Film version of ‘24’ set to clock in

Will the big screen give Jack Bauer his biggest bad day yet?

20th Century Fox and the producers of “24” have signed a deal to make a film version of the counterterrorism exploits of special agent Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). Sutherland wants to reprise his favorite role, but the deal is not final yet, his publicist said.

“24’s” executive producer Howard Gordon said he would work on the project with the show’s co-creators, Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow, who will write the script. “It will follow along the continuum of Jack’s life but won’t be tied to the TV show narratively,” Gordon said. The film would probably shoot after the sixth season -- which begins airing in January -- in locations outside of L.A., such as London, Gordon said.

But don’t worry: You won’t have to spend an entire day in a theater to get the whole story. The film will abandon the show’s real-time clock, so all of the action won’t take place in a 24-hour period.

“We felt too constrained by it and we realized one day that Jack Bauer was such a strong character that he could fill the big screen,” Gordon said.

For his part, Sutherland has been saying for months that he’d love to spend even more time in Jack’s shoes.

“I think there’s always a way to actually deal with the idea of ‘24’ as a film that would completely be separate from ‘24’ the television show,” he said at a news conference in January. “And by that I mean the characters could be different. They could be completely unrelated, and I think that would still be effective.”