Launching on January 22, at 10 PM EST/PST is Burn Notice on the USA Network . In anticipation of this new season (or season 2.5), we were able to participate in a phone round-table interview with Bruce Campbell who plays Sam Axe on the show.
In case you need to be brought up to speed on Burn Notice — which is sizzling in viewers on and offline:
BURN NOTICE is a scorchingly hot, action-packed series starring Jeffrey Donovan (“Changeling”) as Michael Westen, a blacklisted spy who finds himself stranded in sun-soaked Miami without money, resources, or a clue as to who burned him, or why. The only tools at his disposal are his wits, his charm, his special ops training and his “friends:” Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar – “The Tudors”), a beautiful ex-IRA operative who also happens to be Michael’s ex-girlfriend, and Sam (Bruce Campbell – “Evil Dead”), a washed-up military intelligence contact who works as Michael’s sidekick, and his mother (Emmy Award-winner Sharon Gless – “Queer as Folk”), who Michael has spent most of his adult life trying to avoid.
This season, Michael has been forced to work for the very people who burned him. in the second season continuation, he wakes up after the explosion at his apartment, alive but shaken. Whoever tried to kill him also killed Carla’s sniper and jeopardized her operation. Carla (Tricia Helfer – “Battlestar Galactica”), Michael’s new handler and a known ruthless operative, wants the bomber caught, but Michael sees the bomber as his chance to get a leg up on her – and ultimately find out who is pulling the strings.
Meanwhile, he continues helping ordinary people with their extraordinary problems, which never seem to get any easier. In addition to Helfer and Shanks, guest stars this winter include NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin and John Mahoney (“Frasier”).
BURN NOTICE was created, written and executive produced by Matt Nix. Mikkel Bondesen and Jeff Freilich also serve as executive producers. The series comes from Fox Television Studios and Fuse Entertainment.
BURN NOTICE was created, written and executive produced by Matt Nix. Mikkel Bondesen and Jeff Freilich also serve as executive producers. The series comes from Fox Television Studios and Fuse Entertainment.
As you can tell, Bruce shares a lot about his character, the series and what it going on with the other characters. It’s a really fun interview.
This is a split post on this interview which is both in print and also a podcast.
Be forewarned on the podcast– is a total of about 40 minutes so I was “kind” to you and cut it in 20 minute segments so that you can find out where else online to find the interview as well as other publications covering this.
Also note that there will be a series of interviews with executive producer, Matt Nix, actress Gabrielle Anwar (Fiona) and actress Trica Helfer (Carla)
So sit back and enjoy!Transcript of the Interview: Part 1
Moderator We have a question from the line of Charles Briede with Fellowshipoffools.com. Please go ahead.
C. Briede Thank you. Bruce, thank you for your time today. How much creative input do you have with your character for the show?
B. Campbell Well, every situation is different and Burn Notice is very structured. Matt Nix, it’s his show, it’s his concept, it’s his idea. So when I came on board, I’m going to give smaller stuff. You know, I might ad lib some stupid joke at the end of a scene or whatever. Or I might suggest a tone of maybe treat Michael’s mother more gently at some point. So it’s really for me mostly smaller stuff; the captain of the ship is Matt Nix and he’s also allowing us to think through scenes and if we want to throw in a line or so, he doesn’t have a problem with that. But I never show up on a set going, “Man, I got to ad lib today.”
C. Briede Thank you very much.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Kenn Gold with Media Boulevard.
K. Gold Hey, guys, thanks a lot. It’s really cool to talk to you today. We talk to a lot of people on a lot of shows, but it’s rare that you get to talk to ones who you really, really love the show.
B. Campbell Well you have great taste, obviously. I can’t speak for Mr. Donovan, I think he’s going to join us shortly. But look, it’s fun to be a part of a project that has been accepted. As an actor, we tend to work pretty hard on TV shows. They’re non-stop for a long time and you never know, you’re acting in a void; you never know what the reaction is going to be. And it’s just nice to come across a show like Burn Notice that has caught on and it’s grown every year. So hopefully this new batch of episodes coming in January is going to be something they’re looking for.
