Wentworth Miller :: Still On The Run

Prison Break has been an ideal show for TV ogling, as buff hunks sweat in the hot sun as they plot their next escape. Returning for a fourth season has Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) lasering off the full body tattoo that provided his first escape map. Perhaps this will free Miller up for more topless scenes, though he dodged inquiries about his gay fan base.

"Well, a fan base is a fan base," he laughed. "And I'm appreciative of that kind of attention and support wherever it comes from."

No More Prison Breaks?

Prison Break has been an ideal show for TV ogling, as buff hunks sweat in the hot sun as they plot their next escape. Returning for a fourth season has Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) lasering off the full body tattoo that provided his first escape map. Perhaps this will free Miller up for more topless scenes, though he dodged inquiries about his gay fan base.

"Well, a fan base is a fan base," he laughed. "And I'm appreciative of that kind of attention and support wherever it comes from."

With the third season climaxing in Scofield's second breakout, the new season, and perhaps the duration of the series, will find Michael and brother Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) pursuing the masterminds of the evil conspiracy.

"I don't think we're going back to jail, I can tell you that much," Miller said. "I don't think there'll be a third prison break. I think Michael and Lincoln have been pawns in this very deadly game of chess long enough, and it's time to stand and fight, so it's time for the boys to team up with old allies and enemies, and take on the company, the conspiracy that destroyed their lives in the first place."

With Lincoln leading the charge, expect to see the boys fueled by testosterone this year. "Linc's the spark of the show," Purcell said. "He's just a fighter. He's the guy that brings the grunt, that male testosterone element to the show. Linc's going to do what he keeps doing. He's a angry dude, and he's just trying to get back to his kid and trying to just start a new relationship with Sophia. He's tired of this bullshit that people keep drawing him back to."

That may mean big bro is leading the charge. Michael tends to be out of his element post-breakout, though this year he isn't exactly on the run. "I actually enjoyed Michael in prison," Miller said. "I honestly felt that that's where my character lived and breathed, where he was at his strongest with the most concrete sense of purpose. It was during the second season that I felt he spun out a little bit as a character, which is why I was relieved to find him back behind bars third season. This season, it's less about being reactive and more about being proactive. Michael's at his best when he has a plan and he's got a pretty awesome assemblage of people around him, helping him take on the conspiracy. I really feel that the fourth season with my character might be one of the strongest yet."

Photo: Wentworth Miller in his full body tattoo in "Prison Break." For the fourth season, the tattoo has been removed.

"Prison Break" Goes to Hollywood

Cryptic previews have become a staple of "Prison Break" interviews, as the show's constant plot twists make spoilers a persistent worry. Purcell laid out the premise of Season Four as best he could.

"More or less, if you've seen that movie "Ronin," it's kind of like that," Purcell said. "We're being forced by the government to work for them, and if we don't work for them, they're going to send us to jail, back to prison. They promised the troupe, the gang, that if we get the stuff done, we'll be given our freedom, so depending on how long they want the show to last, we won't be having our freedom for a very long time."

Season Four has brought the cast of "Prison Break" to Hollywood for the first time. The premiere season shot in Chicago to accommodate the Joliet prison locale. The past two years used Dallas to double for most of the U.S. and Panama. Now, home is home.

"We're working on the Fox lot, and we're also taking as much advantage as we can of Los Angeles, in terms of its very sort of schizophrenic terrain," Miller said. "You got the ocean, you got downtown, you got the mountains, you got the desert. Our environment, our backdrop, has always been critical to the show's look and success, and our number one priority is to keep that going fourth season."

Shooting in L.A. also allows Purcell to stay close to his family. "What's kind of become apparent is in the last four years I've been on the road and I've missed a lot of their growth," Purcell said. "That kind of freaked me out a bit, but now that I'm home, it's wonderful. It's really good."

As the crew returns home, "Prison Break" travels the world. Miller spent the summer greeting his intercontinental fans and press. "I was in Israel, France, Sweden, Italy and then Germany on a separate trip," Miller said. "I think that's been one of the most pleasurable experiences, working on this kind of show, is that obviously we have a tremendous amount of appreciation for our American audience, but our international appeal is not to be underestimated. In France, the show is huge, and walking down the streets of Paris felt a little bit like being a rock star. It was fun."

Photo: Dominic Purcell in "Prison Break."

Keeping in Shape

Purcell spends his free time catching waves. Perhaps that's how he maintains such a solid tan. "For me surfing's just about having fun and hanging out with my friends out there and catching some waves," Purcell said. "It's just about enjoying it, enjoying nature."

Miller claims he does not lead much of an active lifestyle, though his abs and pecs betray his story.

"'Prison Break' keeps me so active that I kind of collapse once the season's over," Miller said. "I just look forward to sitting on my couch, and maybe take an occasional hike, but that's pretty much it, not very ambitious."

However they keep in shape, they still perform as many of their own stunts as the "Prison Break" producers will allow. "That's one of the best parts, that 90% of the stunts we get to execute ourselves," Miller said. "It's always in the safest, most rehearsed environment, and to be hoisted up on a rope attached to a helicopter and dangled above the prison yard like we were in Season Three, that's a thrill. It's one of the reasons I got into this business to begin with. We all got scrapes and pulled shoulders and bruises and bloody noses but that's just the small price you pay."

His costar has been gung ho about doing stunts since the beginning. Season one required Purcell to spend a lot of time in an isolation cell, so as soon as the plot had him sprung, he insisted on becoming the action hero. "This year I did my thing," Purcell said. "I run, I jump over cars, I fall. I popped some, did a shoulder injury here, and I hurt my foot badly about two weeks ago running down the stairs. It's just part of the deal."

Prison Break returns Sept. 1 on Fox.

Photo: Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller in "Prison Break."