The TV Addict and Wentworth Miller in Los Angeles, August 2008
If three seasons of PRISON BREAK have taught this TV Addict anything, it’s that there’s always a price to be paid when something good happens to one of your favorite characters. Well, that and surgically re-applying body parts such as hands and heads isn’t nearly as complicated as one might assume.
That said, watching yesterday’s fourth season premiere, even I didn’t expect that Michael would lose the one thing that’s been with him from day one. Which is why I posed the following questions to star Wentworth Miller when I recently had the opportunity to interview him in Los Angeles.
The whole tattoo removal came as quite a surprise when I watched the show’s season premiere. What led to the decision and are you happy that it’s gone?
Wentworth Miller: I am. The tattoo became for me kind of burdensome after awhile. Even when we didn’t have to apply it we had to pretend as though it was there. Which meant wearing long sleeve shirts in Dallas where it’s 120 degrees and you’re squatting on your knees in the Sona Prison Yard. All the sweat on my forehead in those scenes was my own. It wasn’t me with a spritz bottle before every take.
It took it’s toll and in the end I’m glad we dealt with it in the way that we did. We made it clear that this experience has taken its toll on Michael and he’s paid a price both inside and out. The tattoo is really a physical signifier of his journey that has left a mark on him.