|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
02.09.2008 Cover Story: FX Bets On 'Anarchy'
Network Takes A Ride On The Wild Side With Biker Drama From 'Shield' Writer
By Mary McNamara
On Wednesday, Sept. 3, at 10 p.m., FX ventures into untamed television territory — again. It's the debut of the network's latest dramatic series, Sons of Anarchy, a reinvention of Hamlet that rolls in the world of a notorious, gun-running outlaw motorcycle club.
The series is an unflinching Harley ride through a motorcycle brotherhood, a fiercely loyal band willing to do whatever it takes to survive. On set, outlaw bikers serve as technical advisers and some producers and cast have personal contact with the underworld. The show is “as real as it gets,” says John Linson, an executive producer.
Said FX president and general manager John Landgraf, motorcycle clubs “have been portrayed in film many times, but [have] never been the central source or location for a scripted series in television.”
FX hopes Sons of Anarchy is the latest in a string of hits, such as The Shield and Nip/Tuck, that fortifies its unique brand of edgy entertainment, with series that have been called basic-cable versions of HBO fare like The Sopranos. (Kurt Sutter, the Sons of Anarchy creator and an executive producer on The Shield, said he started out trying to create a “West Coast version of The Sopranos.”)
FX is betting SOA will fill a void left when cop drama The Shield concludes its upcoming seventh and final season.
Early buzz on the show from critics, going back to a screening at the Television Critics Association Tour in July, is that the new show will fit right in at FX.
Said Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle: “It's the first buzz show to debut. It's about biker gangs. And it's on FX. That's pretty much all you need to know.” The Associated Press's Frazier Moore says it joins the Fox-owned network's “roster of outstanding dramas (like The Shield and Nip/Tuck) that showcase fascinating antiheroes who buck the system.”
Fittingly, the Sons of Anarchy set is plopped in a gritty industrial neighborhood not far from Burbank Airport. On a nearby corner, the windowless Adult Super Store advertises all manner of “DVDs, magazines, and love toys.”
It's another blistering hot, polluted North Hollywood day. Episode six is in production. Against the odds, director Gwyneth Horder-Payton ekes out a scene set in the clubhouse outdoor “patio,” which consists of a picnic table, a punching bag and a boxing ring.
A train rumbles by, then planes taking off from Van Nuys and Burbank whine overhead. “Half-Sack” (Johnny Lewis) skips rope, training for a big fight. Money is riding on the match — “15K on the line and a lotta action on the side,” says Clay Morrow, the “MC” president, played by Ron Perlman.
Cherry (Taryn Manning) — an old lady wannabe — slides in and disrupts Half-Sack's training by delivering a beer.
A car alarm erupts next door. They roll again.
“No booze, no dope, no p*ssy,” grouses Clay. “Quarantine time!” announces another MC member. Cherry is unceremoniously escorted from the premises.
Sons of Anarchy is a creation of FX Productions in association with Fox 21, a separate unit of 20th Century Fox Television that aims to produce new shows for much lower costs. The sets are detailed but spare compared to their lavish broadcast cousins, like the two-story Zen extravaganza built for Fox's Dollhouse. Sons of Anarchy, by contrast, has more of an indie film atmosphere, drawing its energy from rich storytelling and stellar performances from a large ensemble cast.
Katey Sagal, most familiar to television audiences for her comedic roles like Peg Bundy in Married … With Children, stars as Gemma Teller Morrow (wife of Clay, mother of “Jax,” the Hamlet figure, played by Charlie Hunnam). Sagal will be one of the big surprises to audiences. Just as Ted Danson shed his Cheers typecasting on FX's Damages, Sagal breaks from her past with a vigorous portrayal of Gemma, the ruthless club matriarch. Comparisons to a female Tony Soprano are inevitable.
Said show creator Sutter: “She's the backbone of the club. She's that maternal power that drives the club. All her toughness, all her grit and energy, really stems from that deep, dark, maternal 'I'll f*cking kill you if you come near my cubs' place.'”
