Alert – Kiefer Sutherland reunites with Stand By Me co-star Jerry O’Connell… and clears up rumor he was a bully on set

Kiefer Sutherland reunited with his ‘old friend’ and Stand By Me co-star Jerry O’Connell 38 years after their ‘lives were forever changed’ and respective careers were launched from Rob Reiner’s 1986 coming-of-age drama.

The 57-year-old 24 alum cleared up an old rumor – still listed on the film’s IMDb trivia page – that he bullied his young castmates in order ‘to keep in character while off-camera.’

‘Absolutely not true. First of all, I’m not that kind of actor and I wouldn’t want to be that kind of person,’ Kiefer said on last Thursday’s episode of The Talk.

‘I spent a lot of time with [the late] River Phoenix because we both played guitar, and so that was kind of an in to him. Even though I was seven years older, we were both beginning, right? And so there was a lot of discussion about “How do you develop a character? What is your process?”‘

The 50-year-old The Talk co-host could not believe Sutherland was only 18 years old when he portrayed gang leader John ‘Ace’ Merrill in the 1959-set cinematic classic, which began filming in June of 1985.

Kiefer Sutherland (R) reunited with his ‘old friend’ and Stand By Me co-star Jerry O’Connell (L) 38 years after their ‘lives were forever changed’ and respective careers were launched from Rob Reiner’s 1986 coming-of-age drama

The 57-year-old 24 alum cleared up an old rumor – still listed on the film’s IMDb trivia page – that he bullied his young castmates in order ‘to keep in character while off-camera’

‘I felt like you were like 40! And I’m not saying that from how you look. I just thought you were the most grown-up person I had ever seen in my life!’ Jerry exclaimed.

‘Now, I will say that Kiefer did not bully us, there was no bullying. But Kiefer, I was so scared of you, honestly man. I was like everybody else, “Stay away from that guy! There’s something wrong with him!”‘

O’Connell was one of the 300 actors who auditioned for Stand By Me, making his big-screen acting debut at age 11 as silly and sensitive Vern Tessio, whose big brother Billy (Casey Siemaszko) was in Ace’s gang.

‘We ran into each other about 10 years after [the movie]. Someone said, “Oh, you should go say hi, that’s Jerry O’Connell.” And I said, “No it’s not!”‘ the two-time Emmy winner recalled.

‘We said hello and I gave you a big hug and then I walked away and looked at my friend and went, “Wow, he’s got a lot better trainer than I do.”‘

The 89-minute movie – also starring Wil Wheaton and Corey Feldman – amassed $52.3M at the global box office from a $7.5M budget.

Screenwriters Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon were nominated for an Academy Award for their big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body.

‘But we didn’t get to work together,’ Kiefer shrugged.

‘We really only had the one big scene at the end where Wil Wheaton pulls the gun and I had to run away like a girl.’

Kiefer said on last Thursday’s episode of The Talk: ‘Absolutely not true. First of all, I’m not that kind of actor and I wouldn’t want to be that kind of person’

Sutherland continued: ‘I spent a lot of time with [the late] River Phoenix (L) because we both played guitar, and so that was kind of an in to him’

The 50-year-old The Talk co-host could not believe the two-time Emmy winner was only 18 years old when he portrayed gang leader John ‘Ace’ Merrill in the 1959-set cinematic classic, which began filming in June of 1985

Jerry exclaimed: ‘I felt like you were like 40! And I’m not saying that from how you look. I just thought you were the most grown-up person I had ever seen in my life!’

O’Connell continued: ‘Now, I will say that Kiefer did not bully us, there was no bullying. But Kiefer, I was so scared of you, honestly man. I was like everybody else, “Stay away from that guy! There’s something wrong with him!”‘

The former child star (L) was one of the 300 actors who auditioned for Stand By Me, making his big-screen acting debut at age 11 as silly and sensitive Vern Tessio, whose big brother Billy (Casey Siemaszko) was in Ace’s gang

Kiefer recalled: ‘We ran into each other about 10 years after [the movie]. Someone said, “Oh, you should go say hi, that’s Jerry O’Connell.” And I said, “No it’s not!”‘

Sutherland added: ‘We said hello and I gave you a big hug and then I walked away and looked at my friend and went, “Wow, he’s got a lot better trainer than I do”‘

The 89-minute movie – also starring Wil Wheaton (R) and Corey Feldman (2-L) – amassed $52.3M at the global box office from a $7.5M budget

Screenwriters Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon were nominated for an Academy Award for their big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body