Prison Break: Is the Doctor (Gulp) Out?
by Matt Webb Mitovich
In tonight's season finale (8 pm/ET on Fox), Prison Break's actual prison break continues, as Michael, Lincoln et al desperately try to shake their pursuers. Speaking of being hot on someone's trail, what does Michael's fugitive future hold as it relates to Sara? Dr. Tancredi's portrayer, Sarah Wayne Callies, spoke with TVGuide.com about her Prison paramour, Wentworth Miller, and about making mischief with that other major TV heartthrob.
TVGuide.com: So the good doctor decided to leave the infirmary door unlocked, eh?
Sarah Wayne Callies: I guess I did, I did....
TVGuide.com: I had to wonder if she was tempted to snatch some morphine on her way out.
Callies: You'd have to actually ask the writers about that. We shot that two ways, and I'm not sure how they're going to use it.
TVGuide.com: She was last seen sitting out in her car, looking all conflicted....
Callies: We shot that scene both ways — with the morphine in my hand as I was in the car, and with it not in my hand. I don't have a television right now, but I understand the one they aired was the one where you can't see it in my hand. I'm not sure how they'll play that out in the next episode.
TVGuide.com: I can't let what you just said slide, of course. No television? What's that about?
Callies: [Laughs] My husband and I are in New York, for hiatus, and we left most of our stuff in our apartment in Chicago. And to be honest, I've been saturated with television, so I've decided to do without it for a few months. I'm enjoying it!
TVGuide.com: You're "detoxing."
Callies: I'm detoxing — although I do crumble and watch The Sopranos at a friend's house on Sunday nights.
TVGuide.com: Is Dr. Sara's nurse friend going to snitch on her suspicious behavior?
Callies: I think she's getting awfully suspicious....
TVGuide.com: What was your reaction to Sara's shocking backstory? Was the flashback episode's script your first inkling about her past?
Callies: It was the very first inkling. In fact, I had been out of town doing some publicity, and I got back to set the day the script had been released. Wentworth met me at my trailer and he was like, "Girl, you've got some work to do." [Laughs]
TVGuide.com: As an actress, you must have been licking your chops.
Callies: Oh, absolutely. In the very first conversation I had with [Prison Break creator] Paul Scheuring about the character, back when we were shooting the pilot, I suggested it would be interesting to play her as a recovering alcoholic, partly because I'm very suspicious of people who do good things for no reason. Seeing what a big heart she has, I wanted to give that some place to come from. Paul and I had that conversation and literally didn't mention it again to each other until I got the script for that episode.
TVGuide.com: You do have to wonder why a lady doc would elect to apply her services to a men's prison, when there are obviously other, safer options.
Callies: I think there's a very strong sense in her, especially given her backstory, of "there but for the grace of God go I." She was engaged in illegal activity, and she found her way out through health and by getting clean, as opposed to being criminally prosecuted and thrown in jail. That gave her a first-person understanding.
TVGuide.com: Her addicted self certainly got quite the wake-up call, standing helplessly as that young kid died....
Callies: Yeah, it's not her fault he died, but it might be her fault that he didn't live, and that's a lot to carry around. It's certainly more than Lincoln Burrows is guilty of.
TVGuide.com: Stacy Keach told me he's unsure how, if and to what degree his prison warden will figure into Season 2. Do you have similar concerns about Sara?
Callies: I don't tend to believe anything I've heard until it's in front of me in a script, so at this point, yeah, I feel completely up in the air. I've heard rumors going in a couple of different directions....
TVGuide.com: She, like Pope, is "attached" to the prison, after all.
Callies: Yeah, and the season ends with me in some pretty extreme circumstances. That might be my last episode... or it might be in another five years. [Laughs] There's no way for me to tell right now.
TVGuide.com: At the very least, Season 2 should get you out of that lab coat — not that you didn't cut a long, lean silhouette in it.
Callies: I tell you, it's an interesting position to be in, because when Wentworth and I shoot these scenes it's so refreshing for me to feel that as the woman in the scene, I'm not the sex object, it's him. He's the one taking his shirt off and getting beautiful lights shined in those big blue eyes of his, while I just sit there in my lab coat doing my thing. [Laughs] I kind of appreciate it.
TVGuide.com: You're in the movie Whisper [now slated for a winter release] with Lost's own cover boy, Josh Holloway. Gee, Josh, Wentworth... you're quite the geek magnet, huh?
Callies: [Laughs] I know! I am a rather lucky girl when it comes to costars. The nice thing for me is that they are as kind and professional as they are attractive. That's more important to me. They're both lovely guys and terrific to work with.
TVGuide.com: Wade Williams (Bellick) said that while Wentworth and Dominic Purcell may have "melon heads," their niceness trickles down to the rest of the cast.
Callies: It's amazing to me. With a cast that is not only so big but so young and good-looking, usually you'd think there'd be one big ego that everybody would have to dance around. If there is, I haven't worked with [that person] yet.
TVGuide.com: What can you tell me about Whisper and your role in it?
Callies: Oh, gosh, Roxanne is about as different from Dr. Sara as it gets — she has almost no education, she's very Catholic, she doesn't come from a lot of money, and she looks to the men in her life to provide every answer and every security. She is someone who's very easily duped. The story is about a group of people who kidnap a boy to get ransom money to start their lives again, but the boy turns out to be more adept at manipulating people than they are, so he starts to turn them again each other. I've played a lot of lawyers and doctors and cops and things like that, but if this girl could hold down a job she'd probably be the midnight waitress at an all-night diner! Josh plays my fiancé, the kidnapper, who's kind of done this thing before, and I go along because I think this little boy will need someone to take care of him. Roxanne provides the mothering, nurturing touch, although there's not a whole lot about her that is outwardly maternal!
by Matt Webb Mitovich
In tonight's season finale (8 pm/ET on Fox), Prison Break's actual prison break continues, as Michael, Lincoln et al desperately try to shake their pursuers. Speaking of being hot on someone's trail, what does Michael's fugitive future hold as it relates to Sara? Dr. Tancredi's portrayer, Sarah Wayne Callies, spoke with TVGuide.com about her Prison paramour, Wentworth Miller, and about making mischief with that other major TV heartthrob.