In her trailer, Sagal patiently juggles the schedule of three children by cellphone. She talks about motherhood and Sutter, her husband. Sutter tailored the part of Gemma (whose dead husband co-founded the MC with her current husband, Clay Morrow, continuing the Hamlet theme) with Sagal in mind.
When she met Sutter, she was a single mom with two children. “We were like the Three Musketeers,” she laughed. “It wasn't an easy door to break open. … He saw me putting them first. I'm very protective. I think Gemma has that mothering quality that's inspired by my love and adoration for my children.
“Gemma is very queenly,” added Sagal. “It's all about her kingdom. That's also her motivation. The grandson [born with a heart defect] is the future. It's always about survival.” In the pilot, during a hospital scene confrontation with Jax's ex-wife (played by Drea de Matteo of Adriana La Cerva of Sopranos' fame ) over the grandson, viewers will see Gemma's instincts on full Harley throttle.
Fortunately, Sutter said he loves writing and exploring strong female characters. He thinks the show is a “great balance between testosterone and estrogen.”
In addition to Sagal, the ensemble is populated with strong women, including Maggie Siff (who played Rachel Menken on Mad Men) as Tara, a doctor who is shaping up to be Gemma's nemesis.
Speaking from his office tucked in a nondescript building with a hidden entryway, Sutter said one critique of the show could be that it's “too ambitious and that the ensemble is big.”
But he defended his decision to go big as the right one.
“My experience in that world,” he said, “there are a lot of big personalities. There's a lot going on, from the inane, ironic and asburd sh*t to these huge dramatic things, where people are dying and getting killed and old girlfriends are showing up with guns.
“It was an amazing, eye-opening experience. I tried to capture the scope of that in the pilot and this first season.”
About two years ago, Sutter spent time (“a few days,” he said) in Oakland with an outlaw club he declined to identify. He was introduced to the biker subculture by John Linson (Dogtown). John and his father Art are listed in the credits as executive producers.
“I had an interesting lunch with John,” recalled Sutter. “Pretty much everyone I've met to develop a TV show with, they have a book or property of some sort. John essentially said 'I know a lot of these biker guys and they're really fascinating and I think it would make a cool show.' That was his pitch.”
Sutter said he became enthralled with the history, and in the course of an afternoon, “came up with the idea for the pilot and the series, and the Hamlet-esque component.”
While he had no doubt the people he was meeting were outlaws and could be very dangerous, he was nevertheless fascinated by the “swagger and self-confidence.”
“They don't take themselves very seriously,” said Sutter. “They're constantly giving each other sh*t. There's no politically correct humor. They're racist, they're sexist and they're misogynistic and they make no f*cking apologies. I found some of them to be unbelievably f*cking funny in a dark and twisted way.”
Sutter said he strives to strike that balance in the show, to “juxtapose the violence and danger against the brotherhood, family, dark humor and compassion.”
Depictions of outlaw biker clubs carry a certain amount of risk. Hunter Thompson ran afoul of several Hell's Angels while working on his 1966 book Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and was reportedly beaten by several club members.
HBO is currently embroiled in a legal brawl with Hell's Angels veteran Sonny Barger, who sued the network last April. Barger alleges that HBO nixed his participation in its competing outlaw biker series, 1%.
According to the suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Barger, known as the founder of the Hell's Angels (and a prominent figure in the Thompson book), claims that he helped HBO and writer/producer Michael Tolkin develop the concept and script for the show. Barger claims HBO froze him out of the project and now refuses “to acknowledge the contributions or authorship” of his work “asserting instead that the 1% script is an original work of defendant Tolkin,” according to the complaint.
“I don't know what HBO was thinking in turning their back on Sonny that way,” said Sutter, who has claimed in his blog (http://sutterink.blogspot.com) that he pitched SOA to HBO first, before selling it to FX. “Sonny's a smart guy. He's got more lawyers than bodyguards … it's not a smart thing.
“You're already alienating the world you're trying to represent from the jump. … We're trying to avoid those things and keep the lines of communication open.”
HBO senior vice president of corporate affairs Jeff Cusson said “the case is no longer pending” but could provide no further details.
