EP Howard Gordon: 'Nothing substantial' about '24' movie

Earlier this month, Kiefer Sutherland, star of the hit FOX series "24," talked to "Extra" about his optimism that the feature-film continuation of the long-running thriller, which ended in May 2010 after eight seasons, would start shooting late this year.

It didn't take long for a 20th Century Fox publicist (the series came from FOX's TV-production house, and the movie side of the studio would finance and distribute any potential big-screen version) to throw cold water on Sutherland's enthusiasm, telling the Hollywood Reporter, "The project is still in development, with no director attached."

Although Howard Gordon was executive producer and show-runner of TV's "24" and is a producer on the movie, he's not writing or directing, and its ultimate fate is beyond his control.

Talking to Zap2it on Friday, Jan. 28, he says, "We talk about it, 'we' meaning I've had conversations with Imagine Entertainment [one of the other production entities involved in the series], with Kiefer, and with Fox sporadically. There's nothing substantial as far as I know.

"I don't have the ability to greenlight something, so something might be happening without me. It's always possible. But as far as I know, it's an ongoing conversation, but nothing definitive has been decided."

Gordon wants to believe that Sutherland will once again play the troubled and long-suffering counter-terrorist agent who's at the heart of the show.

"I think there's more life in Jack Bauer," Gordon says. "I really hope it happens."