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Article IndexSutter attended Roselle Catholic High School. He said he jokes that he spent most of high school hung over, and that he probably had the lowest SAT scores in his school's history.
He went to Rutgers University, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in film. Sutter then spent several years trying to make a living as an actor in New York City. But he found it tough going. He soon transitioned to the writing side of the business, and moved to the West Coast.
Sutter playing a bit role as a motorcycle club member on "Sons of Anarchy" is not much of a stretch. He looks the part. He resembles a young James Brolin, and wears his hair long, shoulder length, although he just got it trimmed.
"Every four years I take about five inches off my hair, and I just grow it out again," he said.
Sutter also has tribal Maori tattoos covering his right arm, and his production company is called Sutter Ink.
He holds the titles of creator, writer and executive producer for "Sons of Anarchy," and just finished directing its final episode for this season.
Sutter was always fascinated with the outlaw-bike-club subculture, and said he spent time with a club in Oakland, Calif., as research. That experience provided the basis for "Sons of Anarchy."
The drama is "Hamlet" played out with members of a California biker club, which is named Sons of Anarchy. The lead character is Jackson "Jax" Teller, played by Charlie Hunnam. Jax's father John Teller, who is deceased, founded the outlaw club with the help of Perlman's character, current club president Clarence "Clay" Morrow.
Morrow is now married to Jax's mother, biker gang matriarch Gemma, who is played by Sagal. This season the conflict between Jax and his stepfather Morrow over the club's future has escalated.
And the show has a new twist: A white supremacy group has come to town, lead by a chillingly evil Adam Arkin. Arkin doesn't want the Sons of Anarchy to continue selling illegal guns to black and Hispanic gangs and biker clubs. Morrow tells him to take a hike. That sets off a brutal chain of events.
Jax is an anti-hero similar to Vic Mackey in "The Shield" and Tony Soprano in "The Sopranos." Jax, who has a sensitive nature, kills when he must to protect his friends and loved ones.
And Jax's mother Gemma is in a league with Tony Soprano's Machiavellian mother Livia. Gemma is tough as they come, once even attempting to murder Jax's wife in the show's first season.
Viewers are tuning in. "Sons of Anarchy" this season has ranked No. 1 in its time period for basic cable, and as basic cable's top-rated scripted series this year for men 18 to 49.
The cable network FX, home of "Sons of Anarchy," is known for airing edgy, risk-taking shows that not only push the envelope, they break through it in terms of sex and violence.
"Sons of Anarchy" fits right into that mold. The New York Post's "Drama Mama" TV critic recently called the show "brutal," adding that she "can't deny the biker saga is compelling television, even if some of it has to be watched between fingers."
Last season street justice prevailed when a child rapist was castrated and left to bleed to death. The club punished one errant member by using a blowtorch to remove the "Sons of Anarchy" tattoo that covered his back. Jax puts explosives in the cheeks of a dead gang member's buttocks, and then blows the guy — and a warehouse — up.
This season's first episode — spoiler alert — Gemma was gang-raped by Arkin's men, with the attack led by a character played by singer-songwriter Henry Rollins. That assault shakes her to the core. Later on, a Sons of Anarchy member shoots and then carves a huge initial in Latino gang banger's chest. And that's just the first few episodes this season.
The violence is often accompanied by gallows humor from the Sons of Anarchy bikers, who don't mind cracking wise after they've cut off someone's genitals or blown someone up.
Sutter claimed that the violence, which he calls "sometimes horrific and sometimes absurd," is integral to his storytelling. But it's not based on any horrors he experienced in the "soul-numbing" Central Jersey suburbs.
"I always had a really, really vivid imagination as a kid." Sutter said. "I don't think anything horrible happened to me that I could bring to my consciousness. But I just had a very, very vivid sort of twisted imagination...For me to go to those dark places, I might as well be dealing with dragons and fairies. It's just my imagination."
The goal of the violence is to engage and compel the audience, according to Sutter.
"The trick is that the surprise comes from some sort of psychologically organic place, so it doesn't become gratuitous and it doesn't just become for the thrill of it," he said.
Even the character that Sutter plays, jailed Sons of Anarchy member Big Otto, isn't spared from brutal violence in the show. Sutter joked about his bit role.
"I'm the only one that will actually employ me as an actor,"
he said. "It was my first love, and it's fun to do. It's good in small doses, and my rule is that usually my scenes are no longer than a page long."
Sutter worked with his wife Sagal when she had a recurring role on "The Shield." But they have never worked together as much as they are on "Sons of Anarchy" during its two seasons.
"It's fine," he said. "Some days it has its challenges, and ultimately the show begins to take over your life a little bit. But we're in the groove this year and it's a bit easier this year."
The interview was over, and Sutter ended with a special goodbye: "Give my best to Jersey."
Related:
‘Sons of Anarchy' creator Kurt Sutter weighs in on TV business: Emmys, ratings and Leno in primetime
