Prison Break's Dominic Purcell

Dominic Purcell: Look, Linc's the spark of the show and he's just the pilot. He's the guy that brings the grunt, that male testosterone element to the show. Linc's going to do what he keeps doing. He's a angry dude, and he's just trying to get back to his kid and trying to just start a new relationship with Sophia, so he's tired of this bullsh*t that people keep drawing him back to.

Crave Online: Are you still doing a lot of the stunts?

 
Dominic Purcell: Yeah. Well, not a whole lot this year. I mean, I did my thing. The stunts, I run, I jump over cars, I fall.

Crave Online: Did you ever injure yourself?

Dominic Purcell: Yeah, I popped some, did a shoulder injury here, and I hurt my foot badly about two weeks ago running down the stairs.  It's just part of the deal. 

Crave Online: At least you're not cooped up in a cell anymore. Did you have any idea it would become this active when you started?

Dominic Purcell: No, of course not. I mean, I knew the show was going to be a hit, kind of. I mean, just the premise, I knew that people would be fascinated with it. I certainly didn't expect it to come into Season Four, and the word is that the show could be around for quite some time. So, we'll just wait and see. 

Crave Online: Each season is so different, is this one more like the last since it picks up with the same villains?

Dominic Purcell: Yeah, it's the same deal. There area few new characters coming into it. We have a new guy, Mike Rappaport, who plays Don Self. He's an amazing actor and amazing guy, funny...

Crave Online: Is he a good guy or bad guy?

Dominic Purcell: He's a in between guy. He's on the fence at the moment. 

Crave Online: Who are some of the other new actors?

Dominic Purcell: I think that's about it, to be perfectly honest, and we have a few people who have gone.

Crave Online: And Sara's back. How does that work?

Dominic Purcell: Well we had a talk about that. I mean everyone knows she's back. I'm glad for Sarah.  I mean, she's a wonderful girl, and a wonderful actress. I think the show needs that romantic vibe. I think people are really longing for Michael and Sara to kind of get it on.

Crave Online: But didn't she get her head cut off?

Dominic Purcell: Well, we never saw the head. [Laughs] We never saw the head. 

Crave Online: I saw it. Wasn't there a shot of it it in a box?

Dominic Purcell: No, no, you never saw the head. You saw me looking in the box and go oh my god. We never cut to the head. 

Crave Online: Did fans have anything to do with the decision to bring her back?

Dominic Purcell: I think that may have had something to do with it, yeah, for sure. I'm not sure. I haven't really spoken to Sarah about all that stuff. That's between her and her, the writers and Matt [Olmstead] and all these people.

Crave Online: Does Lincoln finally have a love interest with Sophia, or do you care about that part of the plot?

Dominic Purcell: I wish, but I don't think there's enough time for Lincoln at least. I mean, there doesn't seem enough time for romance for any one of the guys to be perfectly honest. We're always doing something, always running. It's a very high paced action genre kind of vibe. 

Crave Online: What opportunities for the story does LA give the show?

Dominic Purcell: It's got a desert, it's got the sea, it's got the beach, it's got downtown that can pass for any scene in the world, and I think LA brings a cool vibe to the show. It's a good thing. It's a good thing for the show. 

Crave Online: Will you be referencing the entertainment industry in this season when they're in Los Angeles? 

Dominic Purcell: I don't know. Maybe. Actually they have. Knepper's character T-bag has mentioned the fact that why he wanted to come to the City of Angels, as he calls it.

Crave Online: Can the boys move around more freely in LA now that they're exonerated or are they still on the run from certain authorities?

Dominic Purcell: No, no, no, we're still on the run. We're being blackmailed and pigeonholed. It's just a new plot. It's a new thing. We're working now for the government, and if you don't work with the government we're heading back to jail, so it's a catch 22.

Crave Online: How often do you read new scripts for the show and go, "Oh, come on?"

Dominic Purcell: Oh, I'm beyond that. The second season was a bit like that, and especially the third season, but as I've said, I accept the fact that Prison Break, at some point you've got to check your brain at the door for the show. We just go for it. What have we got to lose? That's the whole thing. What do we have to lose?

Crave Online: So we've talked around it, but what exactly happens in season?

