Iconic 80s movie The Lost Boys turns 35 this year, and in a recent interview with GQ Kiefer Sutherland looked back on the movie. While the film is still one of the most loved vampire movies in cinema history, there is one aspect of his character that Sutherland really has come to regret; his hairstyle. While the character of David Powers is the leader of a bloodthirsty gang of vampires who feed on the inhabitants of a small town, the greatest horror was his bleached-blonde hair that was meant to be an edgy punk style, but instead ended up being a much-maligned mullet.
The Joel Schumacher-directed comedy horror movie brought together some of the classic fantasy and adventure actors of the decade including Cory Haim and Cory Feldman, and was well-received when it was originally released. Over the years, the film has grown from a reasonable to box office hit to a full-blown cult classic that has lived on for over three decades without its popularity waning. As it approaches its milestone anniversary, Sutherland recalled the development of the look of his character, and in particular the terrible 80s hairstyle that he was partly responsible for making popular. He said:
"David is a character who is, at least on paper, supposed to be cool and sexy and has a girlfriend. Developing that character was a very funny kind of moment, because so much of it was created from a physical point. The look had to be right, the clothes had to be right, the hairstyle had to be right and Joel Schumacher, the director, was very in touch with rock and roll and music and wanted that to be an aspect of this film and wanted it to have that kind of look. So I think all of us, on some level, started to try and live out whatever kind of rock and roll fantasy we might have. Joel Schumacher wanted me to have white hair and I had very long hair at the time and wanted me to keep it. I looked like a bad wrestler, I looked like a moron, it was awful. [Laughs] I thought Billy Idol was really cool and looked really cool and I still think he looks really cool. His hair was all spiky and kind of punk up top, so I got that haircut and left enough in the back so I could tell Joel Schumacher I left it long and I think kind of accidentally might have been part of a movement that created one of the worst hairstyles of all time, the mullet. [Laughs]”
The Lost Boys Provided Sutherland With One Of Many Memorable Roles
Kiefer Sutherland is probably best known for playing CTU agent Jack Bauer in the hit TV show 24, but long before he became the hero that he has become synonymous with, the actor build up a collection of very memorable roles in the 80s, sometimes as anything but the hero. The role of David in The Lost Boys was one of those roles that would make him a very prominent part of the decade, the evil leader of a vampire gang who comes up against a rag-tag group of youngsters who take him and his cronies on. He also made the lives of a group of teenagers a misery in Stand By Me, the 1986 adaptation of Stephen King novella, The Body.
His other credits around that time included western Young Guns and its sequel, as well as the psychological horror Flatliners, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and as Athos in Disney’s 1993 version of The Three Musketeers. While Sutherland may have regrets about that undead mullet, it thankfully didn’t have any great impact on his future career, and was certainly never seen again.