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Rossif Sutherland's Murder In A Small Town To Be Dedicated To His Late Father, Donald Sutherland; The Duo's Link To The Project Is A Touching Tale
Rossif Sutherland’s new series, Murder in a Small Town, will honor his late father, Donald Sutherland. Donald's decades-long dream of adapting the Alberg series inspired this dedication.
Rossif Sutherland helped bring his father Donald Sutherland's lifelong wish — seeing a screen adaptation of the Alberg book series — to life when he auditioned and landed the role of the titular detective in a series soon set to air on Fox. Now, he is using his next project to honor his late dad.
Murder in a Small Town, Fox’s upcoming detective drama based on Canadian author L.R. Wright’s Karl Alberg book series will be dedicated to the late actor. The reason for this dedication is a touching story in itself.
When Rossif, 45, was cast in the lead role of the series, he was initially unaware that his father had been working for decades to bring the story to life on the big screen. While speaking to Deadline, Rossif recalled telling Donald about the new role he had landed and then discovering that his father had tirelessly been working to “get the movie version” of the story off the ground for 30 years.
“I described his character to him, this detective who wasn’t going about doing his job with the tropes of intimidating people with his badge, his gun, his uniform, but instead got the truth out of people with his humanity. He’s somebody who wears his heart on his sleeve, and he’s not possessed by demons,” Rossif told the outlet. “When I said that to my dad, he asked me what the project was, with some excitement. I said it was this thing called the Alberg series.”
Describing his father’s journey with the project, the actor revealed that Donald Sutherland befriended [producer] Nick Orchard and Ian Weir, the writer, and they tried to get it produced. Unfortunately, the project never took off.
Weir also told Deadline that Donald fell in love with the series after initially reading his script and then reading the books. Over the last three decades, the Hunger Games alum campaigned to play George, the prime suspect in the series' first book, The Suspect. Before his death, Donald was slated to appear as George in the series, according to Wachtel, but his declining health and eventual death on June 20 at age 88 stripped him of the opportunity. The role is now with James Cromwell.
“People were asking what they could do to honor Dad, and since Dad had such an intimate relationship with the birth of this project, I proposed they dedicate it to him,” Rossif said.
Murder in a Small Town premieres Tuesday, September 24, on Fox.
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