Kiefer Sutherland isn't giving up on the movie adaptation of his hit series "24."
The "Touch" actor appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" to discuss, among other things, the planned "24" movie that has been put on ice by Fox.
Blaming the kibosh on scheduling conflicts, Sutherland said that the movie will go forward, even if it's not this year.
"We're trying to fit a lot of moving parts," Sutherland said of the scheduling woes. "We're still trying, and if we don't get it into this slot, we'll do it next year."
Sutherland -- who told Leno that the script has evolved into "a really amazing place" -- added that rushing the film before everyone's in a place to give the project their all would be a mistake.
"Our job is to make sure to make the best possible movie, and if we have to wait a little longer, we will," Sutherland said. "But we're still trying."
However, the movie is more than a couple of scheduling tweaks away from fruition. As TheWrap reported exclusively on Wednesday, Sutherland -- who's starring in Fox's new television drama "Touch" -- is furious with 20th Century Fox over budget and salary issues. Fox will only approve a budget of no more than $30 million, whereas Sutherland and producer Brian Grazer believe that the movie will require a budget in the low-$40 millions range, at least.
He's also not happy that Fox offered him a paltry $1 million, rather than the $5 million he wanted. (Sutherland is also serving as the producer of the movie.)
A Fox insider told TheWrap that the $1 million was a preliminary number thrown out during negotiations and would have been balanced by a back-end reward. The insider added that a $2 million offer was also made -- which is still considerably shy of $5 million.
The "24" movie was due to begin filming when "Touch" goes on hiatus in April.
