A lot of stuff changes at the last minute, and it stays very exciting.
Because of 11 September, you could make the argument that after those horrific events people don't want to think about those things.
Directing is the ultimate way to bring together all the art forms I've been involved with over the years.
From any episode to episode, you don't know what's going to happen to your character.
From day one, it required being on the page to really get what was happening on the day or within any given hour of the day.
I can't help but have my sights set on Scorsese, Cohen Brothers and Spike Jones.
I don't look too far ahead.
I have to confess to pure ignorance on my part on what I was getting myself into.
I keep going back to the same set and wearing the same clothes, which helps focus me on the fact that it is still the same day.
I received two offers for roles on the same day, and because the dates were different, I worked out that I could record both shows and then get the hell out of Dodge.
I severed the tether from Los Angeles for a little while.
I think Air Force One is a great action movie and I enjoyed working on that. And I also had a great time working on both Apollo 13 and Shanghai Noon.
I try to do variations from one role to the next, but it could be worse.
I want to direct films, because I am a painter and a sculptor and I've done a lot of writing.
I was known to be a good character actor.
I went straight from doing Time Code to work on China: The Panda Adventure. It was just great traveling in China.
I'd be loathe to give away any of the particulars. Very dramatic things happen.
I'd been reluctant to do a TV series for a long time, just as I'd been reluctant to get married, and I ended up doing both.
I'd better make hay while the sun shines.
I'd just made this movie right before the 24 pilot, and done the whole thing in real time there, without any editing, without any cuts whatsoever.
I'd worked with Ron Howard before. I didn't have to audition.
I'm tired of playing the pricks. So I gave him a bit of rye humour and a little cynical detachment.
In any kind of really dark line of work, they form a gallows humour or a sense of detachment or a sense of irony that gets them through a hard day.
It's a tremendous ensemble. It feels like the best sports team to play in, where every player can be relied on to perform within his position.
It's exciting that you've got an entire season to experience 24 hours of highly dramatically charged human experience. It allows for the close inspection of minutiae in behaviour.
It's playing against sometimes what's there on the page and bringing something to life for yourself, that gives the writers ideas.
People need and want to be more informed because it does affect our personal lives.
Pilot season is such that they're busy going to network to get approval on all these actors.
Sarah, who plays Nina on 24, and I got married, and we were able to do two movies together in the summer.
Some of the vernacular doesn't quite flow when you get there on the day. We do a lot of, So what are we trying to say here?
Sometimes people give me a wide berth and security-guard watch me closely in department stores. It's just one of those things that happens in Hollywood.
The choices they have made on 24 have consistently paid off.
The relationship between the cast and crew, there's just something in the rhythm which we've established, an intuitive, psychological, emotional relationship.
There was a writer's strike, and it looked like production on a lot of movies would have to be shut down. I wasn't sure whether this would last.
There's an insider's vibe about the show that was addictive, and I think because of that there's a sense of it being a trendsetter.
There's going to be more risks, it'll be more edgy, staying ahead of the audience productions.
These shows spent so much time and effort ensuring that the lead actors are just right for the role.
They did throw a couple of extra lines in that were overly devious. I said, What are you doing, how are you cutting this? I'm a nice guy.
They enjoyed writing for the character enough to bring him back towards the end of the show.
They had four different cameras starting at four different places that converge and go all over the place.
They've done a great job with the writing. They're really strong on the structure and ideas.
This 24 format has been an incredible revelation for a lot of the actors because of the subtleties of behaviour you can reveal over a period of time.
This was refreshing. It's been thrilling working on a show that falls into that category.
We were on our honeymoon when the premiere was held in September, so we actually missed that.
When I first read the script for 24, I thought I was playing a different character. It wasn't until I turned up on the set that I realised that I was playing Mason.
When things start to happen to you physically, the tracking has to be obsessive.
With everyone taking everything so damn seriously, somebody ought to be able to take a pot shot every now and again.
You just have to freely commit to the reality of the characte.
You want to play some guy who has at least some kind of function to the centre of the story. If it's not the hero, it is going to be the bad guy.
In 2006 Xander was in the following movies: Champions,
In 2004 Xander was in the following movies:
In 2003, Xander lent his voice to the video game
In 2000 Xander was in the following movies:
In 1998 Xander was in the movie
In 1996 Xander was in the following movies:
In 1994 Xander was in the movie Caroline at Midnight.
In 1991 Xander was in the following movies:
In 1989 Xander was in the following movies: The Assassin and
In 1987 Xander was in the following movies:
In 1985 Xander was in the movie
In 1981 Xander was in the movie
Xander, his first name, is pronounced Zan-der.
Xander has played several characters that have been in plane crashes; in
Xander played a role in
Both Xander and wife,
Xander married his wife
Xander is currently married to
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