Within days of the Barger lawsuit, FX gave Sons of Anarchy a 13-episode pickup.
After his initial visit, Sutter returned to Oakland several times, and befriended a couple of the bikers. There are two TA's [technical advisers] on set who are members of an “outlaw club,” according to Sutter. When some grumbled that lettering on some cast T-shirts was too familiar to a club's lettering, “I heard that and we changed the lettering.”
While Sutter believes the production is “doing everything we can” to maintain steady relations with the outlaw biker community, he's also realistic. “By the nature of the outlaw code —[which is] 'we can't be put in a box and f*ck you for trying' — I don't expect us to be embraced by the outlaw community. It's just antithetical to what it represents,” he acknowledged. “That's the irony of it.”
Shaded from the relentless sun, Perlman talks over the whine of power saws. The classically trained and furiously busy Perlman (the star of Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II) said he was attracted to the show for two reasons. “It's the smartest writing, day in, day out I've ever had the pleasure to be a part of. We're seven episodes in and there hasn't been one scene that I didn't approach voraciously.”
Second, Perlman freely admits he was also both drawn to, and intimidated by, the part of Clay Morrow. Clay is the “ultimate challenge. I've played psychopaths and sociopaths but I've never played someone as sure of himself as Clay. I didn't know if I could.
“Even Hellboy has a soft center. Clay has no feminine side. None! All my characters that I've ever played have always had a little soft center. Not Clay. He's one color. I didn't know if I could understand someone as tough as he is. He never questions himself.”
But then Perlman added: “We just finished shooting one episode where we see [Clay's] kryptonite. It almost takes him out.”
“I don't know if I should say this but … it's Gemma,” he adds. “You talk about a chick show. This is a chick show! [The episode] was written by a woman. No man could have written this script. Every aspect of womanhood is explored.”
Perlman pulls no punches about the dark realism, a hallmark of FX programming. “There are things I'm reading that are truly shocking — sudden, explosive, incredibly real. But never gratuitous.”
Perlman said the upcoming episode seven is “the most epic so far … huge events take place.”
When asked to characterize the flame that drives Sons of Anarchy members, a club established by military veterans, Perlman turns intense. He leans in and his eye contact is unwavering.
“Sons of Anarchy was founded by vets right after paying the ultimate sacrifice,” Perlman said, in a way he and other cast members have of talking about the club as if it's not a fictional entity. “They were made to feel like outcasts, so they became ones. At one point these were great Americans — great Americans — who believed in family, flag, fighting for what one believes in; fighting against injustice.
“After the slap in the face of returning home … [they thought] 'if the United States government is going to make stuff up, then f*ck it. We'll make it up as we go. And it will be something we can believe in, that protects its own.'”
In contrast to Perlman, Charlie Hunnam, a 20-something British actor, quietly retreated for the last two years. For various reasons, he didn't work. Mostly, he chose to sit out until the right opportunity presented itself. When he read the SOA script, he said, “It was everything I wanted to do. The quality of writing was as high as any of the features.”
Sutter has stated that Hunnam was his first choice to play Jax Teller (son of Gemma and stepson to Clay) after spotting him in the indie film Green Street Hooligans, about football hooligans in London. Hunnam said Sutter wanted to know if he was “willing to commit to doing the show for seven years. I told him, 'As long as you're diligent and keep the quality, then I'll be here with you.'”
Hunnam immersed himself in the role. In preparation for his Green Street Hooligans role, he said, he “ran with the real crew we were representing in the film” for about a month. For his work on Sons of Anarchy, he located an outlaw group.
“I have no interest in the Disney version of any of this. My area of interest is finding the truth of these worlds.”
“These guys are no joke,” Hunnam said of his outlaw contacts, a different set than the MC Sutter cultivated. “I met them before we started filming. Of the guys I know, two have already been murdered. It's not for the faint of heart.”
Hunnam said the bikers he knows are “influenced by modern urban culture” and they “dress much more hip-hop.” Hunnam brings those influences to the screen. He credits his contacts for helping him bring greater authenticity to his role, even down to the white sneakers he wears.
