Kiefer Sutherland likes to travel, he also comes to Germany more often, and it could have been a nice coincidence that parts of his new film “The Contractor” are set in Berlin.

The "contractor" however, the contractor rushing through Kreuzberg in front of the elevated railway and the Landwehr Canal, is Sutherland's colleague Chris Pine;

Sutherland plays the man in the background and has therefore not traveled to Europe.

He didn't have to move to the interview either, but instead reports via video call on the computer screen.

Jorg Thomann

Editor in the “Life” section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Mr. Sutherland, in your new film The Contractor you play alongside your colleague Chris Pine.

Do you know what "Pine" means translated into German?

I don't know how I know that, but it means "jaw".

Which would have you in common with Pine.

However, her father, Donald Sutherland, named her after director Warren Kiefer, who gave him his first film role.

In Germany, where you've been many times, some people probably think you were named after the tree.

I do not know this.

But I've been to Germany quite often to make music.

In January we would have played concerts in Germany, but unfortunately the Omikron variant prevented that.

We probably won't make it before October, but I always look forward to playing in Germany.

Every European tour in recent years, and there have been a lot of them, we've started there and always given seven or eight concerts in Germany alone.

And I'm always very grateful for the reactions of the audience.

It's just a country that I absolutely love.

Many years ago you even lived in Cologne for a summer.

How did you manage not to be recognized?

At that time, her face was one of the most famous in the world thanks to the TV series "24".

I've been recognized!

People came up to me and said hello and asked what I was doing there and I said my girlfriend lives here.

I had a wonderful time, Cologne is such a beautiful city and so rich in history, both modern and ancient.

I felt very welcome there.

People were very friendly about my work, but mostly that was it: you said hello and then went back to dinner.

If you look at the opening credits of your new film, then you seem to have reached the status of the "And" man in terms of career: no longer the main actor, but the star who is named as the very last with an "and" in front of his name.

(laughs)

I don't think that's necessarily the highlight of a career, but rather a question of age.

Working during the pandemic has been a very interesting experience.

Never before in my career have jobs just come out of nowhere.

Now there were three different jobs: first the series “The First Lady”, then “The Contractor” and a third project that I am not yet allowed to talk about openly.

Literally on a Monday I was sitting in front of the TV when the phone rang, and on Friday I was in another city working on a film.

Things have moved very rapidly and outside of the norm during the pandemic.

And it opened up opportunities for me that I wouldn't normally have had, which made me very happy.

I wouldn't have been approached for The Contractor - partly because I probably would have been involved with a project of my own and partly because they didn't think I would be involved.

In that time a number of the usual rules have been broken and the offers I received were fairly new to me.

And I'm a big fan of Chris Pine and Ben Foster, who played together in Hell or High Water and reminded me a lot of Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

On screen, the two have a fantastic bond.

If I can be the “And” man in a film like this, then that inspires me too.

In that time a number of the usual rules have been broken and the offers I received were fairly new to me.

And I'm a big fan of Chris Pine and Ben Foster, who played together in Hell or High Water and reminded me a lot of Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

On screen, the two have a fantastic bond.

If I can be the “And” man in a film like this, then that inspires me too.

In that time a number of the usual rules have been broken and the offers I received were fairly new to me.

And I'm a big fan of Chris Pine and Ben Foster, who played together in Hell or High Water and reminded me a lot of Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

On screen, the two have a fantastic bond.

If I can be the “And” man in a film like this, then that inspires me too.