Q&A with Dennis Haysbert
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| 24 SEASON 3 Q&A with Dennis Haysbert |
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Continued from page 1 The final episode. Mm-hmm. How soon before you start filming that do you actually find out what’s going to happen? We won't be filming that for another four weeks, four and a half weeks. When do you get the scripts for that? We probably won’t get that until about a day or two before. That’s the script they put on red paper. So you can’t even copy it. Everybody wants to get their hands on that last script. Can you take that one home? I can take it home. Sure. But we have to sign releases for it. Those are the only two scripts that we have to sign for. Has anyone ever lost any of them? Not that I know of. Certainly not lost them and lived. (laughs) At the end of last season, when you didn’t know if you were coming back again, were you lobbying people, were you trying to persuade the writers that there was a way of bringing him back? Or were you just sitting back and waiting? Basically I was sitting back and waiting to see what happened. I did say to them, “You really won’t kill this guy, will you? There are so many people that are going to be offended on so many levels, if you kill this guy.” They explained it to me, saying, “Dennis, we can’t worry about that. This is what this show is about. People that are good, they die. The audience can’t expect them to live or die.” So you have to sit back and wait and see. I think that’s part of the appeal of the show. I assume you get movie offers coming in at the same time. Is that a problem, trying to balance 24 versus movies? And particularly if you don’t know whether you’re going to be killed off? No. Coincidentally, last summer I did have to turn down two studio films, because they didn’t know whether they were bringing me back or not. They would have worked the films into the television schedule. I was not very happy about that. Actually when I look back at it in retrospect, they were two movie roles I probably would have turned down anyway. Luckily. What about now, what about coming offers? I have some things in the offing. I haven’t signed on the dotted line yet. After doing a movie like FAR FROM HEAVEN and doing a show like 24, you get a little picky. You want to keep moving up. Doing projects of quality. A lot of the projects out there have to answer to a lot. You grew up in a very political time and place: San Francisco area, the Black Panthers, etc. Were you very politically aware from the very beginning, going up in that environment? Absolutely. A lot of things happened in the United States in my youth that affected me. Kennedy was shot when I was very young. I was about nine years old, and I remember how quiet and sad and angry people were at that time. Especially growing up in San Francisco, which is a political hotbed, anyway. Were you afraid of the Black Panthers? They tried to instill that fear in us. I lived on the other side of the Bay. So I didn’t really have that much contact with Black Panthers. And the media—you have to be very careful about believing what they tell you. They paint dark pictures of people who may not be as dark as they’ve portrayed them. As I’ve learned more about the Black Panthers, I find that to be true. They were, pardon the pun, “blacklisted,” badly. They really didn’t do anything that they weren’t incited to do. The police generally started the fracases, that involved the Black Panthers. There are a lot of misinterpretations about that time. A lot of half-truths surrounding the Black Panthers. They were not necessarily a violent group. They were prepared to do violence, if violence was visited upon them. That’s my take on history. Is that your own philosophy? Is that my own philosophy? Or that of the Black Panthers? Do you think the media is keeping the populace afraid? Oh, that’s a loaded question. That really is a loaded question. I don’t know quite how to answer that. It depends on what it is. It depends on what’s being done. It depends on the malice behind it. You know, I think we are being bombarded now. I hardly watch the news anymore. Have you watched BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE? Yes. You know, especially when you look at Canada, which is our closest neighbor to the north, they have just as many guns as we do. And they have maybe an eighth of the murders, or less. I still know people up there that don’t lock their doors. We have bars, you know? And then consumerism goes up. So there’s a direct correlation between fear and consumerism here, and the way people treat one another. It’s appalling, but it is the way it is, and I think we can change it. Talking about the changes in your lifetime, do you think it was ironic you were playing a gardener and a President in 24 at the same time? No. I think they’re just, you know, I think I just got very fortunate to get these two really beautiful and wonderful roles. I don’t know, maybe I didn’t understand your questions. In one, the time was ‘60s? Yes, late ‘50s, early ‘60s, yes. That was a lovely role. (laughs) I know it. However, he was a business major, and that was all he could do. You know, I mean, he couldn’t be the executive like Dennis Quaid’s character. Even though I think he was intelligent enough to do it. Yes. So there’s something a little ironic in that … Yes. So there are some strong ironies in that. I think that it effectively illustrates the changes in time. That’s what I’m getting at. Yes, definitely. What was working with Julianne Moore like? And how do you go about choosing movie roles to work on? Well, I'll tell you something. Pretty much, movie roles choose me. I look forward to the time when I can choose my roles. I have a couple of scripts that I’m working on, trying to produce, and it’s an uphill climb on a very slippery surface. Working with Julianne Moore was nothing short of fantastic. She's a very lovely lady, and I really don’t say this to be politically correct. She is just as sweet as you feel that she is. She's an incredible actress, and I can’t wait to work with her again. You said you sit down yourself to watch 24 on a Tuesday. Does your family watch it? And if so, what do they think of it? My son watches it and my ex-wife watches it. (laughs} But my daughter doesn’t. My daughter doesn’t like anything that has to do with violence. How old is your son? Thirteen. Is he kind of the cool kid in school, because you play the President? He’s pretty cool anyway. All his classmates, you know, they like David Palmer and they love the show. Yeah. What are they like when they meet you? What are they like? Yeah. Do they get excited? Well, to an extent. To them I’m just Charles’ dad, Mr. Haysbert. I go in there and I’m just a regular guy, which is the way I like it. They like me for me. What does your ex-wife think of it? She likes it. She really does. We’re really close friends. That’s why I mention her. She’s very much in favor of it. Do