While Hamlet offers a broad hint of what to expect in Sons of Anarchy, Hunnam says it's also about loyalty to a family.
“We talk about these guys as 'lifers,'” Hunnam says. “Jax has already made the ultimate, huge commitment. He has the entire insignia of the club [tattooed] on his back. In the real world, and in Sons of Anarchy, if you're part of an outlaw MC and decide you're leaving the club, then the iconography must be removed. And it's usually against the persons' will.”
Then Hunnam softens his voice. “We handle that in an episode.”
|
|
|
|
01.09.2008 Ron Perlman of Sons of Anarchy
Ron Perlman
arrow Visit The Sons of Anarchy Official Site
Share:
Author: Emma Loggins
We had the honor of sitting down with Ron Perlman to discuss Sons of Anarchy, how he got started in acting, and his own favorite television shows. Here's what he had to say:
How did you get started in acting?
R. Perlman: I couldn't make it on the swimming team in high school. In fact, I got thrown off the swimming team and was forced to audition for the school play because they had at the audition about 35 girls show up and no boys, so my swimming coach suggested that I might be able to do the drama department more good than I was doing the swimming team. Why he had that instinct I don't know, but the rest is history.
How did you come into this part on Sons of Anarchy? I mean, did you audition?
R. Perlman: Kurt Sutter asked to have lunch with me and told me that they were interested in exploring the idea of me playing Clay and that I was going to have to audition for the network, and so I did and here we are.
What attracted you to this show?
R. Perlman: The writing. End of story.
What was it about the writing?
R. Perlman: It's incredibly smart, very, very, very vivid, completely ungratuitous for a show's that as hardcore and violent and explosive and radical behavior, these are not your average conservative Republicans, these guys are ruthless and badass. And the way it's depicted is very organic, which you could only do if you're a brilliant screenwriter, as Kurt Sutter is, and as an actor you know you're always going to be supported by - you're never going to be made to look gratuitous or silly because everything is incredibly well supported in a very organic and very brilliant way.
How much research did you do into biker culture?
R. Perlman: Not as much as I would have liked. I'm continuing to do research into biker culture. I got kind of thrown into this thing with no prep time so I just basically dove in with two legs, with two feet, and started playing him and have picked up things. You know, we have a tech advisor who's a member of the Oakland Chapter of the Hells Angels named D.L., he's one of the most famous guys in that club, and he - whenever I get a break in the action, I sit and chitchat with him.
Charlie's done time up there, he's spent serious time up there learning, immersing himself in the subculture, and whenever I have a minute I pick his brain, I learn from him. And I feel as if I have enough of a foundation where I've got a pretty strong point of view about where Clay is coming from and what his core values are, but I really would like to learn more because the more I know about them the more fascinating they become to me.
|
|
|
|
29.08.2008 Ron Perlman Revs It Up in Sons of Anarchy
Ron Perlman has played many various characters in his long-spanning career, from a Beast to a huge-fisted, cigar-smoking demon, but you're about to see him like you never have before in the new F/X series, Sons of Anarchy, which will premiere on Wednesday, September 3 at 10 PM ETon F/X. I was in on a conference call with Perlman to talk about his new role, and here's what he had to say.
How did you come into this part? I mean, did you audition?
Ron Perlman: (Creator) Kurt Sutter asked to have lunch with me and told me that they were interested in exploring the idea of me playing Clay and that I was going to have to audition for the network, and so I did and here we are.
There's been some talk about how the superstructure of Sons of Anarchy is Hamlet. That, I suppose, would make you Claudius. Can you conceive of a situation where Claudius and Jax would face off other than-not Claudius and Jax-Clay and Jax would face off other than perhaps at the end of the season when presumably Jax finally makes his move? Are they pretty tight or is there a little bit of an adversarial strain underlying their relationship?
Ron Perlman: Well, I'm only reading it one episode at a time and I'm just a little bit ahead of you. I have no idea how it's going to play out. I pretty much have an idea of what is going to happen, particularly in light of the fact that I'm sure they're going to stick to the structure of Hamlet all the way to the end, but how it happens and when it happens we'll have to just see one episode at a time. But yes, they're very tight. I mean, there's a real affection between Clay and Jax, a real affection.
