The TV Addict and Wentworth Miller in Los Angeles, August 2008
If three seasons of PRISON BREAK have taught this TV Addict anything, it’s that there’s always a price to be paid when something good happens to one of your favorite characters. Well, that and surgically re-applying body parts such as hands and heads isn’t nearly as complicated as one might assume.
That said, watching yesterday’s fourth season premiere, even I didn’t expect that Michael would lose the one thing that’s been with him from day one. Which is why I posed the following questions to star Wentworth Miller when I recently had the opportunity to interview him in Los Angeles.
The whole tattoo removal came as quite a surprise when I watched the show’s season premiere. What led to the decision and are you happy that it’s gone?
Wentworth Miller: I am. The tattoo became for me kind of burdensome after awhile. Even when we didn’t have to apply it we had to pretend as though it was there. Which meant wearing long sleeve shirts in Dallas where it’s 120 degrees and you’re squatting on your knees in the Sona Prison Yard. All the sweat on my forehead in those scenes was my own. It wasn’t me with a spritz bottle before every take.
It took it’s toll and in the end I’m glad we dealt with it in the way that we did. We made it clear that this experience has taken its toll on Michael and he’s paid a price both inside and out. The tattoo is really a physical signifier of his journey that has left a mark on him.
The TV Addict and Wentworth Miller in Los Angeles, August 2008
With the two-hour season premiere of PRISON BREAK premiering tonight, this TV Addict thought that this would be as good a time as any to run our exclusive interview with star Wentworth Miller who was kind enough to take some time out of his hectic schedule to sit down with me at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel in Los Angeles.
So I couldn’t help but notice that once again PRISON BREAK seems to have re-invented itself.
Wentworth Miller: Yeah, one of the hallmarks of the show is that we’re not afraid to take what we already know works, clear it out and re-invent it season after season. Which is risky, but I think it’s paid off so far.
Does it make it easier as an actor knowing that every season is going to be completely different?
It does keep things more interesting than your average procedural drama where the only thing that changes episode after episode is how the victim died. As an actor, it gives you a new playground to play in, which is really fun.
Speaking of new playgrounds, are you happy to be back home shooting in Los Angeles?
I liked being in Dallas and I like being on the road. It was different and lent a certain environmental difference to the show. So many shows shoot in Los Angeles, it’s almost been shot to death. I think that shooting in Chicago [season one] and Dallas [seasons two and three] really gave the show a very different visual look. That said, it’s nice to crawl into your own bed at night and you can’t put a price on that. We’ve been on the road for the past three years and it’s nice to come home.
Since this TV Addict won’t be publishing his very own exclusive one-on-one with Wentworth Miller until Monday, I thought I’d parse some interesting tidbits I gleaned while taking part on a recent conference call that Wentworth Miller was kind enough to take part in to help promote the upcoming two-hour season premiere on September 1, 2008.
1. Was Michael’s reunion with Sara everything you hoped it would be?
Wentworth Miller: Absolutely. I was just happy to see Sara back. I really felt her absence Season Three. I felt that her return was important not only to my character, but also to the show in general. What can I say; the fans have spoken. Sara returns.
2. At what point did you realize that Sarah Wayne Callies might be coming back?
I think it was at some point during the strike that I started hearing rumors that Sarah was returning, that the fans were organizing write-ins and petitions and I think that’s emblematic of where we are in terms of television and the media. It’s very much a back and forth conversation between the fans and the writers, between the writers and the powers that be. Their opinions, especially when expressed online or via correspondence, are important and are taken into consideration.
3. Obviously reattaching someone’s head is a bit of a tall order. What can you tell us about how this comes off in the first couple of episodes?
I think that we address it as plausibly as possible. It helps that the show is kind of fantastic and I feel like we’ve gotten away with worse. But at the same time, we do provide an explanation and we don’t tease the audience. It’s not a flash of Sara’s ponytail disappearing down an ally for the first episodes, everyone wondering when she’ll actually make a face-to-face with Michael. She’s back first episode. Michael and Sara reunited, and then the gang hits the ground running because there’s work to do.
I think it was my generations Plato, Homer Simpson who said it best. When he summed up his feelings in one succinctly brilliant word. “D’OH!”
Can someone tell me why exactly your very own TV Addict didn’t throw caution/responsibility/financial security to the wind and shell out the bucks to head to Los Angeles for last night’s FOX SUMMER TCA PARTY? I mean talk about your hindsight is 20/20. A mortgage payment would have been a small price to pay to spend the night hobnobbing with the likes of J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, Lena Heady, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Hugh Laurie, Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, Wentworth Miller, Brian Austin Green, Olivia Wilde… well you get the idea.
So a quick heads up friends. If you notice anything ‘wonky’ on theTVaddict.com throughout the day. And by ‘wonky’ I mean spelling and grammar mistakes above the usual levels. Please keep in mind that they’re simply a bi-product of the incredibly large amount of tears that are pouring down on my keyboard at this very moment.
Seriously, how did I NOT attend this party. I mean click the link below for more of what I missed.
FOX kicked off the start of the network side of the Television Critics Association Press Tour [TCAs] with a — wait for it — PRISON BREAKfast. Your chance to share hash-browns and bacon with the stars of the show’s fourth season: Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, and the shocking return of Sarah Wayne Callies, complete with her head still attached. There was an entire breakfast buffet laid out, complete with iced down buckets of Yoo-Hoo, and prison-orange tablecloths, but everything quickly devolved into the “corral the actors with your microphones” game. And luckily, we were able to nail down Wentworth Miller and Sarah Wayne Callies for some questions and a scant few secrets about what to expect for the show that will this season feature PRISON BREAK ins instead of outs.
Simply click play for the interview featuring Miller and Callies and be sure to check back later in the week for words with Dominic Purcell.
WIth the fall TV season officially starting last night, this TV Addict found himself jumping back on the PRISON BREAK bandwagon in an effort to get his ‘new TV fix’ on.
Implausible situations — Check!
A hero who never smiles — Check!
Some really nasty prisoners — Check!
Ladies and gentleman, Welcome to Sona B*tch! Or as I like to call it, the prison that guards forgot.
Okay, so I may be overstating things a wee bit, and quite possibly suffering from a new TV season over-stimulation high, but seriously, could last night’s third season premiere of PRISON BREAK been any more exciting? How on earth are Scofield and Co. going to manage to escape this time? Any chance there’s a really talented tattoo artist stuck in Sona? Feel free to waste some valuable bandwidth with your guesses.
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