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Five Questions With Ron Perlman

Ron Perlman, in "Sons Of Anarchy"

Ron Perlman returned to television this week in the new FX series "Sons Of Anarchy." Perlman plays Clay Morrow, who is the President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club. He's the husband to Gemma, played by Katey Sagal, and stepfather to Jax, who is Vice President of the Sons of Anarchy. 

 He recently answered some questions about the show, its connection "Hamlet," and biker culture.
 

Q: How did you get started in acting?

Ron Perlman: I couldn't make it on the swimming team in high school. In fact, I got thrown off the swimming team and was forced to audition for the school play because they had at the audition abou 35 girls show up and no boys, so my swimming coach suggested that I might be able to do the drama department more good than I was doing the swimming team. Why he had that instinct I don't know, but the rest is history. 

Q: What attracted you to "Sons Of Anarchy"? 

Ron Perlman: The writing. It's incredibly smart, very, very,  very vivid, completely ungratuitous for a show's that as hardcore and violent and explosive and radical behavior, these are not your average conservative Republicans, these guys are ruthless and badass. And the way it's depicted is very organic, which you could only do if you're a brilliant screenwriter, as Kurt Sutter is, and as an actor you know  you're always going to be supported by-you're never going to be made  to look gratuitous or silly because everything is incredibly well supported  in a very organic and very brilliant way. 
 

Ron Perlman: Well, I'm only reading it one episode at a time and I'm just a little bit ahead of you. I have no idea how it's going to play out. I pretty much have an idea of what is going to happen, particularly  in light of the fact that I'm sure they're going to stick to the structure of Hamlet all the way to the end, but how it happens and when it happens we'll have to just see one episode at a time. But yes, they're very tight. I mean, there's a real affection between Clay and Jax, a real affection. 

Q: How long has John been gone, how long have they been a pair? 
 

Ron Perlman: John, I think, died in '93, so it's a while since I think Jax was 15 at the time and he's 30 now, so it's 15 years that he's been without his dad and that Clay and Gemma have taken up the relationship. 

 

 Ron Perlman: I don't have an answer to that. I would suspect that Clay probably felt that John got the prize when he got Gemma and wouldn't be surprised if Clay maybe always had a secret design on Gemma. I'm not giving you a definitive answer because I just don't know the answer, but I'm telling you some of the things that I'm thinking as the actor playing the guy, and I think that knowing what I know about how thorough Kurt Sutter is in answering all these questions we will all find out at pretty much the same time.
 

Q: How much research did you do into biker culture? 

Ron Perlman: Not as much as I would have liked. I'm continuing to do research into biker culture. I got kind of thrown into this thing with no prep time so I just basically dove in with two legs, with two feet, and started playing him and have picked up things. You know, we have a tech advisor who's a member of the Oakland Chapter of the Hells Angels named D.L., he's one of the most famous guys in that club, and he-whenever I get a break in the action, I sit and chitchat with him. 

 

Charlie's done time up there, he's spent serious time up there learning, immersing himself in the subculture, and whenever I have a minute I pick his brain, I learn from him. And I feel as if I have enough of a foundation where I've got a pretty strong point of view about where Clay is coming from and what his core values are, but I really would like to learn more because the more I know about them the more fascinating they become to me.