Amaury Nolasco stars as Fernando Sucre, Michael Scofield’s cellmate, eventual friend and fellow escaped inmate in the hit FOX drama Prison Break. The show is set to premiere its third season September 17. The first 17 minutes of that episode can currently be seen at FOX’s official website. When last viewers saw Prison Break, Scofield, Mahone, Bellick and T-Bag were in Sona, a hellish prison in Panama. Sucre was left injured, desperately trying to find his girlfriend, who Bellick had hidden away before he got thrown in jail.
Amaury spoke to BuddyTV about what’s in store for him and the other escapees in Prison Break season 3, his thoughts on the show’s surprising success, and the benefits of being on a hit TV series. Below you will find a transcript as well as the mp3 audio file of the interview.
Hi, this is John from Buddy TV, and I’m talking to Amaury Nolasco from the hit FOX show Prison Break. How are you doing?
I’m doing great, how are you doing?
I’m doing good. Now, Prison Break is about to start its third season. Did you think when you initially got this role, that the show would last this long and be such a hit?
No man, no idea. I actually was supposed to last just a year, it’s amazing how this show is, really. It was supposed to, again, last a year, at the beginning we were told it was supposed to last 13 episodes. It was gonna be done in 13 episodes, and then from there on see what was gonna happen, and this show has just taken everybody by storm.
It’s great to be part of it, it’s something new, it’s something TV hasn’t seen before. I mean, shows like 24 and Prison Break and Lost are shows that have turned the face of TV in a different direction. I mean, nothing wrong with the shows that we’ve always been used to seeing, which is cop shows and lawyer shows and hospital shows.
I mean, everybody loves those shows, and the formula’s been done over and over. I can count how many doctor shows I’ve seen, and I’d still need more fingers, and I can just go on and on about cop shows. But when shows like this one came around, I think people were looking for something like this, something new. So definitely FOX has something that people were starving for.
That they have. And since it was only supposed to last 13 episodes, has the creative team or have you as an actor had difficulty trying to keep up, and deal with all these changes? Because you initially thought “Oh, it’s just gonna be this one little thing,” and you had to branch out so far?
Well, I’ll just say that the writers have done an amazing job. I mean, these guys, one of the beauties as an actor is to work with a team. Two things, we work with an amazing cast like I’ve been working with this one, and a great team of writers which I have. So right now, pretty much, I think this is the best it’s gonna get.
The writers are doing a phenomenal job coming up with stories and somehow keeping it interesting, and I don’t even have to speak for it, it really speaks for itself. I mean, you can see the ratings and how the show has taken off not only here domestically, but internationally. It’s the number one show, so it’s been a phenomenon, and that tells you that we’re definitely doing something right.
With the third season coming up, I’m wondering if you can tell us anything about it? Because all the characters seem to be in different places, so will you still get to interact, will Sucre still be interacting with Michael or Lincoln somehow?
It’s amazing with the third season, it’s a realm of Midnight Express. Basically it’s a lawless prison where anything goes, and it’s survival of the fittest. Yes, there’s gonna be some interaction for some. Right now, me and Lincoln are outside, I’m still looking for my girl and I am interacting with him. You’ll see in a few episodes how that comes about.
Inside the prison we have Michael, we have T-Bag, we have Mahone, which he can’t deal without his pills. We have Bellick walking in a diaper, basically you’ll see it. They’re thrown into circumstances that are completely new for them, and in a different country, so language has to do with it. This third season they’re really pushing the envelope.
I have to say we’re gonna see things that we haven’t seen before, and again it’s a completely different environment. I mean there’s a reason why Michael is there, is because of a conspiracy, and we’ll find out that’s gonna be revealed as we go. And Sucre and Michael sort of hook up again, that is something down the road.
I still don’t know as of now, we’re down to episode four, where me and my friend Lincoln are just trying to figure out how to get Michael out of there.
OK, and there’s been a lot made about how season 3 is going back to the formula of season 1, with one of the brothers in prison trying to plot an actual prison break. Whereas last season was very much on the run, how do you feel? Is it going back to that basics, or is it adding a new level to it?
I actually believe it’s gonna be a mix between season 1 and season 2. Definitely the brothers trying to break the other one out, but it’s not about that. I have to say it has so much more elements than that, but of course, this prison makes Joliet look like a five-star hotel. So that’s gonna be a big element that is going to come into play.
In terms of is this really gonna work or not, is this gonna be possible or not. Yes, I’d say it has some elements from the first one, that actually that was the first thing that put us on the map. But it brings so much more things that we have going on.
And especially last season, your character and everyone pretty much on the run. Do you ever miss just filming in a prison, back just like in the first season?
(laughter) Be careful what you wish for. After they did the first, when I was shooting the first year. After I remember one episode, we were like, “OK, I’m done being in a prison, I need some air, I need some different stages, something different.” And then you get that, we get that when we’re on the run, and now we kind of miss the prison.
And once you see this prison, I mean it has nothing. Like I said, it makes Joliet look like a five-star hotel, this is completely different. This is just one of those things where guards are not even in. You’ll see that it’s a lawless prison where guards are not even allowed, it runs by itself, and again these guys are pushing the envelope.
And I guess finally, I’d just like to ask what’s been the best part about getting this role on a hit TV show?
It has given me notoriety, it has opened so many doors for me as an actor to work with other people on my hiatus. Recently I did Transformers, that came out when I had the opportunity to work with Spielberg and Michael Bay, who were just fans of Prison Break.
So that right there just gave me the opportunity, I just recently finished a movie with Keanu Reaves and Forest Whitaker. And again, Prison Break has given me these opportunities and opened doors for me to embark on some other projects as well.
-Interview conducted by John Kubicek
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