K. Gold My first question here is did you see the success of the show coming up? Like did it surprise you? Are you at all surprised about how successful it has been?
B. Campbell I’m surprised by everything these days because you never know. My basis for accepting this script when it came across my desk was I loved the fact of what it wasn’t. It wasn’t a cop show, it wasn’t a doctor’s show, it wasn’t a lawyer show. There’s plenty of stuff that goes on, but this is basically the human side of spies and I went, right, I can get into that. And I really enjoyed the fact that it’s a good blend of a show that does have strong main characters, and not a lot of them. It’s got four main characters. And that’s what the emphasis is. And oh yes, stuff blows up and every week there is a caper where you defeat the jerk of the week. But I think it’s mostly you watch these characters from week to week, and that’s what I enjoy. And that’s what appealed to me and that’s what keeps me interested in the show is it’s not really about the explosions, it’s about the people who are doing the explosions.
K. Gold So for someone who hasn’t seen any episodes so far, what would you say to somebody coming in like totally virgin coming into the show?
B. Campbell Well, I think if you come into the show late, you’re going to be okay because they always do enough recaps to kind of fill you in. And the lead character, Michael Westen, has very heavy voiceover, he’s kind of guiding you through the show, so I think you’re going to be fine. He’s going to give you any kind of recap that you need to jump in. And those people that have followed everything, I think they’re going to be all over it because they’ve been waiting for it for, whatever, four or five months now.
Moderator We have a question from Jamie Steinberg with Starry Constellation
J. Steinberg It’s just a pleasure to speak with you.
B. Campbell Thanks. It’s a pleasure to be spoken with.
J. Steinberg What about your role continues to challenge you?
B. Campbell To try and figure out how to sweat less. No, I would say just to keep Sam interested in the stories and participating on stories. If the writers do most of the work, which they will then do that, that they’ll keep the character engaged. And if the character’s engaged, then it’s easy for me to be engaged in the character. So hopefully whenever Sam was around in his portion that he’s involved in something or has an opinion about something or whatever. No actor likes to just sit around. So as long as it’s the same as the first two seasons, I’m good to go.
J. Steinberg Do you have a most memorable moment you’ve had from filming the seasons?
B. Campbell For me, I’m just convinced one day that some bystander’s going to shoot me with a gun. And the reason why I say that is because my character Sam has a rifle with a scope and often he’s up on high rises and overpasses taking potshots at people. And sometimes you can’t see the crew connected to me, because they put me sometimes far away. And Miami has a lot of guns, and so I’m just afraid some do-gooder’s going to see me up there firing away and they’re going to save Miami from that criminal. And then Burn Notice will have three main characters.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Emma Loggins of Fanbolt.com
E. Loggins One of the aspects I love most with your character in the previous season was your relationship with Veronica. I was wondering if we’re going to see any more relationship drama from Sam with any ladies in the future.
B. Campbell They do, I think that there are efforts. But, you know, Sam’s a tough case because he’s kind of a, he’s a bit of a handful and they’re always doing capers, so it’s tough to have any kind of romance. But there is another brush with romance in some of these upcoming episodes. Which is fun, because I actually think if Sam is not so much button-down that we can see perhaps his exploits, if you will.
E. Loggins Are there any upcoming guest stars that we can look forward to seeing?
B. Campbell Oh, yes. In these upcoming episodes it’s pretty full on. You’ve got Patricia Helfer back as Carla. So she’s going to be causing lots and lots of trouble. Michael Shanks is back as another one of these fellow cohort guys who you’re not sure if you can trust or not. The great John Mahoney, who I worked with in the Hudsucker Proxy, John Mahoney from Cheers, he’s back as someone I can’t tell you about because I’d have to kill you. Former Dallas Cowboys Michael Irvin is joining us. He’s Mr. Football, so it was kind of fun to do a football theme episode. Dina Meyer shows up as, well, let’s just say someone who perhaps was close to Michael Westen. And of course with Fiona that’s going to cause some sparks. And there will be some sparks flying in these next seven episodes, I can guarantee you.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Matt Fowler with IGN TV
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M. Fowler Hey, Bruce, how you doing today?