How long has John been gone, how long have they been a pair?
Ron Perlman: John, I think, died in '93, so it's a while since I think Jax was 15 at the time and he's 30 now, so it's 15 years that he's been without his dad and that Clay and Gemma have taken up the relationship.
With Clay and John both being founders of the club I would think they'd be pretty close friends, so I was curious how Gemma and Clay ended up married.
Ron Perlman: I don't have an answer to that. I would suspect that Clay probably felt that John got the prize when he got Gemma and wouldn't be surprised if Clay maybe always had a secret design on Gemma. I'm not giving you a definitive answer because I just don't know the answer, but I'm telling you some of the things that I'm thinking as the actor playing the guy, and I think that knowing what I know about how thorough Kurt Sutter is in answering all these questions we will all find out at pretty much the same time.
What attracted you to this show?
Ron Perlman: The writing. End of story.
Was there anything in particular about the writing?
Ron Perlman: It's incredibly smart, very, very, very vivid, completely ungratuitous for a show's that as hardcore and violent and explosive and radical behavior, these are not your average conservative Republicans, these guys are ruthless and badass. And the way it's depicted is very organic, which you could only do if you're a brilliant screenwriter, as Kurt Sutter is, and as an actor you know you're always going to be supported by-you're never going to be made to look gratuitous or silly because everything is incredibly well supported in a very organic and very brilliant way.
How much research did you do into biker culture?
Ron Perlman: Not as much as I would have liked. I'm continuing to do research into biker culture. I got kind of thrown into this thing with no prep time so I just basically dove in with two legs, with two feet, and started playing him and have picked up things. You know, we have a tech advisor who's a member of the Oakland Chapter of the Hells Angels named D.L., he's one of the most famous guys in that club, and he-whenever I get a break in the action, I sit and chitchat with him. Charlie (Hunnam)'s done time up there, he's spent serious time up there learning, immersing himself in the subculture, and whenever I have a minute I pick his brain, I learn from him. And I feel as if I have enough of a foundation where I've got a pretty strong point of view about where Clay is coming from and what his core values are, but I really would like to learn more because the more I know about them the more fascinating they become to me.
What was it about Clay Morrow that got you interested in the first place?
Ron Perlman: To tell you the absolute truth, the first time I read it I wasn't sure I could play the guy. I've never played anybody like him. No matter how sociopathic or psychotic the character was that I was playing, I always saw something in there that made them that way so that there was always some sort of a duality, like Hellboy is a badass but he has this really soft center. He's got a very strong feminine side. There was always a duality in all the characters I've played no matter how radical they were. There's no duality in Clay Morrow. He's got one gear and it's win at all costs, and he's not big on sense of humor. He has no feminine side whatsoever and I really didn't know whether I could, whether I had the chops to pull it off. So I said to myself, there seem to be more people on the periphery who thought I could do it than I thought I could do it, so I figured I'd put my trust and faith in them and use it as a big challenge because the one thing I do love is to be challenged and to be kind of on the tree limb, where one false move either way and you're toast. I kind of like that, so I took this thing as a challenge and we'll see. So far I'm having a good time, I'm exercising different muscles than I've ever used before.
Clay Morrow is described as someone who exerts ruthless control over all areas of his life thanks to his struggle with acute arthritis. How easy or difficult is it to portray that aspect of Clay, meaning his need for control as result of certain things in his life he can't control?
Ron Perlman: Well, the aspect of him beginning to lose control, the arthritis, it's not acute yet, it 's the onset of arthritis which is basically the first signal that somebody who always considered himself unbreakable and invulnerable is starting to see the beginnings of cracks in his armor. So when we meet this guy he's going through changes as is Gemma, because she's now 51 years old. These guys who started out as kids and thought that they had the world figured out are now finding out that there are certain things that there aren't answers to, and it makes for a very charged situation.
Katey Sagal's character is pretty tough on the show. What's it like working with her?
