| Here
are a series of quotes all in relation to 24: The Movie:
"[A 24 movie, if
it goes ahead, will be filmed after the sixth series], but it won't be in real
time." says a reassuring Sutherland.
"We're in the process of
writing a movie for 24. It's not going to be in real-time, and it's probably
not going to be CTU Los Angeles. It's going to be, it's going to take place in
24 hours, it will be more international, we'll go to locations that we've
never been to, and actually shoot on location. And it will be more, as
conceived right now, as sort of Jack Bauer is the new James Bond. I mean, like
the Bourne Identity movies where you know.... what Jack does is, in the way we
depict him, fighting terrorism, I think actually against a bigger canvas like
putting him internationally... in the Middle East or in Europe. It could be
very exciting for us to really not be constrained by the fact that we have to
get from one place to another in 10 minutes, and that's 10 minutes of real
time. Uh, so right now, the plan is to make this a big epic action with Jack
Bauer front and center in this thing." says Surnow.
"It'll take place in a 24
hour period. We don't know if we'll use the device of the clock quite the same
way. One of the things we want to do is give the audience something different
in a movie that you can't get in the series. It'll take place around the
globe, probably in three or four really distinct locations. We're looking at
this as a Jack Bauer franchise. This is about 'Jack Bauer: International
Terrorist Hunter.'" says Surnow.
"It will follow along the
continuum of Jack's life but won't be tied to the TV show narratively. The
film would probably shoot after the sixth season in locations outside of L.A.,
such as London. We felt too constrained by it and we realized one day that
Jack Bauer was such a strong character that he could fill the big screen." says Gordon.
"[Kiefer wants to reprise
his role as Jack Bauer in the movie], but the deal is not final yet." says
Sutherland's publicist.
"It's something that we
would like to shoot in between the sixth and the seventh season. We would be
able to travel a lot more, and show some different locations, and all of those
things are exciting for us." says Sutherland.
"Yeah, London is awesome.
But you've got to give me a lot to do while I'm over there. I haven't heard
anything. I know there was big talk about it and meetings have taken place,
but we're about to go back into production, so they're not going to do
anything for real until next summer, probably." says Rajskub.
"Yeah, absolutely. If we
do the movie it will be [filmed in London]. [Shooting] will be basically a
year to the day." says Sutherland.
"As far as I know the
movie will be filming next year, with parts shot in London." says Kim
Raver.
"The shoot will take
place in London and Prague. Then we will use Morocco as a location - probably
as an aspect of the Middle East. We'll do the filming a year from now."
says Sutherland.
"We're
working on that. We'll shoot part of the film [in the UK]. The film will be
very different. It will not be done in real time. The two hour movie will be a
representation of a 24-hour day. By virtue of that it allows us to break the
format so we can actually travel. We're really excited about it." says
Sutherland.
"Well, that would be a
fantasy. I just want to get out of L.A. I feel like L.A. is starting to get a
little battle worn. And we're still flirting with the idea of doing an arc
somewhere, London, Japan. I know those territories where the fans are strong,
we'd love to get there and change the color, so that it's a different time
zone. But the timing may not allow for that, and maybe the movie will give us
that opportunity." says Gordon.
"We're working on it. We
would love to do it, and we're all very excited about the idea, so, we'll see.
We are breaking out stories for it." says Gordon.
"I'd like to think that
maybe one day...you know there is some preliminary discussions about a feature
film for 24 in the not too distant future and I think that would be the
next... obviously at that point it would be another live endeavour and that
would be just an extraordinary time." says Sean Callery.
"What we want to do with
the movie is take the story places we can't go. Because of the real time
element we can only stay in Los Angeles, we can't move the story around. What
we want to make is sort of international. In a strange way the show, the Jack
Bauer character will become in a sense a realistic modern James Bond. The plan
is to do it in the course of a 24 hour day. So it's a 2 hour movie and take
places over the course of 24 hours. So you could start with an hour in say
Asia and fly eighteen or twelve hours to Europe and then another seven hours
you fly to the United States. You could actually have people be in three
locations over the course of the day and play out these 45 minute story lines.
