Fox's 'Prison Break' Is
Breakout Hit
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Wentworth Miller "Underworld"'s
Wentworth Miller
Getting yourself sent to the penitentiary to spring your
condemned brother may seem a bit extreme, but not altogether
crazy if you're a structural engineer and have the prison's
blueprints tattooed on your torso. Complications abound, of
course, including inmates with agendas, a conspiracy plot behind
the murder and an execution deadline. It's closer to Shawshank
Redemption than Oz, with elements of The Great Escape--some
inmates will break out, and the plot will follow the fugitives.
Wentworth Miller, previously seen in Dinotopia, The Human Stain,
two Mariah Carey videos and a memorably demonic turn in Joan of
Arcadia and heard as the voice of the computerized plane in
Stealth, plays mastermind Michael Scofield and Dominic Purcell
(John Doe) is Lincoln, the sibling framed for offing the vice
president's brother.
The excellent supporting cast includes Stacy Keach as the
warden, Peter Stormare as a mob boss, Robin Tunney as Michael's
lawyer (and Lincoln's ex), and Sarah Wayne Callies as the prison
infirmary doctor. Adding verisimilitude is the prison set
location, an old maximum-security institution in Joliet,
Illinois.
"It's a very depressing, dark place. The walks are just stained
with sadness. It's intense," says Purcell. "It's got a certain
grit and authenticity we couldn't duplicate in a soundstage in
Burbank," adds Miller. Indeed, they've filmed in a cell once
occupied by serial killer John Wayne Gacy, whose ghost is
rumored to haunt the prison.
"If I was ever in his shoes I'd get a few petitions together,
make some phone calls. But I don't think I'd hold up a bank,"
laughs Miller. But that wouldn't be as cool a show as Prison
Break.
Prison Break will air for seven consecutive weeks and resume
after the baseball playoffs Oct. 24. FX will encore the first
seven episodes in a marathon Oct. 23. |
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