Go behind the scenes of the terrifying new horror film on Blu-ray Disc with star Kiefer Sutherland.
Kiefer Sutherland is a busy man. When he's not shooting back to back episodes of his acclaimed TV series, 24, he has managed to find time to squeeze in a movie. That film, Mirrors, is a big budget, nerve shredding horror remake of the Korean film of the same name that he filmed after shooting finished on Season Six of 24, and wrapped up on the weekends when production on Season Seven kicked into overdrive.
The night watchman
That's a lot of hours behind camera and waiting around on set between takes for just one man, but for Sutherland the reason for this was simple. "I really wanted to work with director Alexandre Aja and do a film in this genre. As an actor your desire is to elicit a response from an audience, and there is no better genre to do that in than this. I get very affected when I see films. I suspend my belief and let the film take me somewhere which makes me very vulnerable for a film like this, so it's a lot easier for me to make the film than to watch it."
Another contributing factor to his decision to pursue the part is that his father, Donald Sutherland, is one of the greatest actors of his generation and has starred in some of the most revered genre pictures of our time. "I think he made one of the greatest pieces of cinema ever made with Don't Look Now by Nicolas Roeg. That to me was an enlightened movie, and one of the scariest films I ever saw. I was way too young when I first saw that, about 16 or 17. But my father has done so many great films. I also thought the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers was fantastic," muses Sutherland on his father's brilliant CV. "My interest in doing a film like this is when you have characters that you are invested in and then the horror elements come in. I felt Alexandre balanced that beautifully in this script for Mirrors."
The plot sees Sutherland take on the role of deeply troubled ex-cop Ben Carson who, after shooting a man in the line of duty, turns to alchohol and loses his family in the process, takes a job as a night watchman in a burned out New York department store whose mirrors have strangely survived the fire. Soon after taking the job, things begin to take a turn for the worse as Ben and his family come under attack from their own menacing and, naturally evil mirror images that lurk behind the glass.
Mirror, mirror
While Sutherland is the main character in the film, the real star is the haunting building that director Aja chose to shoot the film in, lending itself brilliantly to the consistently ominous sense of dread that permeates throughout, keeping you pinned to the edge of your seat as Sutherland explores burnt out corridors and darkened rooms every night of his shift. "We shot the film primarily in Bucharest, Romania. The former Communist leader Ceausescu had built this Academy of Sciences building that was never finished by the time he died in 1989," explains the star of the eerie filming location. "The building was really a testament to his ego so it hasn't been used and there was a sense of abandonment you could really feel. It's a cold war building and you could feel the weight of that and there was a musky quality to it. It was great to shoot in a real building rather than a set, because we could do 360 degree shooting."
Loaded with plenty of seat-jolting moments for both regular film fans and horror hounds alike, Mirrors packs in scare after scare from start to finish, none more terrifying for Sutherland than the first time his character looks in the mirror after the strange happenings begin, seeing a twisted contorted and terrifying vision of his former self. "The first time Ben looked in the mirror made me jump but the oddest thing is I knew it was coming, and I still jumped," jokes the 24 star. "Even just going through the building and waiting for something to happen is scary to me. Believe me, I'm the easiest person to make this movie for."
Working man
Sutherland, who has had a huge career resurgence thanks to his starring role as Jack Bauer in the hit TV show, hasn't stopped working in the past seven years and believes that he is a much better actor for it, shows no signs whatsoever of stopping in the near future. "I love working. The only times I've had to stop is because I couldn't get a job. I wouldn't call myself an artist; I feel more like a carpenter when I go to work. I love acting and creating a character is one of the most exciting things for me. 24 has been one of the greatest educations for me as an actor, because I really started to realize how much I didn't know about the work," explains the 42-year-old screen veteran. "For the first time in my life I have gotten to work for seven years straight, day in and day out. Acting is a muscle and to be able to train like that, making something that people are enjoying, has been an unbelievable gift."
Get ready for a terrifying trip beyond the mirrors in High Definition on PLAYSTATION 3.
Mirrors is released on Blu-ray Disc on 4 May 2009.