Dominic Purcell:  If you've seen that movie Ronin, it's kind of like that. We're being forced by the government to work for them, and if we don't work for them, they're going to send us to jail, back to prison. They promised the troupe, the gang, that if we get the stuff done, we'll be given our freedom. So depending on how long they want the show to last, we won't be having our freedom for a very long time, so we'll see. 

Crave Online: Do you ever get to give the writers ideas for the show?

Dominic Purcell: Sometimes you do. Not a whole lot, but it really depends on, if I have an idea, I'll express it. They take it on board, certainly, more to do with character development, what I see, where I see my character being. That's kind of where I'm at with it all. 

Crave Online: Where would you like to see Lincoln go at this point?

Dominic Purcell: At some point, I'd like to see a bit more exploration between him and his brother. I'd like to see that and at some point, him get involved romantically. Even though he is involved romantically, it would just be nice to see more of Lincoln's sensitive side. Right now he's pretty much a bull at the gate.

Crave Online: Even with a girl in his life, it doesn't bring a sensitive side?

Dominic Purcell: Well it does, but we have very little opportunity to explore that.

Crave Online: When the time comes for the story to end, will you be ready for the show to be over?

Dominic Purcell: Well, it's hard to know. We were saying in the first season that the first season was going to be the end, like after the first season, or at least two seasons. Now we're at the fourth season, and now they're even talking about keeping it going for quite some time.

Crave Online: Could you see it going on indefinitely?

Dominic Purcell: Well, I can, because the writers keep coming up with these amazing ideas, and storylines, and there's so much investment and so much at the Fox Network. This is one of their big shows, and especially around the world. It's one of the biggest shows in the world, so it's very important for them to keep this thing rolling, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if it just keeps going.

Crave Online: Why do you think the show has lasted so many years?

Dominic Purcell: If the critics had their way, this thing would have just gone a long time ago. Look, I don't think anyone has ignored the fact that the first season, it was Fox, it was wonderful drama. The second season was what it was, the guys on the run, and that's been done before. No one's pretending that Prison Break has changed it's story and I don't think we're ever going to get back to that kind of iconic classic first season, because this is the nature of the show and how can you? But that's like any sequel to a movie, like classic movie, they always want to make I, II, III. As long as there's an audience and as long as people are loving the show, that's all that matters. 

Crave Online: What has surprised you most about this whole experience?

Dominic Purcell: Just the success, the phenomenal success with the show and more so with the stuff around the world. It's just become this huge thing around the world, so I'm pretty blown away by that. 

Crave Online: Has it made you a paparazzi target?

Dominic Purcell: The first season I was, all of us were left alone and I kind of prided myself that I was never in magazines or anything. Now I'm just popping up everywhere and it really pisses me off now but it's one of the reasons why I don't live in LA. I live an hour and a half out of here. The paparazzi, I was downtown one day and I had like ten guys following me from downtown. It's just nuts and it's not so much that we're kind of big news here, it goes around to the world market. We're big news around the world, so the paps kind of know if they get a good shot of us, it's going to make some money for them overseas. It pisses me off. 

Crave Online: Do you still run into people who were big fans of John Doe?

Dominic Purcell:  Oh yeah, all the time, all the time, it's crazy.

Crave Online: Were they ever going to do a TV movie to tie up the loose ends?

Dominic Purcell: No, no, no. It's like anything. Some people just love it, and I don't know man, it's kind of crazy, people still talk about that thing.

Crave Online: What was your favorite TV show as a kid?

Dominic Purcell: As a kid? Magnum. Tom Selleck, just so charismatic. Really good. 

Crave Online: Do your kids watch the show at all yet, or are they still too young?

Dominic Purcell: They watch bits and pieces of the show. It's one of those things where I'll fast forward stuff.

Crave Online: Have you done any movies in the hiatus?

Dominic Purcell: Yeah, I've got a Joel Schumacher movie coming out soon, that's coming out in November, so we'll wait and see with that.

Crave Online: What do you play in the movie?

Dominic Purcell:  I play an ex-marine guy who gets tortured by these weird occult people that have ties to the Nazi regime. It's a redemption movie, it's a revenge movie, it's a scary movie. A lot of stuff with that.

Crave Online: Do you have a lot of movie offers for hiatus' now that Prison Break is so big?

Dominic Purcell: Yeah, I get enough, but I don't even think about movies until it starts getting closer for me to start thinking about them. But yeah, I'm good.