In times when the belonging of the “sons of” in the Hollywood industry is questioned, not so much for their right to be there as for their advantages to gain a foothold, Kiefer Sutherland had his path written in his name and surname. The son of Donald Sutherland, the Canadian actor known for a career spanning from MASH to The Hunger Games, was named after Warren Kiefer, his father’s director of his first film, Castle of the Living Dead. Where he did find his way on his own was in the way he ended up being perceived by the industry: Sutherland Jr. is synonymous with thriller on television and now he returns to the genre with Rabbit Hole, which SkyShowtime premieres this Friday.
His mindset when dealing with the media is the opposite of many dramatic actors known for playing iconic characters. Where some seek to distance themselves from the characters, tired of being typecast and related to their origins, he is proud of his time at 24, who does not rule out that he could return to the front with his Jack Bauer, that agent of the Anti-Terrorist Unit who had duty to save the United States within 24 hours (and, unfortunately for him, these intense days happened often).
“I am not a screenwriter, it does not depend on me,” he declared about the hypothetical return. “The only thing I’m trying to say is that I’m not the reason why it doesn’t happen,” he clarified, because “there would be no reluctance” on his part if a good script arrives. And, in fact, he talks about the series broadcast between 2001 and 2010, and that it had an additional miniseries in 2014, with gratitude: he considers that it was there that he trained as an actor, where he understood that he had to learn technique and improve.
Thriller lover, he was not afraid to star in Designated Successor in 2016, where he played Tom Kirkman, the United States secretary of housing and urban development who became president of the country after a terrorist attack killed the president and the main members of the cabinet. . After two seasons it was canceled and rescued by Netflix, which produced a third. It made sense: the public, accustomed to seeing vice-series at their own pace, did not see the series in the open, especially with a plot as twisted and full of script twists like that.
And Rabbit hole, which changes sectors, moves in this same terrain: tension, conspiracies and with a plot it turns incessantly. Here, Sutherland plays John Weir, a corporate spy willing to cross nearly every line to fulfill assignments from his company, reminiscent of Olivia Pope’s in Scandal. But his day-to-day life and his reputation collapse when, after receiving a commission from an old acquaintance, he finds himself accused of a murder that he did not commit and that puts him in the spotlight of society.
At the moment, SkyShowtime broadcasts two episodes waiting to broadcast the rest of the first season week by week. And, according to what we have seen, it is difficult to predict where a plot can lead, of which it is better not to reveal almost nothing except that the main character establishes a very entertaining dynamic with Meta Golding, who plays a woman with whom he flirts in a bar. Among the topics that the series addresses? Fake news, the ability of new technologies to help fabricate lies and the difficulties in discerning the truth in a society where even the media do not agree on elementary truths. Behind, as creators and directors, are John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, writers of Bad Santa, Jungle Cruise or producers of WeCrashed.
There are the actors who want to be unclassified and those who, comfortable in their role, try to satisfy the fans.