B. Campbell I’m doing good, thanks.
M. Fowler We were introduced to a little bit of Sam’s backstory this past summer of season two where it was revealed the character was married in the ’70s and that actually ended your relationship at the time. Are we going to get any more information about this woman that Sam was married to or any more backstory into Sam’s life?
B. Campbell I’m sure some back story’s going to come squeaking out in some way. I kind of was amused myself finding out that Sam had a wife in the past. I think it’s fun. That’s the beauty of these characters who have a history that things are going to come up that are complicated in their life. The first season Sam had some kind of questionable relationships from the past that have come back to haunt him, so I think that’s always going to happen. When you have three spies, former spies that are kind of damaged goods, there’s going to be enemies that come back, old friends and people that you may or may not want to see again.
M. Fowler Do you feel like Burn Notice is sort of bringing back the escapist action series? There are other shows on the air now like on TNT they have Leverage. While most people compare it to something like Oceans Eleven, I feel it has a lot of Burn Notice influence to it because it involves people sort of helping out the little guy and fighting back…
B. Campbell I’m glad you said that. Look, I’ll tell you, I think the reason why this show, aside from the magnetic Mr. Donovan and the wonderful Ms. Gabrielle Anwar and Sharon Gless, is the fact that it is iconic. And I don’t mean that to make the show any better than what it is. It has iconic aspects. Little Billy’s always going to get his medicine, for the most part. And it’s a show that lacks cynicism in a way. That there’s a sweet core to it of just human beings and I think anybody can connect to that. Not everyone can connect to the Bourne Identity type of spy, but I think people can identify with this Michael Westen because he’s fixing his mom’s garbage disposal when he’s not doing some covert thing, so that’s what appeals to me. And I like the fact that everyone in this show is an adult. It reminds me of shows when I was a kid. I watched Rockford Files and James Garner was an adult; he wasn’t some kid actor. And so I like the fact that this show is just geared for anyone who wants to see this type of story. It’s not geared for kids or whatever, it’s just a show that I would watch when I was in high school, too. So, I don’t know, I think that’s what appeals to me.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Matt Goldberg with Collider.com
M. Goldberg I was just wondering, there’s been a lot of cool spy tricks and set ups they’ve done on Burn Notice. And I was wondering, what’s been your favorite thus far?
B. Campbell Oh man, mostly it’s just the bravado. I love the fact that in Burn Notice we not only, see, like here’s the difference in Burn Notice and it’s just more of a thematic thing is that if the police catch someone who’s done identity theft, they might catch the guy. They might, not necessarily, but they’re not going to get your money back. In Burn Notice we’re not only going to catch the guy, we’re going to get every penny of your money back, and maybe a little more. And if the guy’s careful, he might die. So our characters don’t crap around. Fiona is basically crazy. She’ll blow up anything for any reason. So these are not three characters that you need to mess with. So what I like is whenever they’re confronted with something, they’ll come back at it in such a way that is very bold, usually, and that’s what I like.
And I think the show is potentially appealing to people because it does give you a sense of justice. For the most part, we are going to catch these guys and we’re going to punish them, and we might torment them at the same time. So as far as any one particular schtick, I don’t really have a favorite. My favorite thing is, you know, there’s an episode coming up where some kid gets in trouble with a gang banger who is a car thief. So instead of just telling the guy to knock it off, the Burn Notice guys what they’ll do is they’ll pretend that they’re a bigger band of car thieves in town to just run the guy out of town. They think bigger than just knee capping a guy in the parking lot. So it’s kind of fun.
I just like the inventiveness. Because they’re spies they’re used to being in tricky situations, they’re up against this and that. And I also like they’ve got a little old school/new school. Michael Westen’s more new school; he fights differently, he thinks differently, he’s a little more outside the box. Sam is more like, well, let’s just hurt somebody or plant a bug. Good ole fashioned espionage. Fiona is a little bit of a loose cannon, so that makes it okay, too, because we can’t always control her.
M. Goldberg Thank you very much.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Kristyn Clarke with Popculturemadness.com.
