YOUNGER STAR TO PLAY BAUER

24 creator JOEL SURNOW almost overlooked KIEFER SUTHERLAND when casting for the role of JACK BAUER - because he was looking for someone younger. Surnow admits he was keen to cast a more youthful actor as lead in the action series, but changed his mind when he found the then 34-year-old Sutherland. He says, "We'd conceived Jack as a guy who had a 16-year-old daughter but was still youthful enough to appeal to the Fox audience, which is skewed towards 'young'. "When we heard Kiefer's name it was like, 'Bingo, this is the perfect guy.' He's got enough miles on him but he still has echoes of the Brat Pack films he's associated with."