Article by BuddyTV.com
There are those who like the to say the wall has been torn down between television and film, that actors in this day and age are allowed to move freely between the mediums, and that television is no longer a back-up option. This is not true, and will continue not being true until people go out and start seeing movies starring television actors. Quick – name one current television actor with sustained and concurrent film and television success. I can think of one, and that person is Steve Carrell (though, it’s not like Get Smart or Evan Almighty set the world on fire). Film stars end up on television when they stop being bankable film stars. For this new TV season, Christian Slater’s starring role on My Own Worst Enemy is a prime example. Better yet, there’s Kiefer Sutherland and 24.
Kiefer, prior to becoming Jack Bauer on 24, was a movie star. Not right before he got the role – his film career had more or less petered out – but once upon a time, Sutherland enjoyed sustained success on the big screen. From 1987 through 1998, Sutherland played major roles in these big films:
Stand By Me, The Lost Boys, Bright Lights, Big City, Flatliners, Twin Peaks, A Few Good Men, The Vanishing, The Cowboy Way, Freeway, A Time to Kill, Truth or Consequences, N.M., and Dark City.
Since 1998, it’s difficult to find a good movie or a popular movie that Sutherland appeared in. He was the voice on the other end of the phone in Phone Booth. He was in The Sentinel. That’s more or less it. Of course, some of this has to do with Kiefer’s commitment to 24, which premiered in 2001. Still, his film career had been tapering off before then, which is what led him down the path to television in the first place.
Mirrors, a remake of a South Korean horror film starring Kiefer Sutherland and Amy Smart, was released in theaters on August 15 to resounding indifference from the American public. It debuted at number #4 on the box office charts, making $11 million in its first weekend. In its run so far, Mirrors has amassed about $20 million which, while not an out and out failure, is still well short of the film’s $35 million budget.
Kiefer Sutherland, it could be argued, is the biggest singular star on television. If he can’t reemerge in films, then what hope is there for anyone else. Steve Carrell, as a comedian, has a better chance because, generally, film comedies have shown a tendency to not need big stars to make money, hence the emergence of Judd Apatow’s crew.
Kiefer Sutherland, who will return as Jack Bauer in 24: Exile, the season seven prequel film that will air on November 23. He will once again be one of TV’s most beloved actors, and might even garner another Emmy nomination in 2009. But, he probably won’t star in any popular films. For TV actors, that just doesn’t happen.
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Posted under Kiefer Sutherland
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