Statham is 'great drinking buddy'

Robert Knepper is best known for his role as Theodore "T Bag" Bagwell in TV series Prison Break. He says he loved working with Jason Statham for three months filming Transporter 3 in Paris. Robert Knepper also reveals the British actor's now a great drinking buddy of his.

Tell us a bit more about your character in Transporter 3. Why did you want to play this part?

I read the script and there's a whole scene where Jason's [Statham] character Frank Martin has a problem with his bracelet. He's going to blow up if he gets too far away from the car. I'm calling him on the telephone and I say, 'We're done with you. We don't need you any more'. And somebody gets in his car and drives off.

The whole thing about that bracelet is he's going to blow up if he gets too far away from it and the conflict and the urgency in that whole sequence made me go, 'Yeah. I want to this movie'. That was the first incentive to do it. I hadn't really done an action film before. It shoots in Paris, that was a big plus.

The stunts in Transporter 3 are amazing aren't they? Were you sorry you weren't in more?

The owner of Planet Hollywood comes up to me and says, 'I love you on Prison Break. Want to do Sly's next film?' Robert Knepper on possibly appearing in Sylvester Stallone's next project

No. Just leave me acting please. Jason's well equipped to do all that. He does both very well. His fight sequences are amazing.

How did you find working with Jason Statham?

Loved him. From the first minute that I met him he was very happy that I was there. We had a great rehearsal period, short lived always of course. Luc Besson was there as well. I was like a little kid working with him. I call him the king of France but he gets in the rehearsal room and he's just like everyone else. He wants to play ball and figure out the script and actors helping each other.

It was great. Jason was terrific. The last thing he said to me on the phone was that he was very happy I was there, that I elevated the film and just very complimentary stuff. He's also a good drinking buddy.

So you had a bit of fun offset then?

We could have a little fun at night in Paris. It was great.

Where are you with filming Prison Break?

I am knee-high in Prison Break right now. I love this season actually. I think it's as fun as the first season. It's so complicated and so exhausting but at the end of the day, I just kind of shake my head. People say, 'Oh you know. In this episode you did this that's on TV right now'. And I'm nine episodes ahead and I'm like, 'What did I do? Oh yeah. That's right. We did that'. So much has happened in nine episodes. Just wait. It's amazing.

What can we expect from this season then?

Robert Knepper had a part in Young Guns II as Deputy Carlyle

It's like everybody's coming together, the dirty dozen. We all hate each other. We all have to work together to bring down the company, which is no easy feat.

It must be great to be part of such a huge TV show?

The saving grace about the whole thing is, the same thing happened when I shot Transporter 3 in Paris, we know that the heat for this show in London, England, in Paris, in Tokyo, in Berlin, everywhere it goes internationally, it is huge. It's like being a rock star. That's an amazing feeling.

And what other plans do you have?

It's Sly's (Sylvester Stallone) next film [with Jason Statham]. It was like a little surreal moment last Friday night. The owner of Planet Hollywood comes up to me and says, 'I love you on Prison Break. Want to do Sly's next film?' Maybe that's how they do it in Vegas. You get together with these people and I'm like, 'Sure. Let's talk. Let's meet him'. So that's how it started. We'll see where it goes.

Robert Knepper was talking to Newsbeat entertainment reporter Sinead Garvan.