K. Clarke Hi, Bruce. Thank you so much for talking to us today. This dry humor is kind of a big part of what keeps me tuning in, so how important is it to keep that humor in the show to kind of break up some of the tension that can be present.
B. Campbell I think it’s imperative. And I think Matt Nix has always started with that dry humor right from the beginning. The voiceover that Michael Westen has is very dry. It’s very urbane sometimes. It’s very erotic, it’s very wry, it’s very witty, so I’m right there with you; I think it’s imperative. Otherwise, we’ve all seen movies where spies take their jobs so seriously. But if you really think of it, at the end of the day spies are just people; they’re just schmoes. They have the same issues as everybody else, but you wouldn’t think of it. You wouldn’t think that a former CIA spy would be having personal problems that would interfere with his work or whatever. You just think of them as being robots, but they’re not.
K. Clarke As a follow up, do you kind of feel that that’s what helped viewers kind of relate to these characters?
B. Campbell There’s no question about it. If we were doing nothing but spy-speak all the time, I think you’d get some guys to watch and go, “Yeah, okay, cool. They’re talking that cool spy stuff.” But I think at the end of the day I want the soccer mom to be able to watch this show and go, “Oh, cool, they’re trying to patch up their relationship with something. Or Michael’s working on some old problem in the past that is now coming back to haunt him.” I think that’s what’s getting a wider range of viewers. It really isn’t just squinty-eyed spies shooting the gun sideways looking cool. That they are flawed, all of these characters are flawed, and they’re all kind of doing the best they can. They’re tap dancing as fast as they can.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Stevie Wilson, Gather.com
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S. Wilson Hi, Bruce. How are you today?
B. Campbell I’m swell. Thanks.
S. Wilson A question about your character and also Michael’s. What are the fatal flaws that you all perceive within the character and how do you work those in, because you guys are naturally funny, you’re naturally accomplishing the jobs and getting it all done, yet Sam definitely has his own quirky side that sometimes interferes but also makes it move forward, but there is a fatal flaw in every character.
B. Campbell Sure. They are damaged goods. These are people who have had histories and pasts and sometimes they didn’t go well and something went weird enough for Michael Westen to get burned. You know, the Michael Westen character, Jeffrey can speak more toward that, but he comes from a weird, messed up family. He’s got family issues. He’s got issues with his brother, he’s got issues with his mother and issues with his ex. So everybody has issues. And he and Sam get along pretty well now, but in the first season he wasn’t even sure if he could trust Sam because Sam, in order to save his own skin was willing to chat occasionally with the Feds and give them some information to keep his butt out of the fire. And Sam’s flaw, obviously, he’s a party boy, so it’s going to distract him a little bit; it’s going to slow him down. He’s going to be probably putting his nose in some of the wrong places sometimes. But yet he’s coming around as a pretty loyal character.
And Fiona, I’m not sure what her excuse is, but she’s just mostly nuts. And I think that’s good. I like it when, like there’s a couple of upcoming episodes where she gets really angry because of what’s going on with either kids or something like that. When she steps in, it’s kind of fun to watch. She’s good at getting angry and wanting to hurt someone.
S. Wilson Because Sam’s character has evolved and become much more loyal, how is this going to play out in terms of what happens with Carla?
B. Campbell Well Sam never liked Carla.
S. Wilson Right. But I mean in terms of how much is Sam going to go the difference in terms of just let’s get rid of Carla, let’s find…
B. Campbell Oh, Sam’s going all the way; he’s in. Carla’s going down. I mean, they’ve got to do something about that woman.
S. Wilson It’s going to be an exciting season.
B. Campbell It’s coming head-to-head. After the end of this seven episode run some things are going to change in Washington. There’s going to be some fascinating changes coming. That’s all I can tell you. Otherwise, Matt Nix would send Michael Westen to kill me if I told you more. But yes, some stuff is going to go down.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Tony Tellado of Sci Fi Talk
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T. Tellado Hi, Bruce. We met during your book tour when you wrote If Chins Could Kill.
B. Campbell Wonderful. Thanks a lot.
T. Tellado You kind of hinted at this a little bit, so one of the things the show does is have like the long story arc with the sniper going on and all that in addition to like an episode having a different second plot line. Is that going to be the staple for the remainder of this season as well?
