Don’t be afraid to look in the Mirrors

3:19pm Thursday 2nd October 2008

Kiefer Sutherland is returning to the big screen in Mirrors.

Here he reveals that he is scared very easily and why he still wanted to work in the horror genre Unlike many actors, Kiefer Sutherland doesn’t like looking at himself.

For one thing, he only has a single mirror in his house.

And for another, he isn’t really interested in seeing himself on film. For a star who has a string of hit movies to his name and a successful stint on TV show 24, he is surprisingly down-to-earth.

“I’ve always thought that I look different in my head than what I see,” explains Kiefer.

“I have a hard time looking at myself. I remember I saw Stand By Me for the first time and thought my career was over. I wanted that character to be emblematic of the 1950s and I wanted him to look like Jimmy Dean.

“So in my head when I’m making it, all those things are there. And then I went and saw it and it was me. And I was really disappointed with that. I’ve always been much happier with what I thought I’d looked like and what I thought I was doing, than looking at the physical reality. I try to avoid it.”

The subject has turned to mirrors as it’s the title of Kiefer’s new film in which he stars as Ben Carson, an ex cop turned security guard who is sent to watch over a creepy abandoned building in New York at night after splitting from his wife and their two kids.

Things take a terrifying turn when he starts seeing scary and violent images in the ornate mirrors which adorn the building's walls.

Worse still, the spirits inside begin to take hold of his and his family's lives, with horrific consequences.

“One of the things that attracted me to this guy is that he’s at an all time low,” explains Kiefer.

“He’s lost his job, he’s lost his life, and he can’t see his kids. And you see this guy pick himself up by his bootstraps and go and get the job he really doesn’t want to take in order to start to try and make enough money so he can take care of his responsibilities, and try to build back up.

“It’s hard to do anything right if your confidence is low or your self-esteem is low,” he adds.

“It’s almost impossible. Those are the times are when you say and do stupid things because you’re so desperate. And I can’t speak for anybody else, but I’ve certainly been there.

“So to be able to work on something and just feel confident that you know what you’re doing, has made a huge difference for me as well. Every time you walk on set, you’re going to feel vulnerable because you have to take a chance.”

Kiefer, who admits he gets scared ‘pretty easily’, was keen to work with French director Alexandre Aja and do something in the horror genre away from 24 - he is currently immersed in a gruelling filming schedule for the seventh season of the show.

He ended up filming Mirrors after completing season six of the show, finishing the shoot on weekends.

“Certain opportunities present themselves and you want to take advantage of them," he says about his mammoth workload.

“As an actor, your desire is to illicit a response from an audience. There is no better genre to do that in than this. I can physically move you in your seat.