iF gets the scoop on the new TV movie, a sneak peak about what to expect from Season 7 and the original plan of making Jack a bad guy for the new season

By A.C. FERRANTE, Editor in Chief
Published 11/18/2008

It’s been a long wait for 24 fans. A whole season was pre-empted last year due to the writer’s strike, but it’s brought back the show energized and better than ever. And the long break even afforded the creative team to craft a stellar two-hour prequel 24: REDEMPTION which airs Fox on Sunday, November 23 (only to hit DVD two days later).

The two-hour movie (told in real-time), has Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), living a solitary (and peaceful) life in Africa, only to get caught up in a coup that threatens the lives of local children. All you have to say is “life-threatening” and Jack is strapping on a gun, shooting down the bad guys and taking no prisoners. Just the way fans of the series like it.

Executive producer Howard Gordon (who also wrote the prequel) spoke with iF in this exclusive three-part interview discussing the evolution of REDEMPTION, the long path that lead to Season 7, and the brief dabbling with Jack as a bad guy.

iF MAGAZINE: Why did the new TV movie title change from 24: EXILE to 24: REDEMPTION?

HOWARD GORDON: Someone at Fox didn’t like it.

iF: Did you prefer one over another?

GORDON: I think any name is ultimately going to be less elegant. 24 is such a great name. I understand why they had to name it, to distinguish it from the season, but I felt like every name could be from a cheesy action movie.

iF: It was really refreshing to see Jack Bauer back in action after so long. With all the crap that’s been going on in the world, there was something comforting about having Jack take down the bad guys again.

GORDON: I felt the same way. His heroism is intact.

iF: This has been weird season to get started what with the writer’s strike, stopping, restarting, doing the TV movie – and completely skipping airing a season last year.

GORDON: It’s been a very interesting what has now been 18 months creatively. There’ve been internal and external factors that have been obstacles for this season. I think any series in its seventh year is going to have its challenges, but I think this is a uniquely challenging series to do.

iF: Can you walk me through this process? The original plan with 24 – Season 7, there was something scripted originally that was set in Africa even before the writer’s strike, but this plan was aborted.

GORDON: We actually wrote a couple of scripts that had Jack in Africa. We wrote about a script and a half, and after a draft or two of that story, it occurred to all of us that it wasn’t working. We then took another path, and that didn’t work, and what eventually became Season 7, was our third attempt to get it right.

iF: What was the second attempt?

GORDON: It had Jack as a bad guy. Every attempt was an attempt to answer the question “What did Jack do after he stepped off the cliff in Season 6?” Because it was so oblique and unclear. In years past, we knew what our opening gambit would be, because it was defined by the cliffhanger the year before. This was a far more existential and open-ended thing situation that was open to interpretation. That second iteration had Jack as a guy who we believe has gone dark and ultimately, hasn’t, but that one didn’t work either. Finally, we settled on this one. As it turned now, the person who has gone to the dark side, turns out to be Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard).

iF: As enticing as it is to make Jack the bad guy, in many ways, you have to have him your hero. And as much as 24 breaks the rules, you have to adhere to that, because he’s already straddling that gray line between good and bad anyway.

GORDON: That’s exactly right. There’s enough interesting stuff about his character to play transparently, then to do that. Obviously, when Jack turned out to be a goo

TV Profile: ROBERT CARLYLE RUNS OUT OF TIME IN '24: REDEMPTION'


The star of THE FULL MONTY and 28 WEEKS LATER talks about playing Jack Bauer's friend and filming in Africa

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN, Contributing Writer
Published 11/14/2008


Robert Carlyle can be compared to a human Rorschach test for audiences. Those who know him as the ringleader of the unemployed construction workers in the hit comedy THE FULL MONTY or the sweet gay Catholic in PRIEST see him as a warm-hearted hero, whereas viewers whose first indelible impressions of him were as the psychotic Begbie in TRAINSPOTTING, the cannibalistic villain in RAVENOUS, the obsessive antagonist in the Bond film THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH or the conflicted family man in 28 WEEKS LATER may wonder if he’s safe to meet in person. The acclaimed actor from Glasgow, Scotland, displays a friendly face both in person and as Jack Bauer’s old friend Carl Denton in the two-hour Fox TV movie 24: REDEMPTION, which sees Kiefer Sutherland’s trouble-prone hero visiting Carlyle’s character at an orphanage in Africa. This being 24, this visit isn’t as tranquil as Jack hopes. Carlyle’s portions of the telefilm, he explains, were actually filmed in Africa.

iF MAGAZINE: How many weeks were you in Africa?