B. Campbell There’s always going to be two things going on. One is the problem at hand, which is somebody needs help and it’s worthy enough for him to help someone in the middle of what his overlying problem is, is who is causing all these problems for this guy. And so that’s, the one is the constant, but the other one, the overall problem that he has is going to, that’s going to be ratcheted up consistently throughout the seven episodes to its final explosion point, where it’s a point of no return.
T. Tellado And I would certainly say that with as much as he drinks, he would not look as good as you do in real life, that’s for sure.
B. Campbell Well, you can’t be a total method actor.
Moderator We have a question from Jay Jacobs with Popentertainment.com.
J. Jacobs Hi, Bruce. Congratulations on the third season renewal.
B. Campbell Thank you very much. We’re excited, too, because it’s a show that we all want to be a part of. We’re not grumbling back to work. I’m really excited to read the first script.
J. Jacobs Between this role and also a lot of roles you’ve done in the past, and your new movie My Name is Bruce, you have a good time toying with the image of a hero. You enjoy playing characters that are flawed and self-obsessed, yet they’re eventually able to put it together to save the day. Why do you find that kind of an interesting character to play?
B. Campbell Because me personally as an actor can relate to that more so that I can, it’s just easier for me to do. I’m not good at playing someone who doesn’t have weird quirks, because I’ve never met someone who didn’t. So that’s why I tend to avoid a little bit of the traditional hero thing, and that’s what appealed to me about this show. This show is very untraditional, yet, having said that, there are traditional story elements that things are going to be made right by these people. So I don’t know, those types of characters have always appealed to me, hoping that they will appeal to the average garage mechanic who’s watching the show. As an actor, I want my work to be as appealing to as many people as possible.
J. Jacobs Also, like you said, for traditional characters you were talking about Fiona, there are a lot of really tough women in this show, like Trisha’s character.
B. Campbell Yes, these are mostly, they’re ball busters, these women, and I think that’s fun. Why not have strong characters, because honestly, that’s how you get good actresses to come work on the show. We’ve had Lucy Lawless and that was really fun, and I knew that we could get her because they could come up with a good character for her. So I’m glad that worked out. Yeah, it’s fun. If you have strong male characters, you better have strong female characters.
J. Jacobs Absolutely. One other thing that is sort of I’d feel is almost a character in the show is Miami itself. It’s so beautiful. How do you feel that filming in this city really helps the vibe of the show?
B. Campbell It matters, it really does. People can tell. We’re on beaches and we’re in swamps and at the edge of the everglades and running around in funky alleys and buildings, you don’t have to fake your angles. And the main difference is that by shooting there, you know, Florida is a flat state, you don’t see mountains anywhere. With CSI Miami, they’ve got to be careful because if they tilt up about 10 degrees, they’re going to be looking at the Santa Monica Mountains there. So you don’t have to fake anything. You’ve got boats left and right, anything you need saying it’s Miami, it’s there. And we’re really the main show that has stayed. Dexter left, CSI Miami left and we’re it. So we actually get great cooperation. So we get into as many cool places as you’d ever want to get into just because people are excited to have us there. So we’re really capitalizing on it.
USA has kind of given us the edict of 60% of the show has to be outdoors. Because if they’re shooting in Miami, they want to see it
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That’s the end of part one of the podcast/interview and Monday will feature part 2 or the balance of the interview. So tune in and “hit play” for the rest of the scoop about what’s coming for Burn Notice on January 22 at 10 PM E/PST
The BURN NOTICE site is really heating up with the newest version of “BURN NOTICE Covert Ops,” an alternate reality experience for fans, in which they can hone their spy skills and solve weekly challenges. Michael Westen returns for “Ask a Spy,” where he answers all your spy-related questions and gives instructional videos on how a spy would handle everyday situations. Fans can play the all new game, “See It Like a Spy,” where they are given a set of tools or household items and are challenged to combine them to build a specified gadget. And as always, viewers can stream full episodes, read weekly writer commentary with creator Matt Nix and get all new show trivia.
Want to be part of the Burn Notice “fan group”? Hit Facebook
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