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THE MECHANIC (2011) PRODUCTION NOTESas a film producer. This February, he will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Universal‟sContraband.Donald Sutherland (Harry McKenna)Donald Sutherland is a legendary actor known for his memorable performances in awide diversity of roles in such classics as M*A*S*H, The Dirty Dozen, Klute, OrdinaryPeople, Kelly’s Heroes, Fellini‟s Casanova, The Eye of The Needle, 1900, The Invasionof the Body Snatchers, Animal House and a hundred and fifty more films.Most recently he‟s starred opposite Jamie Bell and Channing Tatum in KevinMacdonald‟s film, The Eagle, adapted from Rosemary Sutcliff‟s beloved classicchildren‟s novel, The Eagle of the Ninth, about a Roman Centurion in second centuryBritain. He appeared with Colin Firth in Horrible Bosses this September, and has justcompleted filming with Christian Slater in Sofia playing a role he survives for once.Born in New Brunswick, Canada, Sutherland grew up in Nova Scotia and left, at the ageof 17, having never seen the inside of a theatre, to study at University of Torontodetermined to become an actor.His success at the University‟s Hart House Theatre propelled him to London, moretraining, and work in the fortnightly repertory in Perth Scotland for a year and in playsin theatres all over the British Isles.He was performing in „The Spoon River Anthology‟ at the Royal Court Theater inLondon when Warren Kiefer came back and asked him to come to Rome and shoot IlCastello di Vivi Morti. It gave him his first film role and the name of his son.As a Canadian with a North Atlantic accent Sutherland was given the opportunity to beone of the bottom six in the classic war film, The Dirty Dozen (1967). The film starredLee Marvin, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas and Jim Brown, and whenClint Walker told director Robert Aldrich during a read through that he didn‟t feel that itwas right that he, as a star in <strong>Hollywood</strong> playing a native American, should play a sillyscene impersonating a General in front of Robert Ryan, Aldrich looked down the tableand said: „You with the big ears – you do it.‟ The big ears bracketed Sutherland‟s headand his performance in that scene changed his life.Ingo Preminger saw it and offered him a film he was going to produce from a novel he‟dbought. There was no director. No script. No other actors. Sutherland said „yes.‟ Thenovel was by Richard Hooker. The title of the novel was M*A*S*H.He shot it on the Fox ranch with Elliott Gould, Bobbie Duvall, Sally Kellerman andTom Skerritt, all under the guidance of Robert Altman. He was shooting Kelly’s Heroesin Yugoslavia with Clint Eastwood when M*A*S*H sneaked in San Francisco. His lifechanged again.The film is now considered a classic and one of the best films of the 70s.© CBS FILMS, All Rights Reserved 12
THE MECHANIC (2011) PRODUCTION NOTESSutherland followed this with another classic, Alan Pakula's, Klute, in which he starredwith his great and good friend Jane Fonda, in a suspense film about a New Yorkprostitute whose friend is mysteriously murdered.Sutherland played a small town police detective who comes to New York to solve thecase. Both actors received critical acclaim for their roles and Fonda won the Oscar forBest Actress.He then did Don’t Look Now with Julie Christie in Venice. Nic Roeg directed it andSutherland had the name of his second son and a role in a film that is truly, in everyrespect, regarded as exquisite.Sutherland took a supporting role in the early „70s that would become one of his mostinfamous and most critically acclaimed. The role was that of the murderous fascistleader in the Bernardo Bertolucci critically acclaimed Italian epic, 1900 (1976).He stayed in Italy for another year to work with the maestro, Federico Fellini, who hadchosen Sutherland to be his „Casanova‟. They shot for 14 months and Fellini called theresult his favorite film.In another supporting role at that time, Sutherland was the marijuana - smokinguniversity professor in the seminal classic comedy Animal House (1976), thebreakthrough film for director John Landis that Sutherland shot over one weekend inOregon while he was filming Phil Kaufman ‟s pitch perfect remake of Invasion of theBody Snatchers.He was the father in Robert Redford's critically acclaimed, Academy Award-winningdrama, Ordinary People (1980), the Nazi spy in The Eye of the Needle, based on thebestselling novel by Ken Follett, and the teacher struggling with South Africa‟sapartheid in The Dry White Season, in which he starred opposite Marlon Brando.In Oliver Stone's controversial JFK (1991) Sutherland played the chilling role of MisterX, based on the very real Fletcher Prouty, an anonymous source who gave crucialinformation about the politics surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy.He also appeared as the father to Nicole Kidman's character in Cold Mountain (2003)and Charlize Theron's character in The Italian Job (2003). Sutherland also gavememorable performances in Land of the Blind (2006) and Reign Over Me (2007).He says now the roles he plays almost always have a death involved in them. His. Hisdeath. He looks at these roles as if he‟s cramming for his finals. Life goes on.Tony Goldwyn (Dean Sanderson)Actor, director, producer Tony Goldwyn definitely likes to mix things up. He iscurrently on Broadway starring in the musical revival of “Promises, Promises,” while hejust saw released his latest feature directorial effort, Conviction, starring Hilary Swankand Sam Rockwell. Released by Fox Searchlight, Conviction is the true story of Betty© CBS FILMS, All Rights Reserved 13
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