Series lets Watson display his softer side

He perfected a frightening crazy look at age 7. SCRIPPS HOWARD Actor Muse Watson is finally acting behind bars after years of killing people on screen. The actor, who was serial killer Ben Willis in the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" slasher flicks, is now the kindly but dark inmate Charles Westmoreland on the big house drama "Prison Break" (8 p.m., EDT/PDT, Mondays, Fox). "When I first got to Hollywood, there was no way I could play a bad guy," he says. "No one would let me." Then he got "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and Watson found he was typecast the other way. "They are so much fun to make," he says of horror films, "and the fan base of those kinds of movies are so loyal." Playing against type in "Prison Break" is allowing the 57-year-old Watson, who is eyeing a possible sitcom opportunity for next season, to stretch his wings again. He considers his "breakout" role to have been playing a kindly horse trainer in Julia Roberts' movie, "Something to Talk About." A slew of nice-guy roles followed before getting caught up in horror films. His stint in "Prison Break," he says, could even things out. Watson plays a convict who has become the wise confidant for inmate Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), who is in prison to save the life of his brother. Watson won't say if Westmoreland gets to be part of the prison break or if he'll even be part of the show's second season. For now, he's just enjoying the work. "As soon as I got on set and started working with Wentworth, we developed a bond," Watson says. "I think Westmoreland looks at Michael much in the way a father looks at a son." Acting career begins It's been a while since Watson has known his softer side in roles. In fact, he says he perfected his scary act as a 7-year-old growing up in Louisiana. "I used to be a skinny little clarinet player, and just about anybody could whip my butt," he says. When a young Muse came home one day and told his brother that he was facing bullies at school, brother had some sage advice. "He said, 'you go back to school, and you get a look on your face like you're totally crazy, because nobody wants to fight a crazy man,'" Watson recalls. "I went to school the next day and looked at those boys, and they backed off. "I've made a career out of that look." That kind of "crazy look" has served Watson well in his career. Known for horror flicks Though he has dozens of film roles to his credit, he is best known in the horror genre. His other films include "From Dusk Till Dawn 2" and "Hollywood Vampyr." An upcoming movie for him is "Blood Red," in which he plays a psychopath who grabs his victims in taxicabs. True to the characters he plays, Watson describes the deserted Illinois prison where the series is shot as "beautiful" but also notes its bleakness. "You get a sense, after spending some time there, that a lot of the evil inside the walls was evil that happened there in the prison," he says. "It really is an evil place."