It's not going to be the show. We're not going to give them CTU Los Angeles
the show, it will be the Jack Bauer story with the elements and intensity of
the show. It's sort of the same story telling elements but we want it to be
its own entity. The goal for us is to do sort of what they did with the Bourne
movies and just make it our own. I mean I think we have higher stakes than
those movies. I mean those movies are great but Jack Bauer's about saving the
world and we want to continue to do that but make it a big screen experience."
says Surnow.
"The script is actually
in development right now. It's something that we would shoot for doing next
summer, during the next break. I actually believe that they can co-exist. The
series can go and the films can go — or film — can go. The 24 movie would
be a two-hour representation of a 24-hour day. That would be the first time
that we would not do something in real time, but the characters would
obviously all be derivative of the show. If we ended up doing [the movie] as a
prequel and going back before the first season, obviously there's a lot of
things that could change. If we go for it much further down the line from
where the show is, again, there's a lot of room to change. It depends on the
timing that they choose to set the film in. [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." says
Sutherland.
"Myself and the production
team continue to believe in the idea of bringing 24 to the big screen. The earliest
we would begin shooting is late spring 2007. Quality control is the main
reason a 24 movie couldn't shoot during the upcoming hiatus. It was really
Joel and Bob and Howard realizing that if we were going to squeeze it in
during the break, we would have been rushing it. If we were going to do it, we
would do it next summer. It's still a big 'if.' We would not go forward unless
we thought we could do it right. I'm not involved in anything this hiatus in
anticipation of working on the movie next summer." says Sutherland.
"I heard that [it was
supposed to start shooting after the season wrapped]. I heard that they have a
script written, like a rough draft, but there's no way you could get it
together that quickly. I don't know [if I'm in it]. I think Rachel McAdams is
playing my part. No, I have no idea. It's not going to be a 24 movie
without me, let's put it that way." says Mary Lynn Rajskub.
"It’s definitely
something in the works, but who knows when and who knows what. But it’s
definitely being discussed. Not sure [if it would film this hiatus or next
year]." says Katz.
"It's definitely not
shooting this summer. The earliest it could theoretically be shot would be
after the 2007 season." says a Twentieth Century Rep.
"We want to do a 24 movie. We want to write it this year and shoot it after next
season's production, which would be next summer to air the following summer
after that, so that would be 2008. But, you know, we're in the very first
steps of a long, long journey on this thing, and we have to basically prove it
all along the way. We have to write a great script that they're going to want
to make. The thought for the movie is the whole movie would take place in a
24-hour period. It wouldn't be a two-hour real time period. It would be three
segments of real time in the course of one day, and this way it allows us to
travel more and not be grounded in Los Angeles. We want to do a much more
international story for the movie. Oh, we [have a plot idea]." says
Surnow.
"We’re working on it.
The Movie will be considerably different than the show if in fact we ever get
the time to make it. The show takes up so much time. We are working about 10
months a year just on the show. But the show’s obviously in real time and
the film it would be impossible to do that so the film would actually
represent a 24-hour day. So we have some of it figured out. But that’s just
the very beginning. Now we just need to cast it and do the story! We are
worried about it. I think that’s why it’s taking us this long. I think if
we are going to do a film we have to make sure that we can deliver something
very special." says Sutherland.
"I think it's going to
end up happening next summer. It's not going to replace the show, they are two
very different entities and I think they can co-exist." says Sutherland.
"[The writers are working
on a 24 movie now. But the story of the movie won't have anything
to do with the TV show, much like [24:
Conspiracy]. Production will start when we finish shooting the series]." says Sutherland.
"The goal for the movie, like
the game, would be to bring new people to the show. It would be great if it
did fantastic but it would be even better if it brought people who watch
movies to the TV series. And then they would go back and buy the previous DVD
sets and Rupert Murdoch could afford everything he ever wanted (laughs). We
would make the film for a year from this summer. That’s what we’re
trying to do. We have an idea and we’re going to start the script and I’m
not going to tell you what it is! We kept coming up with ideas and then used
them on the show! But we’ve come up with an idea that couldn’t be used on
the show. In fact, that really kind of helped us crack it. What can we give
the audience that they can’t get on TV? So it’s not going to be Los
Angeles, it’s going to be Jack Bauer internationally." says Surnow.
