24 director attributes success to Maltese qualities

"My father always told me that, no matter where I was in life, I could be whatever I wanted. He said I just had to go out and do it. And I did!"

These are the words of award-winning, Birkirkara-born director Jon Cassar, who is currently living a huge success, having won the prestigious Emmy for best director on the thrilling and addictive 24 series.

Although the statement reeks of the 'American dream', Mr Cassar attributes much of his success story to what he believes are Maltese characteristics - hard-headedness and ambition - which he says he always saw in his own father, Frank.

"The Maltese are not afraid to work, and that has helped me in my career. I used to watch my father never say no to work and I did the same. When others were complaining about their nine-to-five jobs, he had three to make our lives comfortable.

"I'm proud of my family, which virtually came here (to Canada about 44 years ago) with nothing and knowing nobody. They each made successful lives for themselves because they were hard-working.

"We come from one of the smallest countries in the world. I was born there and my heart is still there," he says of Malta, almost fascinated by his origins and by what he has achieved today.

Mr Cassar wasn't born in Hollywood; neither was he "the son of a famous somebody that got handed everything," he points out. "I started in Canada, which is only a poor cousin to the American industry, and I had to fight my way to what now, I guess, is the top of the TV industry."

An avid photographer since childhood, he always bought cameras, saving money just to buy the next. "I made movies like kids do.

"It's hard to be in this business unless you have a true love... since you took your first breath" - and that's the category Mr Cassar falls into.

"I was just one of those kids who was totally fascinated by movies and TV from as far back as I can remember."

When his father, a mechanic, opened a camera store in a little mall on his son's recommendation, it just helped his photography develop even more. Mr Cassar worked his way up, doing pretty much every job he could before becoming a director.

"Most of my background is in the crew; that's why I respect them as much as I do. I was one of them for many years." In fact, his hands-on experience is now a big part of his directing.

Despite his Hollywood life - Mr Cassar first moved to Canada with his family in 1964 when he was four and now lives in LA - his Malta roots are still strong.

"I still grew up in a Maltese home. My parents spoke Maltese all their lives and I still understand it 100 per cent, although I find it hard to speak.

"Leaving the country does not really mean leaving the lifestyle.

"Hey, I still eat figollas every Easter! The aunts used to make them; now their kids do... and everything gets passed on."

When Mr Cassar moved to LA with his wife and teenage son, both of them "really loved Hollywood - even more than I did at first. I think it's a great lifestyle for us, especially because we've got Maltese weather. Being born in Malta, I kind of need the sun every day".

The last time Mr Cassar was in Malta was around seven years ago - "unfortunately!"

His biggest problem is finding the time because he does not want to return just for a week. "I have way too many relatives there - truly hundreds of them."

Nevertheless, he still has plans for Malta's film industry, and the training of human resources is an area that interests him particularly. In fact, he suggests the organisation of short, intensive, free courses for any youths interested in joining the film business as was done in Florida when Disney opened its MGM Studios there.

The idea would be to bring over to Malta professionals, who are still working in the industry today and who "know exactly what is going on out there."

"I would love to be involved and I know enough people who could be interested in coming to Malta for a month to train others. I work with some of the best in the industry," he said.

"I'm so proud of the movies that were shot here. I'm constantly telling everybody: 'you know, that was shot in Malta!' I'm like a one-man Maltese promoter."

Mr Cassar's rise may be impressive, but not "impossible for all those other people who want to do it," he encourages.

Winning the Emmy - the only one Fox has ever received for a director of drama - was rendered all the more amazing by the fact that Mr Cassar was up against "people I grew up with, watching their shows, such as ER and Lost. They are veteran, veteran, veteran TV directors. Not that I am a spring chicken, but still, in the world of TV, these guys are unbelievable. To even think that I am in their league is a bit shocking and surprising.

"Where before I'd be walking into a room and people would be wondering who I was, now I enter and they kind of know. And that's going to make a big difference," he says of the doors that the Emmy could open.

"What it does work-wise? Not much! I was at it the next day, working all night on a big action sequence (blowing something up down town). As far as work goes, this is TV and it's not like movies. You never stop!"

Having said that, it's not like Mr Cassar did not celebrate his victory. However, foremost on his mind was sharing it with his cast and crew, whom he values immensely.

With the protagonist of 24, Kiefer Sutherland, who plays federal agent Jack Bauer at the Counter Terrorist Unit LA office, "it's an absolute friendship", not just a working relationship. Their social lives are intertwined and they hang out at each other's houses.

"We hit it off from the very first show and I think the friendship was born of the fact that we both have the same work attitude. He works unflinchingly hard and it makes no difference to him that we are doing a TV show. He treats it like the biggest feature being shot and forces everyone else to be like that."

Mr Sutherland also has a production company and the two have already started talking about shows they plan to produce together within the next couple of years.

Having good relations with cast and crew "is not important. It's the most important!

"As a director, you're only the top of a big pyramid, and if you don't have everyone underneath you working hard for you and loving it, the product is not going to be the same...

"I truly believe they are why I am sitting her with two Emmys right now."

The phenomenon that is 24 - few shows remain so popular worldwide for so long and fewer still are awarded in their fifth year when audiences normally start to dwindle - is the result of a number of factors, according to the director.

One of them is that it has successfully "tapped into the vein of the incredibly fast pace we live nowadays. I think the show reflects that, and that's the addictive part...

"We all joke about ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). It's a serious disease, but, to be quite honest, we all have quite a short attention span. The whole world does!"

The real-time series guarantees no loss of concentration.

But can Mr Cassar see himself directing something less dramatic and action-packed? "It's funny... You're in whatever genre Hollywood says you are! When I first started, I did all these action-based films like La Femme Nikita, so, basically, that's the pigeonhole I got thrown into. And it's not a bad one because there is always a market for it.

"Hollywood is extremely scared to take chances, so the odds of someone offering me a romantic comedy are probably pretty slim. What I will get is action shows. And that's OK. At least, I can still put in my element of drama and characterisation."

If he were not directing movies, Mr Cassar would be into photography, which is, anyway, an offshoot of it.

"I would love to do nothing but roam the world and take pictures for National Geographic."

And with his latest project, a collection of his photographs called 24 Behind the Scenes, which can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com, more opportunities in that area could also open up.

The book gathers in chronological order "our personal pictures over five years of the show. It's like our private photo album, or yearbook that we are now giving to the world to show what it was like to shoot 24.

"I don't know how I found time to do it. It's about never stopping..."

Just like 24... "I'm not sure it is ever going to be over!"