Love the actor, wish the character would die a thousand painful deaths for all his evil deeds. That’s how many Sons of Anarchy fans feel about Ron Perlman and his SoA character Clay Morrow. And in speaking to Perlman at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, he said we pick up Clay in season six at a place in his life where he’s both alive and dead, which is Clay’s “biggest nightmare.”
Ron Perlman Sons of Anarchy Interview
The end of last season wasn’t a good deal for Clay. What’s happening to him next season that you can tease us with?
Ron Perlman: “As long as he had life, he had choices. The end of season five when Gemma [played by Katey Sagal] does what she does, even he couldn’t have foreseen that. Even he couldn’t process it, and that was the one final thing he was ready to stand for and fight for and rebuild everything around and it was no longer on the table. And then of course he’s being shuffled off to a place where there is a $5 million bounty on his head and a whole bunch of dangerous dudes who don’t give a shit about Clay Morrow. They want the money. He knows that every moment, every breath could be his last. His trajectory in season six is a man who is looking completely in the rearview mirror.”
Is this going to be the most interesting season for you to play because of that shift?
Ron Perlman: “I don’t know. I’m not there yet.”
Is he in survivalist mode or is he going back to strategizing about it?
Ron Perlman: “You have to watch because that’s what the whole season is going to be about. If you’re interested at all in watching the show to see what happens to Clay, that’s what it is. Is he fighting at all or is he done?”
What would you like it to be?
Ron Perlman: “I always played him as a guy who’s never done until he is done. This thing of being alive and yet being dead at the same time is his biggest nightmare.”
Is the break between him and Juice going to be irreparable?
Ron Perlman: “Don’t know yet. We haven’t gotten to that.”
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Cronos. What are your thoughts on that and your career, along with working with Guillermo del Toro?
Ron Perlman: “Well, I met him 22 years ago when we were making Cronos and I’ve said this a million times before, but he’s had the biggest impact on the second half of my life as any human being on the planet. Cronos was a truly independent movie, as far away from studios and executives and Hollywood as you could possibly get. In San Angel, Mexico City, surrounded by nothing but his closest friends, put together a little budget for him and protected him so he could make his movie. I just went, ‘Holy Shit! This is the way it’s supposed to be.’
So from that moment on, not only have I done close to 50 low-budget independent films looking for the next del Toro, but I’ve become obsessed with launching my own independent film company. It really changed my entire point of view. Then of course he kept coming to me with these gifts, Blade II, two Hellboy movies and now Pacific Rim, so he really has affected my standing in the community, how I’m viewed as an actor, my bankability. He revealed if you have me in a movie, this is what it looks like. He’s changed my entire life. Of course, his wife and my wife are best friends. He is the godfather of my kids and I’m like the godfather of his. It’s very deep and it’s very beautiful.”
And Hellboy III?
Ron Perlman: “I’m fighting for it. I might be the only one.”
Doug Jones is too.
Ron Perlman: “Well, then it’s a done deal.”
* * * * * * *
Season six of Sons of Anarchy premieres on FX on September 10, 2013.
