During ‘24′ press conference, Jon Voight says happy for daughter Angelina Jolie
By Robin Rowe for Hollywood Today
HOLLYWOOD, CA (RUSHPRNEWS) 7/17/08 – “That she had these two babies I’m so excited for her,” says Jon Voight of his estranged daughter’s Angelina Jolie. “I have not heard from her directly, but I’ve heard little messages from her.”
“The most exciting thing is to have new children,” says Voight. “When they’re part of your own family it’s even more exciting.” Voight’s niece had also had twins.
Last month, Jolie revealed she’s back in touch with her dad, six years after she severed ties due to Voight saying in a TV interview she had “severe emotional problems”. Asked when he would see his new grandchildren, Voight said, “As soon as I’m allowed; when Angie says I can come over I’ll come over.”
Voight also answered questions about his upcoming recurring role as a Fox ‘24′ villain and what it’s like to be back in television. “To create a character like this from the beginning to the end is fun,” says Voight. “You have to come prepared to work. You can’t learn your lines on the set. You can’t play around too much. You have to come really ready. I know that the pace is going to be swift.
Voight was last a television series regular in the 1960s, in the series ‘Gunsmoke’. As in ‘Gunsmoke’, Voight’s character in ‘24′ is a supporting character role.
“Character work usually means you’re not going to be carrying story line,” says Voight. “I’m trying to make this character as vivid as I can for them to play off of. That’s the trick when you’re a character actor. Once I make that decision in this piece, I can’t go back. It’s like cutting a diamond. You’ve got to cut it right or you spoil the diamond. I don’t mean to compare my work to jewelry or anything that valuable.”
“My favorite actors are the ones who look at the whole shape of the thing and toward the end of the piece they pay it off,” says Voight. “If you’re a good actor you prepare so that when that happens the maximum emotional force hits at that time. The first things you do, that’s what you’re going to have to live with. If you do the right thing it’s going to grow.”
“I don’t know what the end of the show’s going to be,” says Voight, describing how he gets into his character, the choices he mkes. “I make reference to Keefer’s character Jack Bauer. It would be easy enough for me to not know who Jack Bauer is. But, I have made the choice to have an idea about Jack, that I admire him even, in a way. Just a little thing, something of me and Jack, so that I have something for Jack, even though the rest of it is nothing to do with Jack.
Jon Voight will appear on the Fox television series ‘24′ beginning in November.
