You can't escape Wentworth Miller's face.
Suddenly the strikingly handsome actor seems to be everywhere — canoodling with Mariah Carey in her new videos, haunting Jennifer Love Hewitt in the pilot for CBS' drama Ghost Whisperer, and getting himself thrown into jail to try to spring his condemned brother on Fox's new serial thriller Prison Break (Mondays at 9 pm/ET).
Even if you haven't seen Prison Break yet, surely you've seen the ads on buses, billboards and movie screens. They feature Miller's face — really big. "Yes, I saw those pictures," the 33-year-old actor deadpans. "I've got a Tom Cruise-size head. It's phenomenal."
Fox certainly seems to think so. "It's a very smart move to brand the show with his face," says creator Paul Scheuring. "There's no one who looks like him, and there's no one who acts like him. He's an attractive mystery." TV Guide decided to get to the bottom of the mystery by grilling Miller. (This much we know: He was born in London, raised in Brooklyn and earned a degree in English literature from Princeton. Pretty impressive for a TV convict.)
How did you get your big break as Michael Scofield on Prison Break?
I auditioned for [executive producer] Brett Ratner when he was attached to Superman a few years ago. I think he remembered me. They called me in last. They'd been through all the pretty boys and names, which left guys like me. I guess it worked because here we are, behind bars.
The show received mixed reviews. Did you read any bad ones?
A few, and those came from people who approached the show as if it were a real-life drama. We do play it real, but it's very much a comic book. On a real-life drama, my character losing his toes would be my theme for the rest of the season. But in the world of Prison Break, you limp for a little while, then it's back to business.
Have you been following the show's ratings?
Someone explained the numbers to me, and it was a little like when you're house-sitting for someone and they're explaining the alarm code. You're nodding your head like, "Uh-huh, uh-huh," but it's going in one ear and out the other. I got the gist that we did well and we still had our jobs.
From The Shawshank Redemption to Oz, why do people find prison stories so fascinating?
It speaks to one of our deepest fears. I liken my character's journey to a man waking up in the lion's den at the zoo and having to a) figure a way out, and
keep his eye on the lions so he's not mauled in the meantime. He's a stand-in for your average audience member who would never want to go on this journey themselves. But tagging along for the ride will be a hell of a good time....More from the actual interview not on the site...
There have been nude scenes on the show, but you haven't done any yet. Did you have to sign a nudity clause?
I didn't sign anything saying I would do nudity, and I certainly don't intend to. I think the more left to the imagination as far as that goes, the better.
Do you have a love interest in real life?
Nope, I'm single right now. The only people I see on the set are inmates. Its a testosterone-heavy set, so for the few ladies who are there, I guess it's a picnic. For the rest of us, it's a bit of a fast.
Are any of your tattoos on the show real?
No. It's not really my thing, but it is a treat to become someone who's 50 percent tattooed. The whole pleasure of being an actor is trying out things you don't have to take home with you at night.
source: http://www.tvguide.com/TV/CoverStory
