“It had been pointed out to me and I thought it was very astute, that Lieutenant Kendrick in ‘A Few Good Men’ might very easily have been Commander Queeg at a young age, with all that confidence in the armed services and all that confidence in himself,” declares Kiefer Sutherland. He’s referring to parallels between his role in the revered Oscar-winning 1992 naval courtroom drama and his latest role in “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.” For our recent webchat he adds, “I found it so fascinating that this piece examines what happens to us as we become less relevant, and that’s a very hard thing to deal with,” he says, explaining that “we use family and all of these different parts of our lives in society to help cushion the blow, but for someone like Commander Queeg where the Navy was his family, this is crushing.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
SEE William Friedkin’s final project ‘The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial’
Paramount Plus and Showtime’s “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” was written and directed by Oscar winner William Friedkin (“The French Connection”), based on Pulitzer Prize winning author and playwright Herman Wouk‘s 1953 play of the same name, itself based on Wouk’s 1952 novel “The Caine Mutiny.” The courtroom drama stars Emmy winner Sutherland (“24”) as the beleaguered Lt. Commander Queeg, a character originally played by Oscar winner Humphrey Bogart (“The African Queen”) in the Stanley Kramer-produced 1954 film adaptation, which garnered seven Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and Bogart for Best Actor. Sutherland leads an all-star cast including Jason Clarke, Emmy nominee Jake Lacy (“The White Lotus”), Monica Raymund and the late Lance Reddick, who passed away shortly after production wrapped in early 2023. The film follows naval lawyer Barney Greenwald (Clarke), who reluctantly agrees to defend naval first officer Maryk (Lacy), standing trial for taking control of the U.S.S. Caine from its domineering captain Queeg during a violent sea storm in the Persian Gulf.
Sutherland cherished the opportunity to work with Friedkin on what would ultimately be the acclaimed filmmaker’s swansong film. “It was a bucket list experience for me,” he admits. “The danger of having a bucket list experience is that when you actually have the opportunity, they often don’t live up to what your fantasy is or your dream is. This actually exceeded mine. It was kind of one of those rare things that just got even better,” he raves, recalling the day that Friedkin called him out of the blue to discuss taking on the role. “Literally for about 10 minutes I was waiting, trying to figure out which of my friends was pretending he was William Friedkin, because all of my friends knew for a fact that he had made at least three of my top 10 films; ‘The French Connection,’ ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘To Live and Die in L.A.,’ three wildly different films. So when he was pitching me this idea of a remake of ‘The Caine Mutiny,’ I said, ‘look, I don’t want to interrupt you, but if you’re asking me to do a film with you, I’m in!”
PREDICT the 2024 Golden Globe nominees
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions
