CableFAX: For you, is this a crime story or a family story?
Perlman: It’s been a family drama from the beginning. There are aspects to it that define it on its own terms, but at its core it’s a family drama.
CableFAX: So what’s your character fighting for?
Perlman: He’s fighting for autonomy. He’s fighting for the ability to never have to answer to anyone or anything, which is basically at the core of why an outlaw nation has an impulse to go rogue and to get off the grid and to establish their own declaration of independence and their own bill of rights and their own constitution. I think we consider ourselves our own sovereign nation. I think we consider ourselves responsible to no one and no thing other than our own perpetuation and our own well-being. My character relishes the idea that every decision that he makes is for the greater good. He’s a born leader. He’s a born ass kicker.
CableFAX: It certainly doesn’t seem like these guys are very conflicted about some of the violent deeds they perpetuate. Is there any moral conflict in these characters?
Perlman: Season Two was a great exploration into divisions in leadership style and directions. But they were philosophical in nature. It wasn’t as if Jax’s character [played by Charlie Hunnam] wanted for the Sons of Anarchy to be any different than Clay’s was, but his modality was different. He wanted a different tonality to rule the club. And I’m a more 21st Century kind of guy, you know, where this is the deal, man. It’s a corporate world, and this is what we’re up against. This is what it costs to remain autonomous. This is what is being thrown in our way. And this is how we do it. I don’t try to bring too much Nietzsche into it. Even Phil Nietzsche. But definitely not Friedrich. We’re all just incredibly devoted to the club, which is number one. The club is our breast. It feeds the whole community. And as the club grows, so grows the well being of every member of the family.
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