Donald Sutherland Talks About The Hunger Games

Donald Sutherland is one of our great actors.  He’s best known for unforgettable roles in  films like “M*A*S*H*”, “Ordinary People”, “Klute” and “The Dirty Dozen” and those are just a few of his great performances.  He’s won an Emmy, two Golden Globe awards and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  He recently stopped by the SiriusXM studios to talk about his role in “The Hunger Games”.   A few brief excerpts of that interview appear below.

Ron Bennington: Congratulations, what a major opening this was for the film, huh?

Donald Sutherland: It was….(laughs) it broke records everywhere.

Ron Bennington: The interesting I think is so many people are putting so many different meanings on the film. I notice that some people see it as the Occupy Movement. Fox news is coming out and saying it’s the dangers of big government. (both laugh) So everybody can walk away feeling one way or another about it. How do you feel about the film..the philosophy?

Donald Sutherland: I feel like I felt when I read Gary’s script. It’s a film that really appeals to adults. It does appeal to the 99%. I don’t think it’s for the Schwartzmans of the world, who think that Obama is akin to the Nazi’s invading Poland for trying to plug a corporate loophole. It’s not a film for them. But it is a film for everyone who feels in any way disenfranchised. Because it’s a film of extraordinary power and wit, and elegance and it’s beautifully acted by Jennifer. That child..Jennifer Lawrence…is as wonderful an actor as you will find working today. And there are some really terrific actors working today. She’s just grand. And the film really encapsulates as an allegory, what could happen to our society. And the little scene that I have about hope, about …that we could have killed everybody but we don’t. We allow one to live because that gives people hope, and hope is stronger than fear. I said to someone earlier today, it’s the same in our society. Sometime tomorrow, somebody is going to go on television and read out five numbers. And then they’re going to read out the sixth number and millions and millions of people will be hoping that those numbers correspond to the numbers on their lottery ticket, because its $326 million dollars.

Ron Bennington: And so hope always plays into it. It’s a way to keep the people from moving themselves…

Donald Sutherland: …from taking me and throwing me into the gutter. I play President Snow.

Ron Bennington: And that’s been as long as history, don’t you think? Even in leadership, no matter what a lot of people come into it with…they end up…

Donald Sutherland: ..they end up getting corrupted…

Ron Bennington: …yeah, they end up serving this thing of power. Throughout the 60s and early 70s you were a firm believer that real change was going to take place.

Donald Sutherland: Yeah. And it didn’t. It got worse. But this movie, and that’s what I said to Gary when we started – I only had four days in it this time, but next time the character is in it much more– I said, this has an opportunity to be a catalyst for young people to take hold of their destiny. They’re just lying dormant these days, it’s just incredible.

Ron Bennington: So you’re still a person of faith.

Donald Sutherland: I’m a person of passion. I said earlier to someone, that Brodsky, Joseph Brodsky, the Russian poet, the Nobel Laureat, he’s dead now. He made a speech to Dartmouth, the University, a commencement speech in 1988. And he was talking about how boring life was going to be– that this graduating day was the best day for them. And in the middle he said, try to stay passionate. Leave your cool to the constellations. Passion alone is a remedy against boredom. So yeah, I’m passionate. I’m passionate about people. I’m passionate about hope. I’m passionate about trying to make this world survivable for my children and my grandchildren.

Ron Bennington: And through acting you hope to bring out passion in other people.

Donald Sutherland: Yeah, I mean usually movies follow something. But this movie has a chance to be….I was completely turned around fifty years ago when I saw Paths of Glory. When I saw the Battle of Algiers. They opened my heart, opened my mind. And I hope this does it. Lots of people are going, I just want to really make sure that people don’t for one second think that this is a kids movie because it’s not. It’s a movie for adults of every spectrum, be they a thirteen year old adult or a sixty year old adult or a seventy-six year old adult. It’s a movie for them.

Ron Bennington: In The Hunger Games, why do you think the people out in the districts allow this lottery to go on for this long, for 75 years?

Donald Sutherland: Because they have a little bit of hope. Why do those people in Syria– people without arms– walk out onto the street now. They’ve been oppressed for so long. Finally now, they walk out onto the street, as they did in District Eleven in The Hunger Games. They walk out onto the street and they’re killed. They’re shot at. By an army– by an armed enemy. They’ve been imprisoned those twelve districts.

Ron Bennington: Your character seems to be a little bit excited about the fact of having this challenge.

Donald Sutherland: Oh, you know something? It just got his heart started….with apologies to Dick Cheney. He’s just so happy to have somebody…to have equal against whom he can fight. Oh he’s just thrilled with it.

Ron Bennington: And he sees it right in the very beginning.

Donald Sutherland: Ooh he just knows who she is. And he knows that it has to be stopped. And he knows that she’s gotten away from him now, but she’s not going to get away from him. He’s going to go in the second film and do whatever he can. And I guess cause there’s a third film, he doesn’t succeed.

Ron Bennington: It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to talk to you. I wish you the best of luck with everything going on. And let’s hope people see it the way that you intend it to be seen.

Donald Sutherland: I just hope they’ll see it. I’m not to dictate anything, but that’s what I take from it. And sometimes things need clarity. Maybe other people will see that, maybe they won’t. Whatever they will, they will have a wonderful time because it’s a terrifically acted film. Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson. They’re doing great work.

Ron Bennington: I thank you so much for coming in, and I’ll see you next time through.

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You can hear the interview in its entirety exclusively on SiriusXM satellite radio.  Not yet a subscriber?  Find out what you’re missing by signing up for a free trial subscription.  Find out more about Ron Bennington Interviews.