Ron Perlman: She's a doll. I mean, I just saw the pilot episode. You guys are kind of ahead of me because I haven't seen the second one at all and I only just saw the pilot episode the night before last, and it was staggering to me that the baddest ass on the show is Katey. I mean, we're all trying to play these big swinging dudes who are completely ruthless and fearless and in watching the first episode, I didn't realize that she's the bad ass of the show. She even makes me look a little weak, which is a complete dichotomy to how she is in real life. She's so sweet, she's a great mom and a beautiful working companion and full of kindness and caring. She's kind of like a hippie, she's like how all of us who came through the '60s turned out, a little left of center, very liberal-minded, and that's a complete performance she's giving on the show, but it is complete.
What has been your favorite scene to film so far?
Ron Perlman: I couldn't answer that. Every single scene that I've done has been, like, I can't even put into words what a great writer Kurt Sutter is and what an amazing staff he's assembled because every script is just filled with scenes you can't wait to do. The most surprising episode was, I think, the fifth episode. It's called AK51, and it was written by a woman named Nicole Beattie and it's basically a script that could only have been written by a woman and it deals with one of the things I alluded to earlier, the fact that Katey's body and my body are going through these changes and there's some amazing stuff in there that comes as a surprise to both of us and the playing of those things was pretty surprising and revealing. I just can't wait to get to work every day because these scenes are just like hanging fastballs, hanging curveballs, as the pitch is coming in you just lick your lips waiting ...
How does the effect of the club being like a family balance with the toughness of the jobs the guys go out and do and everything else on that side of things?
Ron Perlman: These clubs are a subculture that are unique to themselves but you can parallel them as every club as its own sovereign nation with its own set of laws and its own earning capacity and its own code of behavior and its own ruthless need to protect its borders and its national interests, and you can take any country in the world and set the same description to it. So it's more than a family but there are certainly family values to each of these clubs because at the end of the day they're there to protect their own, they're there to support their own, and they're there to sacrifice themselves for their own family.
What kind of audience do you think Sons of Anarchy will draw?
Ron Perlman: A big one. I don't know, I can only hope. I can never second guess what happens when you take a piece of culture and try to funnel it into the mainstream. I've been wrong almost every time before so I've stopped guessing. I hope people like it for its uniqueness and for the effort that everybody's putting in, which is a pretty magnanimous effort.
Did you know anything about bike culture before starting the series and had you ever been on a bike, did you know anything about the ins and outs of anything?
Ron Perlman: I knew zero. I'd see motorcycle clubs whiz by like the rest of us and just consider it to be very loud and an annoyance and I just thought that these guys were men without a country, just purely rebellious. I never thought about it beyond that. I'd never been on a bike, I don't have that in my own fun psyche, so everything I did was kind of filling in a very blank slate, and my eyes got really opened to the sociopolitical aspects of the impulse to start these clubs. And most of the guys who are members of these clubs were veterans, probably most of them fought in wars, in different wars, the Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, the current Iraq war, so they're warriors to begin with, and they come back to America after the most patriotic of acts, which is the act of self sacrifice for their country and not only are they not welcomed as heroes but they're kind of shunned because their psyche is such that it's okay for a warrior to go kill and die but it's not okay for them to come back to the United States and marry your sister. I'm out of here. I'm going to go create my own reality. I'm going to show you what patriotism really looks like and I'm going to be patriotic to what I consider to be things that are worth living and dying for. And that's the impulse behind the motorcycle club and it's very, very anarchistic and very sociopolitical. It's a reaction against something, which turned into a huge disappointment. Those are the things that, when my eyes were really opened as to how compelling these clubs are.
If you could write any scene for Clay or have him do something, what would you choose for him to do?
Ron Perlman: First of all, I'm not a writer. That's why I'm an actor is because if I could do anything I wanted I would write but I don't have those bones, and second of all I'm in a situation here where the writing goes so far beyond my limited imagination that it blows my mind every time I read a new script. I'm just happy to be able to portray what they're giving me. I don't have anything that could top or add to what I've already seen.
Were you surprised at the level of violence in the show?
