of nature of an T love for each other,” explains Sutherland pas- actor, and a couple of times I’d kind of fall sionately. “It was the two of us and, nally, it out of a scene because I was watching what ETTY IMAGES IMAGES ETTY was him. He actually edited it. It’s his vision. he was doing. It ended up being the greatest G ENTMEESTER/ He created a lm that I’m thrilled with. He experience I’ve had as an actor. It was that R O ONS/ I had it in his hands and he did a wonderful special. It hit a level of intimacy for me as an C CAT I CE; I Opposite clockwise job, and I’m very proud to be a part of it.” actor that I haven’t experienced before.” The high praise is mutual. When I spoke to These are sentiments that are echoed by from top: Sutherland OMMUN C EEN CHO EEN T and Elliott Gould in Kiefer on the phone to discuss the project, he Sutherland when I ask what the experi- S I MASH; with Jennifer was equally passionate. “He’s one of the most ence of working with his son was like. “It AR Lawrence at The prolic actors in the English language.