SK ON SOA
By Stephen King
The short form is I had a chance to act on Sons of Anarchy (known simply to those of us who watch on FX as Sons or SOA), and I jumped at the chance. I like to act—not that I’m much good at it, but I suspect most writers do—and a number of factors came together. I was in Los Angeles, where SOA films, to accept a library award; creator Kurt Sutter assured me that he’d write me a suitably nasty part (in various films I’ve been stuck playing a series of mentally challenged country bumpkins); most important of all, he said he’d put me on a bitchin Harley. How could I say no?
I got to meet most of the cast, who’ve bonded into a little family on the ranch locale about an hour from the city where they do the filming. I was particularly pleased to meet Charlie Hunnam (Jax) and Ron Perlman, who’s acted in two of my movies (Sleepwalkers and the made-for-TV version of Desperation, where he was delicious as the evil cop, Collie Entragian). I got signed Hellboy photos for my three grandsons; pretty nice. I also got to act with Katey Sagal, who plays Gemma, the scary matriarch of the Sons clan, and Kim Coates, who plays Tig. They treated me like a professional, which I most assuredly am not. So did director Billy Gierhart (who also worked on The Mist).
The bike was just short of awesome: a bright red Harley-Davidson Road-Glide. A little tricked-out for my taste, and if I’d dropped it I never would have been able to pick it up, but I would have been glad to take it home (sadly, no deal). All black clothes, bright red sled—can’t do much better than that.