Donald Sutherland plays a multi-millionaire who gets talked into a treasure hunting adventure in the romantic comedy Fool's Gold starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. Having played wealthy men before, Sutherland thinks he’s figured out what makes them tick. “Well, they're not like the rest of us,” said Sutherland. “No, I mean, maybe they are, but they're never very far from a really good doctor. Many of them don't think of what things cost, but the ones that I know personally, some are self-made and some have familial ties, but they are extraordinarily well educated.”
Access to a good doctor may not be the first thing others would list when discussing men of wealth, but Sutherland finds that’s a trait they all seem to share. “I know that when I think, I'm 72, I don't want to live all that far away from a major hospital, a major emergency room. That's how I know these people are. They always have someone very capable very close at hand,” explained Sutherland.
Sutherland has an interesting take on his character in Fool’s Gold. “I think with him, he had had an invention and I watched 60 Minutes a couple of weeks ago with that kid who did Facebook. Bill Gates gave him whatever it was, $275 million, as startup money to own 15% percent of the company. Once that kind of thing happens to you, you have to start making a lot of decisions,” explained Sutherland. “George Lucas or Steven [Spielberg], those guys, they have to make a lot of decisions. I think that happened to Nigel, the character from Fool's Gold, in such a bewildering way. So he had a lot of time on his hands, more time than he'd ever had before and he was never able to get the reality of his life in harmony, in sync. That was epitomized in his relationship with his daughter and her mother, but physically with his daughter. Offspring are strange and complicated beings. I've been incredibly fortunate. If there is a wealth that I've had in my life really, truly it's my five children. I had dinner with Kiefer last night. I had an end of the night meeting with my son Roeg. They're just wonderful.”
Asked what he enjoyed the most about playing Nigel, Sutherland considered the question for a minute before replying, “He just loves women. He does. You don't feel like you're 72, even though you are 72. And you have to constantly keep reminding yourself that you're 72 because sometimes you feel like you're 52.”
“I loved his imagination,” added Sutherland. “Just his eagerness to try and find a relationship with his daughter and to have this opportunity to go on a treasure hunt and to grab at it, to say, 'Oh, I'm going to pay this much money and this is going to happen and maybe my daughter and I will…and what an adventure it is.' And he ends up with a bunch of gold.”
Sutherland enjoyed his time working with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, two romantic comedy veterans who’ve teamed up once before. “He has discipline and is a professional performer. He's always there,” said Sutherland of McConaughey’s attitude on the Fool’s Gold set.
And speaking of McConaughey, Sutherland thinks the free-spirited actor who’s getting ready to be a father for the very first time will be a devoted dad. “It's the nature of the guy. He doesn't leave any stone unturned. But he will have…it's funny when it's your own baby. The last three kids I had I delivered them and nothing looks as good or smells as good as your own baby's poop. With every other baby it stinks like what it is. Your own, you're just, 'Oh, it's so good!' The compliments. Matthew will be like that.”
Sutherland’s son, Kiefer (24), had just been released from a stint in jail prior to the Los Angeles press junket for Fool’s Gold. The two had dinner together the night before the Fool’s Gold interviews, and the elder Sutherland says Kiefer’s doing well and he couldn’t be more proud of the Emmy-winning actor. Kiefer Sutherland served 48 days in the Glendale City Jail after pleading no contest to a charge of driving under the influence.
“His sensibility is so balanced and measured and deliberate and the use that he made of his time – 48 days is a long time in solitary confinement, 23 hours a day,” said Sutherland. “The only thing that he could do to get out was to do the laundry of the other inmates. He said to me last night, because I was able to put a deposit on the telephone so that he could call me collect kind of like every third day and then we would have 14 minutes, no more, they cut you off, 14 minutes to speak. You've never seen 14 minutes go so quickly in your life. But he was saying that it was so cold in there, just freezing. Then last night he came up, and I had just landed yesterday afternoon and he was released on Monday, and he said, 'You know what? I said that it was so cold in there, but it's freezing outside!'”
