Interview with HBO

HBO What did your character do to get here? KIRK ACEVEDO Someone scratched against his Cadillac so he cuts them, he tries to kill them and he cuts their face so that's why I got a scar on my face. HBO You had that last season right? KIRK ACEVEDO Yeah he's self mutilation. He cuts himself up. HBO So what did you think of the season last year? KIRK ACEVEDO Oh a blast, it was fun, it was great, you didn't know what you were expecting at first, you know because you knew it was like Tom Fontana wrote "Homicide" so you know dialogue was gonna be good but you didn't, really know about how it was all gonna work. I mean you didn't know how all the plots and sub plots cause last year it was like twenty characters and they each had a story and a story line. So you didn't really know how it was going to work and then after the whole, like when you saw the episodes it made sense that it was that it was jumpy. You know it was a little bit more like frantic frenetic if you know the whole, season, last season. HBO What's Miguel Alvarez all about? What's his thing? KIRK ACEVEDO He's just a guy you know who you know is a young kid, did stupid things, got in prison, his grandfather was in prison, his father was in prison so that's all he really knows and you know he's a good kid, you know not really a bad guy, you know he's, he's sympathetic and just toughens up, especially these next episodes, you know he has to. I mean, you're not gonna survive in prison being soft. HBO What's the atmosphere like on the set? KIRK ACEVEDO Best. Best job, everyone from every single person. From like all the actors, they're all wonderful. Oh it's beautiful, there're the set people, grips, camera, to catering everyone gets along, it's like a big, big party every night, it's great. HBO What do you think the changes are going to be this season? KIRK ACEVEDO I don't think really think it changes that much. I think maybe the characters get flushed out in different situations, more as in last episode, but I mean the characters are pretty much the same, they just go through different stuff. I mean, there's not really a difference, I think from last year's. HBO You sleep at night and spend the day at work? KIRK ACEVEDO Oh man I just go straight to bed after, I mean it's you go in at six thirty you don't see the sunlight [LAUGHS] you leave at like seven, you don't see the sunlight, that's the only thing that's pretty crazy. HBO And how long does it take you to get ready for a show. Because you have your tattoo, your scar. KIRK ACEVEDO Right. HBO Tell me a little bit about that. KIRK ACEVEDO This is a flower, we saw it on a bunch of tattoo magazine about prisons, a lot of guys have flowers, Latin guys have flowers. And this is my naked lady, this, and this is a heart with a name and it takes about twenty minutes to put it all on, the scar, twenty minutes; and I had a latex scar before but it kept on falling off because of perspiration. HBO Tell me about working with Tom. KIRK ACEVEDO Tom's great. Tom ... Tom is a, he's like a twenty-five year old kid with all the power [LAUGHS]... you know he's open to suggestions. You know, like in before this is what's great about Tom, it's like before we started the second season, this is what was different. Before we started the second season, he asked us about how we wanted our characters maybe changed and stuff like that and what we didn't flush out in the last episodes about the character, we brought up certain things, and you know I'd like to see him like this maybe in this situation and he was open to it and he's done it, which was great. Like this episode right now, we talked about how Hispanic people, you know there's racism within color, you know it's like, I'm lighter than you I'm better than you or I got straighter hair, you got kinkier hair, you know and a lot of times that's a big thing, it's like a status symbol you know and we do it in this episode where he goes "tu era Latino" and I go "yeah you know I'm Latin." And he goes "no, you're not, you're too fucking white." So he does that. HBO How was it working with Kathy Bates last week? KIRK ACEVEDO It was great, she was nice I mean you know I didn't have that much in that episode with her but, she's great a nice lady you know. HBO Have you ever been in a real prison? KIRK ACEVEDO I filmed in a real prison. HBO Yeah. KIRK ACEVEDO But I never ... in Sing Sing but I never was actually incarcerated. KIRK ACEVEDO No, just worked in a prison and that was it. HBO Does the show being on HBO affect the realism of it? KIRK ACEVEDO We can go places where you can't go on the regular TV. You know first of all, just the language, you know, it's more raw, you know and also the situations just things that happen, people get raped, we're able to show that, you know people get physically abused, and physically abused, you know sodomized, and all that, it doesn't happen every day you know, but it happens and you're able to show it on cable and affect people more. You see people don't like it, you know it's like my mother tells me, my mother goes I can't, can't stand it but she loves to watch it and my mom is like you know fifty-four, fifty-five years old. HBO Do you think a lot of people recognize you from Oz? KIRK ACEVEDO Yeah it's surprising, they all go, "I went to high school with you right?" No, no. And they go, "where do I know from?" And I'm like "Oz." KIRK ACEVEDO When people see me they're like "you went to my high school," and I go no and they go "you're from Jersey" or whatever, wherever they're from and I go no. He goes "I know you from somewhere" I'm like you watch Oz and he's like "yeah, that's the guy." And it happens, it's real, they go "where's your scar?" They all thought it was real, that was freaky, they're really thinking the tattoos and it's a good feeling though, they people really watch the show and they enjoy the show and they really take it seriously. HBO Do cops watch it? KIRK ACEVEDO A couple of correctional officers that come up in the street, or during the last time we did something at the Museum of Television and Radio, and a couple of people came back after the show, and they were like, "your characters, they're exactly like the guys in prison", and some people they'll see it and they're like "it's nothing like it is in prison", but then other people they go" it's exactly how it is in prison", so it's their own perceptions. KIRK ACEVEDO Right from, from buddies they're like you know it's easier to get drugs in prison than it is outside. You know if you know if you have your guy [LAUGHS] right? Like outside you know who to go to but inside there's always that one person to go to and he's never gonna get caught or busted, you know, it's more accessible, you know. HBO Thank you very much. KIRK ACEVEDO Thank you.