After "Don't Look Now", Sutherland made two more Italian-themed films. Bernardo Bertolucci's epic "1900" is Sutherland at his most stylised, but it is his title role in Fellini's "Casanova" which is the most extreme artistic limb onto which Sutherland has climbed. The Italian maestro completely transformed the actor's appearance, dressed him in hundreds of expressionist costumes, and took him on an extravagant journey of sexual excess. The actor loved it, he loved being so transformed, having his appearance altered. "I thought I was beautiful," he said. This is what Fellini did to him, this is what Fonda did to him.
"Casanova" was a huge flop and Sutherland's box office clout disappeared in a puff of Felliniesque smoke. He did a cameo in "Animal House" for the money and was great in the remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (on 大象传媒1, midnight, Monday 26th March 2001). Then came "Ordinary People", which, like "Don't Look Now", was also about the death of a child. Stylistically it was a million miles away from Roeg's film, but it won many awards.
It made Sutherland a lot of money and so, presumably, did the Volvo advertisements he did in the 90s. Since then there have been interesting films like "Six Degrees of Separation" and "Citizen X".
As the years pass, Sutherland's shock of white hair has made him, if anything, even more striking on-screen. He turned 60 in 1995 and has worked constantly since, commuting from a house in Canada and an apartment in France. Francine Racette, his partner of many years, has become the third important F (Fellini and Fonda being the others) in his life.
At the end of our interview, Sutherland did a most unusual thing, he asked for more questions. It was the last of many surprises that day.
Donald Sutherland - Jane Fonda, "Klute", and "Don't Look Now".
You can see Mark Cousins talking with Donald Sutherland in Scene by Scene on 大象传媒2, Thursday 22nd March 2001 at 11.20pm.
