Silas Weir Mitchell – Prison Break

Q.  What are some of the recent projects that you’ve been working on?

A.  I just did another “My Name Is Earl,” which I’ve done three of those.  Then last week I did an episode of “Without A Trace” and I did a couple of episodes of “Prison Break” obviously, I have a few more of those coming probably. 

Q.  Speaking of “Prison Break,” this season we’ve only gotten to see your character here and there. Will we get to see more of Haywire and development with the character?

A.  I hope so, I mean it’s a really fun character to play.  I feel like I’m comic relief where the tension is so high all the time that the producers kind of use my storyline as a break from all of the gut-wrenching intensity.  That’s a great job for an actor to get; to be sort of the clown of the episode or of the story.  It’s really fun, so I hope they have more in store for me.  On the other hand, my storyline is so ancillary to the main gist.  The story between the inmates and the Mahone character, the Bill Fichtner character, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just left me hanging.  I am so separate and so minor compared to the main storyline that it wouldn’t surprise me if I was just left hanging.  I bet they’ll come back to me only because there is this element to the Mahone character that he has to capture everyone.  He’s obsessive, to a fault he’s obsessive, I think even on that basis they’ll have to bring me back in order to kind of clean up.  To make sure that every T is crossed and every I is dotted.  I think he’s got to get everybody and I think that’s so built into his character that it would be out of character for him not to go after me.

Q.  Do you have a really memorable moment from your time working on the show?

A.  I would have to say the most memorable moment was getting to run amuck in a Dairy Queen.  How often do you get to do something like that in your life?  That is what is great about being an actor, you get to do things as a child you’d imagine doing.  What would I do if I could go into an abandoned Dairy Queen and just have my way with the soft ice cream machine?  When you’re an actor sometimes you get to do it.  So, I think that was pretty fun and something I won’t get to do in the near future again.  Sticking my head underneath the soda fountain so I would get a little cool corn syrup shower.  When do you get to do that?  It also makes you realize that when you’re working in this business, you’re really working for the circus. 

Q.  What about your role of Haywire has been challenging for you?

A.  Yeah, to try to in some way make him believable.  To just not be ridiculous, that’s the challenge with Haywire, to not be completely and utterly absurdly ridiculous.  There are reasons why Haywire is not completely together and zonked out when he was in the first season when he’s on his medicine.  When he’s out in the world and not on his meds and stuff they’re writing for me also, it’s very important to me that I not go completely into, I used the word clown earlier, there are different kinds of clowns.  A clown is sort of a venerable, theatrical archetype even.  I try to play in that realm in the kind of confused, lonely, lost type of childlike realm.  Rather than in the realm of going for laughs and trying to be big.  It’s very important that there is a foundation to what I’m doing, otherwise it’s kind of absurd. 

Q.  What do you think it is about the show that continues to draw viewers in?

A.  I don’t know if it is drawing in any new viewers, to be honest, I don’t keep track of the ratings.  I think it’s the premise, there are a great many other successful stories that are based on fugitives.  First of all, the movie The Fugitive, was just a wonderful film.  I think Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar for his role as the Marshall who is hunting Harrison Ford.  In that case it’s a wrongly accused guy, so that’s a little different, but it’s a really gripping storyline.  People that are on the run.  There is always a really powerful motivation; which is I’ve got to get my freedom.  It is a really powerful, motivating thing; to get free.  By the same token, you’ve got equally strong motivation by the person who is chasing you because his identity, his life and his job is to capture.  So, you’ve just got a built in intensity with a fugitive story.  Plus, the first season was a lot of good looking guys in jail.  I think the girls love Wentworth, and I think the fan base of the show is a lot of women.  There are a lot of women who watch the show, probably more then men.  I mean a lot of the guys are watching Monday Night Football.  I think the draw is like a fantasy, high-octane, it’s like “24.”  “24” is totally unbelievable but it’s really, really fun. 

Q.  What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

A.  In the summers I go to the east coast and I sail with my brother.  In Los Angeles in my spare time I have an exercise regimen that I do a few times a week.  I read a lot and I don’t get out a lot, I cook and I’m really into wine.  That’s a recent hobby of mine, I’ve been studying wine pretty intensely for the last year. 

Q.  What is it about wine that has made it a new obsession for you?

A.  I went to Europe last year alone for a trip to get out of LA.  I hadn’t left the country in a really long time.  I went to Europe, my dad was really into wines but he never really taught me about it.  It was always a mystery to me where the grapes come from, and there is this grape, and that grape.  There are these regions, and that regions, and what the hell does it all mean?  Then I went to Europe and I was in Paris for about a week.  Suddenly, all of that knowledge of what this is, and that is, and where this grape comes from. and why they grow it here, and why they don’t grow it there started sinking in by osmosis.  By being in Paris and drinking French wine, it all just started sinking in and I just became obsessed. 

Q.  What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?

A.  Thank you for being my supporters and fans.  I get fan mail now and that is such a kick; it’s a real kick!  I’ve been living in Los Angeles for ten years and I’ve been working pretty steadily the whole time.  In the last year it’s gone to a slightly new level and it’s just a joy that people are enjoying your work.  Because, that’s why actors act!  We act to impact upon people and to make a difference to people and to help people enjoy their life and see things in a certain kind of way.  I’m glad that people are responding to it because frankly, it gives my life a little bit of meaning.  That’s an irreplaceable type of feeling.