Escape at Dannemora

The series is based on the true story of the 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape in upstate New York. The escape prompted a massive manhunt for the two convicted murderers, who were aided in their escape by a married female prison employee with whom they both became sexually entangled.^[1]

• Benicio del Toro as Richard Matt,^[4] a convicted murderer
• Patricia Arquette as Joyce "Tilly" Mitchell,^[4] a married prison worker who becomes romantically entangled with both Matt and Sweat and aids in their escape
• Paul Dano as David Sweat, a convicted murderer
• Bonnie Hunt as Catherine Leahy Scott, the New York State Inspector General heading up a formal investigation of the Matt–Sweat prison escape^[5]
• Eric Lange as Lyle Mitchell, Tilly's husband and maintenance worker at Clinton Correctional
• David Morse as Gene Palmer, the inmate escort guard at Clinton Correctional

• Jeremy Bobb as Dennis Lambert, a corrections officer and friend of Lyle^[6]
• Michael Beasley as Murder, an inmate who’s given Sweat’s job as shop supervisor upon his firing.
• Joshua Rivera as Angel, a fellow inmate of Matt and Sweat's.
• Carolyn Mignini as Ilene Mulvaney, Tilly’s supervisor who frequently butts heads with her
• Gregory Dann as Albert Boyd, the fearsome and most loathed correctional officer at Clinton Correctional. Matt and Sweat made their escape on Boyd's shift.

• Michael Imperioli as Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York^[7]
• Charlie Hofheimer as Kenny Barrile, Sr.
• Jim Parrack as Kevin Tarsia, a deputy sheriff

Principal production commenced in Upstate New York from August 2017 to March 2018.^[1][8] For their roles, Patricia Arquette and Eric Lange each gained 40 pounds.^[9] Episode 6, the flashback episode, was filmed on 16 mm, unlike the rest of the series. Episode 6 was also filmed last so that Lange and Arquette could safely shed the weight they'd gained. Stiller later decided to shut down production for a month out of concern that they would not have enough time for weight loss. However, production was then further delayed three weeks to accommodate the birth of Lange's son.^[10]

The series was met with acclaim upon its premiere. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 88% with an average rating of 7 out of 10, based on 60 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Escape at Dannemora's slow pace demands patience, but those willing to wait will be rewarded with a chilling mystery that provides the perfect showcase for its talented cast — especially a nearly unrecognizable and unbearably moving performance from Patricia Arquette."^[18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 78 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[19]

In a December 2018 interview at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, Joyce Mitchell criticized some events portrayed in the miniseries. She claimed, "I never had sex with them", referring to Richard Matt and David Sweat. She also harshly criticized director Ben Stiller, calling him "a son-of-a-bitch liar just like the rest of the world. He doesn't care about the truth. All he cares about is making millions off me. He's an idiot."^[20]

Notes

• Official website
• Escape at Dannemora at IMDb
• Escape at Dannemora at Metacritic  
• Escape at Dannemora at Rotten Tomatoes