Ron Perlman: Well, I'm not surprised by the level of violence in the show. I knew these were pretty ruthless, rough guys, but there are certain things that we're doing that shock even me, and I thought I was shockproof. It's pretty hardcore. I mean, you start getting to the third episode, the fourth episode, the fifth episode, I mean, we do stuff that is like-I finished reading it and I was just like, I've got to lie down. It's definitely-the envelope is being breached.
Sons of Anarchy premieres on Wednesday, September 3 at 10 PM ET on the F/X Network.
|
|
|
|
26.08.2008 : Bericht von Press Associaton
|
|
|
|
Ron Perlman swaps hell for leather
13 hours ago
Ron Perlman is swapping his Hellboy make-up for a pair of biker boots.
The actor stepped out at Paramount Studios in Hollywood on Sunday night for the special premiere screening of his new TV show Sons Of Anarchy.
The show, which is set to air next week in the States, explores a notorious outlaw motorcycle club.
Ron admitted he had his reservations about signing on to a big US show. He said: "It's a big commitment and I frankly wasn't looking for a television show. It just came off of Hellboy 2. My movie career was finally just starting to get how I wanted it to get and this thing just came out of the blue, but it was an offer I couldn't refuse."
However Ron said he didn't regret joining the cast at all.
"I've never felt more challenged because not only is the character so unlike anything I've ever done before, he's so unlike me," he said.
He added that there was more to the show than what meets the eye.
"The super-structure of the show is Hamlet. If you play close attention and we're on the air for five seasons the structure will probably parallel the five acts of Hamlet.
"If we're on the air for six seasons I think we're gonna do The Sound of Music," he joked.
Working with bikes on the show hasn't given Ron a taste for life in the fast lane, the actor joked: "I'm the reason why stunt guys put there kids through school."
|
|
|
|
16.07.2008 : Bericht aus der Daily News
|
|
|
|
Inner Tube: FX presents family that slays together
Wednesday, July 16th 2008, 4:00 AM
Ron Perlman
FX on Tuesday unveiled its latest twist on "family values" - "Sons of Anarchy," premiering Sept. 3, a drama where the family is an outlaw motorcycle gang. Family members include Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman (right) and Katey Sagal as the "incredibly hard-a- biker chick mom" who holds the enterprise together.
Kurt Sutter, a writer on "The Shield," said he created this show partly because he found it interesting how outlaw biker gangs can morph into organized-crime families.
"You wonder how the guy who started it, who just wanted to have a few beers, kick some a- and live his own way, feels about that," Sutter said.
"There's no doubt these are some dangerous cats," said Sutter. "But they have this amazing familial bond, like 'I'd kill for my brother.' It's somehow endearing.
"I think those of us in the 9-to-5 world have always been fascinated with the outlaw biker world. It's like going to see 'The Wild One.'"
David Hinckley
|
|
|
|
Ron Perlman Leads 'Sons of Anarchy'
'Hellboy' star replaces Scott Glenn in FX series
23.Mai 2008 von Zap 2 it
Ron Perlman
"Hellboy" star Ron Perlman will raise a little more hell for FX -- and he won't need massive amounts of makeup to do so.
Perlman has joined the cable network's series "Sons of Anarchy," where he'll play the leader of an outlaw motorcycle club, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show is scheduled to premiere in the fall.
"Sons of Anarchy" centers on the title motorcycle club's efforts to protect their small town from outside elements, including drug dealers and real-estate developers. Charlie Hunnam ("Children of Men") stars as a young member of the club whose affection for it comes in conflict with his concern over some of its actions.
Katey Sagal ("Married ... with Children," "Eli Stone") plays Hunnam's mother, and Perlman will play his stepfather. Scott Glenn played the role in the show's pilot, but after the show opted to cast itself as more of a dark comedy, Perlman was brought in.
Prior to "Hellboy," Perlman was best known for the CBS series "Beauty and the Beast." His credits also include "Blade II," "Alien: Resurrection" and a host of voice-over roles. He'll next be seen in "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," which hits theaters in July.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright©Sylvia Untermann-2007/2008
|
|
