Kiefer Sutherland opens up about why he found playing the Stand by Me villain was so easy and his process for getting into the mind of an "a--hole".

Kiefer Sutherland opens up about why he found playing the Stand by Me villain was so easy and his process for getting into the mind of an "a--hole". Sutherland starred in the 1986 film as John "Ace" Merrill, a hoodlum in '50s Castle Rock, Oregon who hangs out with the older brothers of River Phoenix's Chris, Richard "Eyeball" Chambers, and Jerry O'Connell's Vern, Bill Tessio. Ace torments the film's young protagonists as they journey to find the dead body of a missing boy, even threatening them with a switchblade upon finding the body, only to be scared off when Gordie pulls a gun on Ace and his goons.

Alongside Sutherland, the cast for Stand by Me included Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Jerry O'Connell, Richard Dreyfuss, Casey Seimaszko, John Cusack, Gary Riley and Bradley Gregg. The coming-of-age movie is based on Stephen King's 1982 novella The Body with Rob Reiner directing in his third project behind the camera after This is Spinal Tap and The Sure Thing. Stand by Me has lived on as one of King's best-received adaptations and considered with helping launch the careers of its young stars.

In honor of his work on Showtime's The First Lady series, Kiefer Sutherland caught up with GQ to look back on his career. The star recalled his time working on Stand by Me and why he found it easy to play the film's "a--hole" villain. See what Sutherland shared below:

"So my character’s sole responsibility was to be a threat to these four kids that you would fall in love with and I went for it. I was 17 years old, it was the first job I was ever hired for — it was actually the only job I was ever hired for in the office at the audition and I will thank Rob Reiner to the death for that, it was one of the most extraordinary feelings. The character was just so well-written, there was no trying to navigate to find who he was. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say, but he was an a—hole, and as an actor, you need to lean into that."

Though Sutherland has since become better known for his work in protagonist roles including Fox's 24 series, Stand by Me was not only one of the actor's earliest performances but also one of his now-rarer dives into villainous territory. Sutherland would keep this ball rolling the following year with his work in Joel Schumacher's dark comedy horror film The Lost Boys as vampire gang leader David, which has since become one of his most iconic roles. The Emmy winner would occasionally come back to the dark side of things over the years with such films as Phone Booth, which reunited him with Schumacher, and the recently released action-thriller The Contractor.

While Sutherland's performance as the Stand by Me villain may not be as remembered as that of the central four stars, it does still sit high on many fans' lists of his favorite roles. The film itself has also remained one of audiences' favorite King adaptations, with the author himself even expressing his love for it and believing it to be one of the best adaptations of his works. Audiences can revisit Sutherland's villainous performance in Stand by Me streaming on Netflix now.

More: Every Stephen King Book & Story That's Been His Favorite (& Why)

Source: GQ