your kids have any plans to follow in your footsteps? My son is already writing and scoring little movies that he does at school. Do you get roped into acting in them? I played a little cameo. I asked him a question one day, I said, “Well, Charles, when you start writing and producing movies, you’re going to give your dad a job?” He said, “Well. I’ll let you come in and read.” (laughs) I said, “Great, okay. So that’s it for your allowance.” You mentioned before that President Palmer’s decision to call Sherry was maybe questionable. What role did she fulfill for him? Is she a one-woman CIA? I think I mentioned this to my brother. I said, “Look, sometimes when someone gets down and dirty in the mud, you have to get someone that can get down in there with them.” So she served a purpose for me there. When you read that, did you think that’s what he would have done? It seemed a little odd. Well, he was in a tough place, and you talk about that dark area that David Palmer was going to get into. He has to get a little bit down and dirty this year, because he’s not going to let people threaten things that are good for the people, or stand in the way of him doing that. Ordinarily he’d probably acquiesce and just fire his brother. But he wasn’t going to let anybody dictate any of his policies to him. It's just like when he got rid of all the guys that were funding his campaign in the first season. What do you think his feelings are towards her? Well, you have to watch. I mean, I can’t tell you that, because I will divulge something that you haven’t seen yet. And it’d be a disservice to you for me to do that. Anyone? You say you pick your roles, and you want to give this positive image. Yes. And obviously you’re a rather idealistic person, in that case. But is it difficult to maintain that idealism in the business you’re working in? No. No, it’s not. I mean, that’s not to say that I wouldn’t take a different kind of role, I’ve played villains before. One of them in a TV miniseries, and one in ABSOLUTE POWER. But those are guys that had an interest in views. They were bad guys in spite of themselves. They became bad guys because of deeds they had to do. I was a Secret Service agent protecting my president. I killed a girl that should not have been killed. But I had no choice in that matter. I like to play those roles that make you think about both sides of the question, you know? Why does a guy do a certain thing? I like to make people think. If I can play a role that induces you to think about whether it’s right or wrong, that’s a good thing, as long as you learn something from it. You were on Sunday, on the SAG awards. It's a very interesting show because movie actors and TV actors are on the same ceremony. Right. Have things changed, compared to years before? Do you think now TV actors are more respected than they were in the past? Oh, there’s definitely more respect. I think the writing in 24 is better than half the movies you see. I think there are still some really great movies out there, and really great movies that are yet to be made. So, there’s not that stigma of going between television and films anymore. No, I think that line has been effectively obliterated, especially with the success of ANGELS IN AMERICA. We're seeing Meryl Streep and Al Pacino doing HBO. I mean that was unheard of 10 or 15 years ago, but now the writing is so good and the medium has grown so large that people will want more product. And we’re getting it. I think it’s great. How did you get into acting in the first place? Well, let’s see. That’s a question that goes to one point and then goes back, and then goes forward again. I first got interested in acting when I was 13 or 14 while in junior high. I saw some of my friends and peers on stage, effectively chewing up the scenery and having a great deal of fun. Then I got into it when I was in high school. I did a lot of the school plays, and it progressed further from there. I got to a certain point and I really started thinking about why I got into it. I thought back to when I was 10. I had never really said, “Well, this is what I want to do.” I liked movies, but there was nobody in my household that really could tell me what movies were good and what movies were bad, what actors were good and what actors were bad. I really had to make that determination on my own. The actors I fell in love with were the best for the time, so I knew I had aptitude for it. You know, Brando, Poitier, Montgomery Clift, Maximilian Schell, Sir Laurence Olivier…I also knew their differences. I knew, on a base level, that Olivier was technical, and Brando was completely organic. Montgomery Clift used emotion so effectively. He could move me by reading the phone book. I just recently saw some of my favorite movies, THE YOUNG LIONS, ON THE WATERFRONT and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. All these movies I saw when I was 10, and I loved them. Who knew what I was looking at? I see that same thing in my son. He’ll see a certain movie and he’s like, “I really didn’t like that", but then he’ll look at another movie, say, “Wow.” I see him watching THE PATRIOT all the time. He’s very interested in history. I'll see him on a civilization game on one computer and on another he’s watching the battle scenes in THE PATRIOT. Those are the kinds of things that I grew up loving, and enjoying. I think if anybody was watching me or looking at my development in those days, they would have been able to pinpoint the time and say, "you know, he’s destined to be in entertainment". And that’s where I went. That’s where I was the happiest. If I went anywhere else, it hurt. I mean, you imagine yourself doing anything other than what you’re doing now, and it probably hurts. I went through my stints of working in grocery stores and things like that to supplementing my income so I could go to school and learn. I said, “God, I hate this.” But you know what? It was a means to an end. Once I started working, boy, I dropped everything. I didn’t care how much I was making. It hasn’t always been about the money. It’s always been about being comfortable and doing the work. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Thank you. (Audience applause) Question & Answer Text Copyright of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Q&A with Kiefer Sutherland (as Jack Bauer) Q&A with Carlos Bernard (as Tony Almeida) Q&A with James Badge Dale (as Chase Edmunds) Q&A with Reiko Aylesworth (as Michelle Dessler / Almeida) Q&A with Joel Surnow (executive producer / creator / writer), Robert Cochran (executive producer / creator / writer) and Howard Gordon (executive producer / writer) Biography: Kiefer Sutherland Biography: Dennis Haysbert Biography: Elisha Cuthbert Biography: Carlos Bernard Biography: James Badge Dale Biography: Reiko Aylesworth Biographies: Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran, Howard Gordon and Brian Grazer Back to PHASE9 - 24 microsite |
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