New prison drama all-out escapism

Death row prisoner Lincoln Burrows, left, (Dominic Purcell) and his brother Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) have escape in mind.

Prison Break is the latest exercise in suspense, conflict, and utter disbelief.

It's a well-crafted, tightly-scripted hour-long drama requiring viewers to surrender to the genre, suspending all belief in reality and logic.

But hey, it's entertainment, and isn't that why we watch its predecessors: Lost, and 24?

Having won a People's Choice Award for favourite new television drama, and a Golden Globe for best television series in its first year, it would seem that viewers have made that leap of faith, content to immerse themselves in old fashioned escapism.

Created by screenwriter Paul Scheuring and directed by Rush Hour's Brett Ratner, Prison Break is a story about Michael Scofield, played by newcomer Wentworth Miller, whose brother Lincoln Burrows, portrayed by Dominic Purcell, is on Death Row, soon to be executed for assassinating the brother of the United States president.

In an unlikely (albeit original) plot, Scofield robs a bank to get himself incarcerated alongside his brother.

Once he's inside, Scofield, a structural engineer with blueprints of the prison tattooed on his body, creates an elaborate plan to break out - and prove his brother's innocence.

Scheuring concedes, "I thought it was an intriguing idea. Of course, it is very stupid for a human being to get himself put in prison on purpose. But the system is working against his brother and he believes in his innocence."

The creator who wrote the screenplays A Man Apart (Vin Diesel), and The Rundown (The Rock), has no interest in addressing a litany of implausible plotlines.

He offers, with a hint of irritation, "It's common sense to tattoo your body. You can't bring the plans with you when you go into a prison naked."

One incarcerated, Scofield aligns himself with a disparate gang of prisoners and wardens.

Amid the prison soap opera antics, which include the obligatory riots, sexual predators, racism and violence, Scofield manages to get his plan off the ground. There's also a cliched government conspiracy subplot intertwined with Scofield's efforts in trying to extricate his brother.

The cast is made up of largely unknowns and rounded out by veteran actors Stacey Keach (Mike Hammer), character actor Peter Stormare (Fargo, Minority Report), and Wade Williams (Six Feet Under, Erin Brockovich ).

"The casting process was enormous," says Scheuring. "We didn't want too many famous people because we didn't want any of the baggage associated with their old shows.

"For the role of Scofield, I saw every actor in Los Angeles between the ages of 25 and 35 but none of them were any good. It was nerve-racking because we didn't have our two lead actors until the last week before shooting," he recalls. "That's an uncomfortable feeling. But then Wentworth came in. He was this amazing guy I'd never seen before.

"He wasn't trying to be Tom Cruise and wasn't the Brad Pitt knock-off, either."

Wentworth Miller, 34, who had parts in The Human Stain with Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins, and recurring roles on television shows Joan of Arcadia, and Dinotopia, is now the ubiquitous television hunk appearing on magazine covers, talk shows, and the like.

"I've learned that it's impossible to just be an actor," he says. "You also have to be a diplomat and a publicist and a politician."

Miller has an earnest quality and enjoys the hypotheticals of the show. "The appeal of Prison Break is that prison is a real-life horror story, and it could, in fact, happen to you.

"You could be driving down a highway passing through a construction zone and you see one of those signs that says if you hit a construction worker you're going to jail for 10 years. So all you have to do is sneeze and suddenly, you're behind bars."

And how would the latest hunk-on-the-block fare under those circumstances?

"Oh, I couldn't last in jail for a minute. I'm just not tough enough."

In contrast to the Miller's delicate features and serious demeanour, his onscreen brother, British-born, Australian-raised actor Dominic Purcell, 36, has more of an edge. He also has more of a cynical view about the premise.

"Well, it's not reality. It's even not close to reality, at all. I mean, obviously, the prison's reality. Obviously, they all wear blue suits, but it's not a prison documentary and it's not meant to be.

"If you can get by the farcical idea at the beginning, and people do, that's the show. People just want to be entertained."

Purcell has his own experience of prison life.

"I spent one night in a holding cell when I was 19 years old in Sydney.

"Got into a fight with a bunch of people, and we all kind of just spent the night together.

"I think it's a rite of passage in Australia, being 19, you get aggressive, you end up in jail for one night. I can't actually remember much about it. I was drunk at the time."

Fellow cast member Stacey Keach has spent real time making number plates in the past. "I didn't know if I wanted to do a prison show. I guess, having been in one myself for real, I didn't want to necessarily remind people about that," he says.

"But now I just tell people I was doing research a couple of decades earlier for Prison Break."

Keach, now 65, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 1984 when customs officials found cocaine in a hollowed-out shaving cream container.

He was convicted of smuggling the drug into Britain and spent six months in jail.

"It was tough. You learn what your priorities are. Also, you learn what it takes to survive. You have to know how to reach deep inside."

Keach found elements of reality in the script. "Other than the fact that prisoners are always thinking about 'the great escape'.

"The warden I play reminded me of the warden I had - a very compassionate man who believed in rehabilitation rather than punishment," he says. "In fact, we're still in touch today.

"I think prison is a metaphor for life in many ways. I think that we're all, in a way, prisoners of our own circumstances.

"I think , 'How are we going to get out of here?' is a question we're constantly asking ourselves no matter what our circumstances."

Listening to Keach, it sounds like the six months in jail felt to him like six decades.

"Well, I've been on some movie sets that have been worse." He doesn't care to elaborate further or offer any specifics.

The show's formulaic approach features a cliffhanger each episode, while a little of the puzzle is revealed each week as Scofield carries out his plan to execute the ultimate prison break.

Like Lost, the show's premise and potential downfall could fall danger to unending resolution.

"Our show is different from Lost in that sense.

"It would be an insult to the audience to have Michael remain behind bars forever. It can't be like, 'I've got the perfect plan tattooed to my body but we're not going to escape yet and it's season three'," says Scheuring. "It becomes a different story in season two.

"The escape is just the beginning. Once we're outside, it becomes The Fugitive times 12 escapees. You will definitely not get bored. But I warn you: don't get too attached to any of the characters. A lot of people are going to die."

* Prison Break: Movie length premiere Wednesday June 21, 8.30pm, TV3; screening 9.30pm from June 28