Digital Spy interviews John Cassar

J_A · 2009-02-25 10:34:32

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a145171/qa-24-exec-producer-jon-cassar.html

this is a longish, interesting interview with John Cassar, about the current season, season 8, Tony and his return, Renée, Jack, Kim, the FBI and the need for a new agency, the issue of torture, the casting of Renée's character and John Voight. I thought it was a really interesting read, so I'm posting it here.

Please note that the interview contains some spoilers considering Tony's and Renée's involvement / survival in Season 7!

I'll just quote one part on resurrecting characters

Over the years you've killed off many major characters. Any particular regrets?
"Not really, because they all push the story. Everything plays to the story. That actually changed television a little bit. I will personally say that 24 forced the hand of shows like Lost and Heroes - although Heroes hasn't actually done it yet - but Lost got to a situation in the first year where they kept putting people to the brink of death and they would survive. You can only do that so much when we're doing the same but then actually killing them. They were almost forced to kill one of their main stars by the end of the first year because of us. The regret for me, not in the storytelling sense, comes from the fact that these people were my friends. Reiko and I were best friends, so not seeing her around every day after working with her for four years was really hard to take. Same with Carlos [Bernard, aka Tony], until we recently got him back."
.....
I think people were skeptical of Tony coming back at first, but then when you watch the episodes it's totally believable.
"...and that's exactly what happened. I would have loved to have said that we were absolutely 100% sure about it, but we really weren't. Even within our shop, within ourselves, there was a 50-50 split. Both sides being very adamant - one side was saying 'this is going to be great for our show', and the other side was saying 'this is the death of our show'. Including Kiefer, who was on the negative side, but when the script came out he was able to sway the one side to the other."
....
But you also need to know that the fans were a big part of this too. They really influenced our decision because they were so sure that Tony Almeida wasn't dead - mostly because we didn't give him a silent clock when he died. There was actually a website, tonyalmeidasnotdead.com, so obviously we knew there was a fraction out there that would accept that Tony Almeida wasn't dead."
Surely that website has gone out of business now?
"Either that or they're just patting themselves on the back saying 'yeah, we were right'.

Actually that website is called tonyalmeida-hesnotdead.com and it is still very much alive and thriving, and yes, they are patting themselves on the back saying, "Told ya so!" In fact, they've read this very interview and are now quoting this same part saying, "We did it!" :B

http://www.tonyalmeida-hesnotdead.com/

hehehe!!! It paid out, people, so keep posting!!!

I think this is the first time any exec of the show actually admitted that the fans were part of the decision to bring Tony back. Guys like Howard Gordon would never admit it. He kept saying it wasn't because the fans were yelling and bitching. Seems like Cassar is a bit more sincere. I'm equally glad to hear they were having the same considerations that we had - that bringing Tony back was going to be either the rescue ship or the titanic of the show. I know we used the expression "death of the show" many times on this very forum.

Anyway, read the interview if you're not afraid of knowing whether Tony and Renée will live!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a145171/qa-24-exec-producer-jon-cassar.html

I'd be happy to discuss it here!

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#1 2009-02-25 10:34:32

Digital Spy interviews John Cassar

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