Muse Watson – Break Out Star

Q) What are the current projects that you are working on?

A) "Prison Break" is on hiatus and I am taking a rest.  The show was physical and Chicago was cold, so I really just want to lay on the couch in the warmth of southern California.  You know, actors have a superstition about talking about projects before the contracts are signed.  ...and I have just lost two roles on TV shows at the final hour, and I had talked about them....makes you leery of talking at all.  LOL  One of them was a regular role and the word was "all we have to do is sign the contract".  I hate when that happens.  So being careful not to say that I have these particular roles: I am up for a Coen brothers' film, a mini-series prequel to "Lonesome Dove" and another TV show.  My nephew Jon Morris has a series he has pitched around town with mixed response that has me as a regular role.  One channel wants it, and there is interest by others.  There are several other film projects in development, two of which are being written for me.  So I guess the answer to your question would have to do with whether you thought as an actor or not.  Actors are "working on" making projectsgo long before they are actually "working on" them. 

Q) Please tell us about your character, Westmoreland, on the hit show "Prison Break."

A) As an actor, I get the chance to meet a lot of characters.  I study them and ask them to use my body to present themselves to the camera.  Every now in then,something clicks between me and a character, and we become really good friends.  This has happened between me and Charles Westmoreland.  While I was studying this character, I was reading everything that is known about DB Cooper, because rumor has it that Westmoreland is the legendary Cooper.  When I read that he tippedthe stewardess on the plane that he hijacked, I just smiled.  What a class act.  That told me volumes about who he was.  Then, as the show progressed and he madehis friendship with Michael, played by Wentworth Miller, I liked him more.  I liked him for taking time with "the fish" although he was a loner.  After being in prison for 32 years, this man is respected enough to be left alone, thought enough of by the Boss, Abruzzi (played by Peter Stormare), to work on PI and respected enough by the staff of the prison to be a "trustee" and have a cat as a companion.  He is one of those rare combinations of men who are strong enough not to be intimidated and sensitive enough to get along.  A moderator from "˜Television With-Out Pity.Com," who calls herself "Sobel" described Westmoreland in the last episode as so classy! I may have to begin calling him the "Silver Fox, " so stylish and compelling is he. That tells me I must be allowing him to express himself.

Q) What made you want to be a part of the show?

A) My agent said it was the best pilot of the season and he would give anything to have just one client on the show.  After 76 feature films, 32 in transportation and 44 as an actor, I was thinking that a TV series would provide me a more normal day at work and more time at home with my family.  The joke was on me.  We film in Chicago.  LOL!

Q) "Prison Break" is such a dramatic show. How do you prepare for such heightened scenes?

A) If they are filmed out of order, it can be a challenge.  I figured out a trick to dealing with this while filming the movieRosewood with Jon Voight, Ving Rhames and Don Cheadle.  I number the scenes in intensity.  It works really well for me.  I walk out of my trailer to film a scene out of sequence and say to my self, "Well ,this is a '6,'"and so on.  Make-up and hair use it, too.  They take pictures of me and number them by my system.

That being said, nothing prepares me better than just getting into character and putting him in the situation at hand.  It is exhausting to film a con who is out of his cell and on the verge of being re-captured at any moment, I can tell you.

Q) How has it been working with such an amazing and talented cast?

A) I think one of the reasons "Prison Break" is such a hit with the audience is that we have such a good cast, a cast that respects each other's ability.  Everyone on the set expects the other to turn in a great performance and believes that the other actors are capable of it.  Not a runt in the bunch.  I had worked with the talented Robert Knepper before on "The Lazarus Man", but the rest of the cast were all new to me.  What a delightful surprise!  It's great when one of the things you do not have to worry about on the set is the other actors.  It makes your job a whole lot more fun and you are able to concentrate more on the nuances of your performance.

Q) What is your most memorable moment from filming?

A) Well, I assume you mean on "Prison Break," because I have had some unbelievable moments in this business: jumping horses with Robert Duvall inSomething to Talk Aboutwith Julia Roberts, turning into a vampire in Dusk 'til Dawn with Robert Patrick, wearing a Klansman's robe in Austin Powers with Mike Myers and doing underwater stunts in I Know What You Did Last Summer with Love Hewitt and Sarah Gellar.  But during the filming of the "Prison Break" pilot, the script called for Westmoreland to smirk.  It was 400 degrees below zero in the prison yard that day and I could not warm up.  I told Brett Ratner, the director, that at that temperature, you could frown or you could smile, but that a smirk was out of the question.  He ordered the special effects department to bring over a portable heater and aimed it at my face and said, "Now give me that smirk!" and just laughed.

Q) What is it about the show that you feel has hooked so many viewers?

A) I think it must be the writers' ability. They are keeping everyone on the edge of their seat with plot twists and turns.  It's hard to turn away when there are so many surprises!

I, also, think a lot of the credit goes to Wentworth Miller.  He is an extraordinary young man and I think he's been able to give the audience a glimpse of that and they can't get enough.

Third, it's what we talked about before, the ensemble, the amazingly talented group of actors who bring each character to life.

Q) Will viewers get to see Westmoreland confirm he's D.B. Cooper with evidence?

A) You know, it is amazing how different people interpret the story.  I guess the writers have been so tricky with their surprises for the audience, that everyone has trouble believing what they see.  It was written that Bellick killed Marylyn and we played it that way, but there is still debate out in cyberspace about who killed her.  So to answer your question, there are going to be those who believe he is Cooper and those who don't, but yes there will be evidence.

Q) For the most part, Westmoreland has been very collected. Will viewers get to see another side to him?

A) There really is no other side.  LOL!  After 32 years in prison, he's pretty comfortable with what goes on, and being older, he is more comfortable withlife's little setbacks.  He's collected when he's setting fire to a prison building or shoving T-Boy.  Or, he'll get excited about the prospects of getting out and he'll get worried for Michael's safety, but he's seen most of this before.

Q) What do you do in your spare time?

A) I like to go to the zoo and ballet class, swimming, do tumbling and watch Dora the Explorer and Elmo, dance.  You see, I have a four year old, ballerina, musician, gymnast, zoo-loving cowgirl princess.  I have no spare time.  When she was 5 months old, I had brain surgery followed 4 weeks later with heart and lung surgery.  The only reason I can figure I'm still here is to be her Popa.  I take that role very seriously.

Q) What would you like to say to all of your fans and supporters?

A) Thank you.  Please know how much I appreciate you.  I hope that I have, or can become, at least a couple of different characters to you.  Take care, and if you
want to know where I go next go to http://www.musewatson.com/.  Or, if you have a question or want to chat with me just go to our Yahoo club at:
http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/justinsmusewatsonclub/ where we talk and I answer questions from the members.

Visit  http://www.musewatson.com .....and watch Muse... Monday nights at 8pm in "Prison Break" on FOX.