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Ghost Canyon

Bruce Campbell   ('Burn Notice') Bruce Campbell ('Burn Notice')

'Burning Up!'

Watch the 'Burn Notice - Season 2' Finale on Thursday, March 5th at 10pm/9c on USA NETWORK!

In the explosive season finale, Michael learns some surprising facts about Victor's past, and is forced to take on Carla in a final showdown!

Season 3 will premiere in July, so stay tuned!

This summer, USA Network presented the second season of 'Burn Notice,' a sexy, action-packed original series starring Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen, a blacklisted spy. Dumped in his hometown of Miami without money or resources, Michael struggles to put his life back together and find out why he's been burned. In the meantime, he uses his unique skills and training to help people in need ... mostly people who can't get help from the police.

'Burn Notice' also stars Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona, a beautiful ex-IRA operative who happens to be Westen’s ex-girlfriend. Bruce Campbell stars as Sam, Michael’s closest buddy in town, a washed up military intelligence contact who is keeping an eye on Michael for the Feds. Also starring is Emmy® Award-winner Sharon Gless as Madeline, Michael’s hypochondriac mother, who couldn’t be happier to have her boy back in town.

Joining the cast this season in a recurring role is Tricia Helfer (“Battlestar Gallactica”) as Carla, the woman who may be behind Michael’s burn notice.

Chatting recently with Bruce Campbell, we first wondered just how much creative input did he actually have for his character on the show? "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".”

Did you see the success of the show coming and did it surprise you? "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."

What about your role continues to challenge you? "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."

Do you have a most memorable moment you’ve had from filming the seasons? "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."

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? "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."

As there’s been a lot of cool spy tricks and set ups they’ve done on 'Burn Notice,' what’s been your favorite thus far? "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."

Finally, between this role and a lot of the other roles you’ve done in the past, you constantly toy with the image of a hero. And yet you enjoy playing characters that are flawed and self-obsessed. Yet they end up saving the day. So, why do you find that kind of an interesting character to play? "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."

Watch the 'Burn Notice - Season 2' Finale on Thursday, March 5th at 10pm/9c on USA NETWORK!

In the explosive season finale, Michael learns some surprising facts about Victor's past, and is forced to take on Carla in a final showdown!

Season 3 will premiere in July, so stay tuned!

www.usanetwork.com/series/burnnotice



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