Kiefer Sutherland

Designated Survivor is among the buzziest new shows on the U.S. fall TV schedule this year. It’s not hard to see why the ABC drama, which was ordered straight to series from The Mark Gordon Company, has critics, viewers and international buyers so excited. First, it stars Kiefer Sutherland, known to legions worldwide as fearless counter-terrorism agent and all-around badass Jack Bauer on 24. And its story line, about a lower-level U.S. Cabinet member thrust into the Oval Office following a terrorist attack, comes at a time when, in real life, a political outsider is just one election away from potentially becoming the leader of the free world. Amid his busy production schedule, Sutherland took time to talk to World Screen about why he was compelled to join the show and why he can’t wait to launch it to the international market with Entertainment One at MIPCOM.

WS: How did you hear about Designated Survivor, and what made you want to be a part of it?
SUTHERLAND: I’ve been great friends with Mark Gordon over the last 20 years. While I was doing a film with Michelle Pfeiffer in New York, I had been sent the script. I was quite busy with other things, so doing a television show was not the first thing on my mind. But because I’ve been friends with Mark for a long time, I felt I owed it to him to give it a read. So I did what I consider a cursory read, where I read through something quite quickly but have enough information to be able to politely explain why I can’t do it. And by the time I got to page 25, I realized how brilliant the script was and what a fantastic idea it was. I remember saying, Shit, I’ve got to go back to the beginning and start reading it properly! And I did, and by the time I was finished I realized I was potentially holding the next ten years of my life in my hands. I phoned [Mark] up and explained that to him, and I told him how brilliant I thought it was. I was moved by the characters, and I thought that the situation, an attack on the U.S. Capitol and how this man becomes the president, was so enticing. I realized if I didn’t do it, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.

WS: Tell me about your character, Tom Kirkman. What motivates him? What kind of leader does he see himself as?
SUTHERLAND: I think he’s motivated by a real sense of service. What’s really interesting is that he’s not a political animal. He was not an elected official—he was brought in by the past president to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He had a very noble idea of how to improve low-cost housing across America. In this extraordinary circumstance [of becoming president], he realizes that he’s going to put the people he loves the most—his wife and his family—in some jeopardy. And yet he has this incredible sense of responsibility to serve. He does take that on and, in the very beginning of the show, does so with great trepidation. He takes on the responsibility as a part-time thing. He wants to stand in as president of the United States to stabilize the country, not only on a domestic level, but on an international level as well. And once that’s accomplished, I think in his mind, certainly at the beginning of the series, he has every intention of stepping down and moving aside. So he will be, in my estimation, the most reluctant president in American history.

WS: The show is part family drama, part political drama, part thriller. What can you tell us about what viewers can expect? How does Tom becoming president impact his family? And how do the people around him come to terms with him stepping into this role?
SUTHERLAND: It’s very difficult for his family. You’re talking about two children being taken away from their home and moved into the White House overnight. How do they adjust to that? How do they adjust to the Secret Service? How do they adjust to their lives dramatically changing? One of them is a teenager. The demands of the job certainly affect [his relationship with his wife]. With regard to the very small group of people left in power adjacent to him, there is incredible mistrust. He has not gone through two years of an election campaign. He has not gone through the vetting process. And in the context of our story, there is certainly an argument to be made that he was going to be fired the night before [the terrorist attack] happened. In Washington, being the “designated survivor” is really almost viewed as a punishment—you don’t get to go to the State of the Union! In this circumstance, that person becomes the president. So there is a lot to deal with.

You asked why I was excited about doing this script. I’ve done a television show for eight years, and I know the trappings of trying to do something where you can potentially produce 200 episodes. The way that David Guggenheim [creator of the show] wrote this script laid out a canvas that was so vast. The real fear [in long-running drama] is painting yourself into a corner with regard to your story. And David has laid this out in a way that I think has given us the opportunity to not do that.

WS: You mentioned being friends with Mark Gordon for a long time. What has it been like working with him on Designated Survivor?
SUTHERLAND: I think Mark is one of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with—and not only as a hands-on producer with regard to the economics of [production] and figuring out how to create the best situation for the show’s release. What he’s managed to do for the show internationally is very exciting as well.

WS: The Mark Gordon Company and Entertainment One (eOne) are outside of the traditional Hollywood studio system as independents. Does that result in a different working environment on the set of the show?
SUTHERLAND: I had an incredible experience on 24, which was about as mainstream a circumstance as you can imagine, working for a major studio and a major network at Twentieth Century Fox. I’m having the same experience with ABC. I’m thrilled with the amount of energy and financing they’ve put behind the release of the show. They’ve done an incredible job. What Mark did that was especially clever was [setting up] his studio with eOne, making it with a financing backer. That’s allowed him to have—not autonomy, because he has a great partnership with ABC—but real weight in his opinions. His opinion is one of the major reasons I wanted to work with him. He and I share the same one 98 percent of the time. What he’s done with that outside thing you’re referring to is he’s managed to make that work for him in a very commercial, mainstream way.

WS: How do you think Designated Survivor, given its premise, is going to resonate with viewers amid the strange political climate in America right now?
SUTHERLAND: David Guggenheim did not write the script thinking, I’m going to put it out there in the third year of an electoral cycle. It was one of those things where it just seemed like the stars aligned. I don’t think it was as calculated as it might appear to be. Having said that, this is the most divisive electoral cycle that I have ever seen in my lifetime, and that’s been five presidencies. I have never seen anything like this, and I don’t think you’d hear any argument about that from anybody else around the world or in the United States. Look back at Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter—at that time, the difference in policies between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party [was so small], you could almost split them with a piece of paper. [The differences were in] how they envisioned accomplishing things. Now, the divide is personal. Everybody wants a great economy, everybody wants more jobs, but the divide is not simply on policy, it’s, “This person can’t do [the job] because they wore the wrong kind of dress.” The divide is almost ridiculous and the chasm way too wide. Our show is fundamentally about dealing with a major crisis. We’re taking that crisis and using it to try to narrow that divide and, in the context of our show, bring a country back to a place where that chasm is not as wide. On some level, while you’re watching the vitriol in this [presidential] campaign, I think our show is actually going to be quite hopeful.

WS: And you’re coming to Cannes to launch Designated Survivor to the global market?
SUTHERLAND: Yes, I’m very excited. I’ve only been to MIPCOM once before [to launch the show Touch]. I had such a great experience on 24, but because of the work schedule, I had never been able to go to something like MIPCOM. And I hadn’t been able to thank so many people who had been helpful to that show internationally. So I am really looking forward to that experience. I’m so excited about the potential of this show. To be able to go to MIPCOM and thank certain people who have really been instrumental in my career—there are a lot of people I haven’t had the opportunity to even meet yet—I’m really looking forward to it.