ROBERT CARLYLE: Three-and-a-half, I think. They wanted to shoot as much as they could while they were over there.

iF: Had you worked in Africa before?

CARLYLE: I had. I made a movie there three years ago, in almost exactly the same spot, strangely enough.

iF: How was it working in Cape Town, South Africa?

CARLYLE: It’s a beautiful, beautiful city. The people are fantastic. It’s not the easiest of times, particularly for the black population in the townships. It’s hard to see that. We were passing by the townships every day on the way to work and on the way to work. That stays with you.

iF: Does the 24 two-hour movie have a point of view about the situation in Africa?

CARLYLE: I don’t think so. It’s a fictional country, so it’s not really supposed to be South Africa. I think that’s a different type of project.

iF: But it does deal with the conscription of children as soldiers, which isn’t happening in South Africa, but is a real issue in other African countries ...

CARLYLE: I think that [attests to] the quality of this show, that it presents something to you. They don’t hit you over the head with it, but it’s there, you can see it.

iF: What’s your character like?

CARLYLE: Carl is an ex-Special Services guy who’s turned his back on that world. As we join the show, we think perhaps this is a hope for Jack, that Jack’s going to leave [his violent past] behind. But of course, trouble follows him around.


iF: Were you a fan of 24 before you got involved in 24: REDEMPTION?

CARLYLE: Yes. I worked with Kiefer before [in 2001’s TO END ALL WARS] and we got on very, very well, we’ve kept in touch. So it had always been in the air. They had wanted me to do a whole season of 24, but I was doing other things. When this part came up, it was perfect.

iF: Is this two-hour telefilm in the 24 mold, with the storyline taking place in real time?

CARLYLE: It does indeed. Yes, it’s exactly the same as the format of the show.

iF: Does that story format do anything whatever to your performance?

CARLYLE: I’d kind of forgotten about it, actually, because we do jump back and forth between Africa and Washington. So when I was reading, you see these big scenes, so you naturally take a breather between scenes, in a sense. But wait a minute – [the next scene is] not an hour later or two hours later, it’s a couple of minutes later. So you have to retain the same feelings and the same [tension].

iF: Your character runs an orphanage. How is it working with a lot of very youthful costars?

CARLYLE: I enjoy working with kids, I really do. In my career, kids have been all through the movies that I�

Make sure you pre-order your copy of 24 Redemption to be released on the 1st December, check out the specs below:

"On they day of the Presidential Inauguration, Jack Bauer finds himself in the midst of a bloody uprising in the small African nation of Sangala. He must risk his life to transport a group or orphans to the American Embassy and sacrifice his own freedom to ensure that they are evacuated out of the country and make it safely to America"

Special Features:

Disc 1
Sky-aired (shorter) version
Season 6 Summary (4 minutes)
Season 7 Sneak Peak ("First Act" 16 minutes approx)

Disc 2
Extended version of the feature (extra 10 mins) + all remaining VAM:
Audio Commentary by Executive Producer/Director Jon Cassar and Executive Producers Howard Gordon and Kiefer Sutherland
The Making of 24: Redemption (21:47 approx)
Blood Never Dry: Child Soldiers in Africa (15:00)
Deleted Scenes (20:00 approx)
Terry Pratchett Introduction
Director Commentary
Audio Description
Blooper Reel
Ank Mor'pork Tourist Guides
Deleted Scenes
Terry Pratchett Interview
David Jason Interview
Sean Astin Interview
Production & Stills Gallery

Make sure you pre-order now at Amazon, play.com or HMV