TVGuide.com: So the good doctor decided to leave the infirmary door unlocked, eh?
Sarah Wayne Callies: I guess I did, I did....
TVGuide.com: I had to wonder if she was tempted to snatch some morphine on her way out.
Callies: You'd have to actually ask the writers about that. We shot that two ways, and I'm not sure how they're going to use it.
TVGuide.com: She was last seen sitting out in her car, looking all conflicted....
Callies: We shot that scene both ways — with the morphine in my hand as I was in the car, and with it not in my hand. I don't have a television right now, but I understand the one they aired was the one where you can't see it in my hand. I'm not sure how they'll play that out in the next episode.
TVGuide.com: I can't let what you just said slide, of course. No television? What's that about?
Callies: [Laughs] My husband and I are in New York, for hiatus, and we left most of our stuff in our apartment in Chicago. And to be honest, I've been saturated with television, so I've decided to do without it for a few months. I'm enjoying it!
TVGuide.com: You're "detoxing."
Callies: I'm detoxing — although I do crumble and watch The Sopranos at a friend's house on Sunday nights.
TVGuide.com: Is Dr. Sara's nurse friend going to snitch on her suspicious behavior?
Callies: I think she's getting awfully suspicious....
TVGuide.com: What was your reaction to Sara's shocking backstory? Was the flashback episode's script your first inkling about her past?
Callies: It was the very first inkling. In fact, I had been out of town doing some publicity, and I got back to set the day the script had been released. Wentworth met me at my trailer and he was like, "Girl, you've got some work to do." [Laughs]
TVGuide.com: As an actress, you must have been licking your chops.
Callies: Oh, absolutely. In the very first conversation I had with [Prison Break creator] Paul Scheuring about the character, back when we were shooting the pilot, I suggested it would be interesting to play her as a recovering alcoholic, partly because I'm very suspicious of people who do good things for no reason. Seeing what a big heart she has, I wanted to give that some place to come from. Paul and I had that conversation and literally didn't mention it again to each other until I got the script for that episode.
TVGuide.com: You do have to wonder why a lady doc would elect to apply her services to a men's prison, when there are obviously other, safer options.
Callies: I think there's a very strong sense in her, especially given her backstory, of "there but for the grace of God go I." She was engaged in illegal activity, and she found her way out through health and by getting clean, as opposed to being criminally prosecuted and thrown in jail. That gave her a first-person understanding.
TVGuide.com: Her addicted self certainly got quite the wake-up call, standing helplessly as that young kid died....
Callies: Yeah, it's not her fault he died, but it might be her fault that he didn't live, and that's a lot to carry around. It's certainly more than Lincoln Burrows is guilty of.
TVGuide.com: Stacy Keach told me he's unsure how, if and to what degree his prison warden will figure into Season 2. Do you have similar concerns about Sara?
Callies: I don't tend to believe anything I've heard until it's in front of me in a script, so at this point, yeah, I feel completely up in the air. I've heard rumors going in a couple of different directions....
TVGuide.com: She, like Pope, is "attached" to the prison, after all.
Callies: Yeah, and the season ends with me in some pretty extreme circumstances. That might be my last episode... or it might be in another five years. [Laughs] There's no way for me to tell right now.
TVGuide.com: At the very least, Season 2 should get you out of that lab coat — not that you didn't cut a long, lean silhouette in it.
Callies: I tell you, it's an interesting position to be in, because when Wentworth and I shoot these scenes it's so refreshing for me to feel that as the woman in the scene, I'm not the sex object, it's him. He's the one taking his shirt off and getting beautiful lights shined in those big blue eyes of his, while I just sit there in my lab coat doing my thing. [Laughs] I kind of appreciate it.
TVGuide.com: You're in the movie Whisper [now slated for a winter release] with Lost's own cover boy, Josh Holloway. Gee, Josh, Wentworth... you're quite the geek magnet, huh?
Callies: [Laughs] I know! I am a rather lucky girl when it comes to costars. The nice thing for me is that they are as kind and professional as they are attractive. That's more important to me. They're both lovely guys and terrific to work with.
TVGuide.com: Wade Williams (Bellick) said that while Wentworth and Dominic Purcell may have "melon heads," their niceness trickles down to the rest of the cast.
Callies: It's amazing to me. With a cast that is not only so big but so young and good-looking, usually you'd think there'd be one big ego that everybody would have to dance around. If there is, I haven't worked with [that person] yet.
TVGuide.com: What can you tell me about Whisper and your role in it?
Callies: Oh, gosh, Roxanne is about as different from Dr. Sara as it gets — she has almost no education, she's very Catholic, she doesn't come from a lot of money, and she looks to the men in her life to provide every answer and every security. She is someone who's very easily duped. The story is about a group of people who kidnap a boy to get ransom money to start their lives again, but the boy turns out to be more adept at manipulating people than they are, so he starts to turn them again each other. I've played a lot of lawyers and doctors and cops and things like that, but if this girl could hold down a job she'd probably be the midnight waitress at an all-night diner! Josh plays my fiancé, the kidnapper, who's kind of done this thing before, and I go along because I think this little boy will need someone to take care of him. Roxanne provides the mothering, nurturing touch, although there's not a whole lot about her that is outwardly maternal!