"As has been previously reported, there have
been discussions about a potential feature film based on the television series.
However, those discussions remain preliminary, and at this time there are no
firm plans for any 24 project starring Kiefer Sutherland other than the current
acclaimed television series now in production on its fifth season." said a
spokesman for 20th Century Fox.
"I'd like to see a 24 movie... what
24 fan
wouldn't?" writes Manny Coto.
"I think the argument could be made that
it might be fun to work outside [the real-time format], to broaden the franchise
for a movie..." says Evan Katz.
"It's something we really need to decide,
or, I should say, [20th Century Fox] needs to decide within a month or so
[because] we'd like to shoot it sooner than later. I wouldn't put stock in
anything just yet, but I think there will be news in short order," says
Howard Gordon.
"It's certainly something that I have
expressed an incredible amount of interest in doing. It is something that
[producers] Joel [Surnow] and Howard [Gordon] and Bob [Cochran] and -- we've all
talked about. One of the real difficulties, and Joel's expressed it in a number
of interviews, is that any time they got really close to having a great idea for
having a film, we needed it for episode 18, so there it went. I love playing the
character and it's something I care an awful lot about. And I think certainly it
is a genre of film that I have always loved as an audience person. I think there
is an audience out there for that. I think there's always a way to actually deal
with an idea of 24 as a film that would completely be separate from 24 the
television show. And by that I mean the characters could be different. They
could be completely unrelated, and I think that that would still be effective.
Obviously, it's something that I would be very eager to do, and it requires a
lot of other people to feel the same way. There are some real-time aspects that
are certainly presenting challenges," chuckles Sutherland.
"It's something that we've talked about
and something that I'd love to be apart of if it comes in fruition. You would
think it would be easy now that the character is defined?! Um… you know… The
film business, it requires a lot of people to agree," says a smiling
Sutherland.
''It can be an amazing series of movies. One of
the things I've experienced making this show is that an audience can handle a
lot more than we thought when we started — the tension, the anxiety.... If we
could [compress] all the energy we spread over 24 hours of programming and put
that into 2, I think we'd knock your socks off", says Sutherland.
"We have talked about it. Our biggest
problem right now is getting the writers to find enough time to write a
screenplay. There are certain inherent challenges in trying to make something in
real time over a two-hour period that's going to allow enough to be engaging. I
certainly believe that they're going to accomplish that, but I don't think
that's going to happen…well, it might happen for next year – for next year's
hiatus. We're not sure yet, but they have been working on it," says
Sutherland.
"With the show there's no time [for the
movie]. A script hasn't been written yet," says Carlos Bernard.
"The last I heard, the first hour will not
be in real-time, but then something big will happen and real time will kick in.
It still has to be worked out -- it's at a stage where they need to write it. It
could still be two years from now, so it's far too early to say," Jon
Cassar says.
"I think it would give the writers an
amazing opportunity. Let's say we'd do a less-than-two-hour movie. It could be
someone just dealing with a hostage situation at a bank. It could be quite
intimate — and still quite desperate," says Sutherland.
"I think obviously you'd have to call it
TWO (laughter) because it wouldn't be a 24-hour movie. But it's something that
we've talked about. It may be a TWO movie. Yeah, two hours of real time,"
says Joel Surnow.
"You'd have to cover the exact amount of
time as the movie. You wouldn't do 24 hours in that movie," says Robert
Cochran.
"It's a natural progression, yes. It's
usually the other way around - TV Series become movies - but in this case we
think we've created something that's far more entertaining each week, and much
better written, than some of the movies out there. If we can take this great
weekly series and turn it into a two-hour cinematic movie, why not. I know
everyone is looking forward to that happening. We've got a big Die
Hard style spectacle planned in the back of all our minds. The show itself
is big enough in itself, but the movie is sure to bring it on," says Kiefer
Sutherland. |
