Jeffrey Donovan Fans

Universal will release Clint Eastwood’s period drama “Changeling,” starring Angelina Jolie, on Oct. 24 in a limited run before going wide one week later.

“Changeling” made its world premiere at the recently wrapped Cannes Film Festival, where it was in competition.

At Cannes, the French title of the film was “The Exchange,” prompting speculation that U might change the title domestically, but studio and Eastwood are sticking with the original name.

Film, produced by Imagine Entertainment and Eastwood’s Malpaso Prods., will unspool in the heart of awards season.

“Changeling,” set in 1920s Los Angeles, is based on the true life story of a woman whose son disappears. Months later, police tell her they have found him, only she says it’s not her son.

Eastwood directed from a script by J. Michael Straczynski. John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan and Michael Kelly also star.

By opening in only a few select markets on Oct. 24, Universal and Imagine will look to build buzz and play off reviews.

Source: Variety

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…”

Oops, sorry, wrong spy show, but the declaration stands: Your mission is to catch up on Burn Notice by the time season two premieres—Thursday, July 10 at 10 p.m.! (Tip: The Burn Notice season one DVD came out Tuesday.)

I recommend the whole kit and caboodle of Burn Notice without reservation, and if you won’t take my word, then at least listen to dreamy star Jeffrey Donovan, who said, “It’s a summer show, there’s nothing else on, it’s got action, and there are some pretty hot women on the show.” Touché.

Stars Donovan and Bruce Campbell just took the time to chat about the season, and they were as witty and astute as their characters, Michael and Sam. Click in to find out about Tricia Helfer’s incoming character, Carla, and more inside scoop on the series…

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Jeffrey Donovan didn’t have a ton of time for his answers because he was hard at work on the second season of Burn Notice, which debuts on USA on July 10th at 10 pm.

-What are your earliest memories of watching television? TV was my babysitter

-What is your guiltiest TV pleasure? I don’t watch anything but Sports (Red Sox and Patriots) now.

- If you could spend one day in the life of any TV character, who would it be? Michael Westen. Reasons are obvious.

‘Burn Notice’s’ spy guy: A talk with Jeffrey Donovan

Interview by Maureen Ryan for the Chicago Tribune

Below is an interview with “Burn Notice” star Jeffrey Donovan, who plays ex-spy Michael Westen on the USA Network series, which returns July 10.

Below, Donovan talks about the quirks of his witty character, Michael’s new handler, Carla (Tricia Helfer), his fellow burned spy Victor (Michael Shanks) and his manipulative mother (Sharon Gless). Donovan also talks about why he thinks “Burn Notice” will be overlooked at awards time and why he thinks his show is every bit as good as “Mad Men.”

Here’s an edited version of the interview. And by the way, here’s a recent interview with “Burn Notice” creator Matt Nix.

MR: Michael is someone who could go off and sell his skills and do something else to make money. Why is it so important for him to figure this out?

JD: I think Michael Westen is a character with incredible amounts of integrity and honor in a very dishonorable world. I think that’s why he fights so hard to find out why he was burned because of the injustice of it all. He served his country perfectly and did everything that was asked of him. Trying to get back into that world is not necessarily [about] wanting to work for a secret agency again, but more to clear his name because that’s all he has.

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Interview by Maureen Ryan for the Chicago Tribune

“Burn Notice,” which was on my Top 10 list last year, is a Miami-set comedy-drama about a spy who has been exiled from the espionage community for reasons that he’s still trying to figure out. It stars Jeffrey Donovan as the wonderfully deadpan ex-spy Michael Westen, Bruce Campbell as the affable Sam Axe, a former intelligence operative and Michael’s best buddy, Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glennane, Michael’s ex-girlfriend and another covert ops veteran, and Sharon Gless as Michael’s hypochondriac mother.

This season, “Battlestar Galactica’s” Tricia Helfer has a recurring role as Carla, a representative of the person or people who “burned” Michael. She’s in the first two episodes of Season 2, and her character will return for the mid-season finale (USA is airing nine episodes of “Burn Notice” this summer). Helfer will also appear in some of the seven Season 2 episodes that will air in 2009.

Nix shared a little “Burn Notice” casting news: Michael Shanks, who played Daniel Jackson on “Stargate SG-1,” will appear in four consecutive episodes of the show as Victor, another burned spy with whom Michael and Carla will work. Shanks first turns up in Episode 6 of Season 2.

UPDATE: According to Donovan, who I interviewed Wednesday, “Victor is what Michael would be if Michael had rabies.”

Another bit of news about Helfer (pictured in “Burn Notice” at left): I interviewed her on Tuesday as well, and she revealed that she’s been cast in “Inseparable,” a Fox pilot that is a contender for a mid-season slot on that network (Lloyd Owen has already been cast in that drama, which is about a forensic psychiatrist with a split personality). Helfer said she’ll wrap up work on “Battlestar” around mid-July, head to “Burn Notice’s” Miami set to film more episodes, and then she’ll do the “Inseparable” pilot later in the summer. I’ll post much more soon from Helfer, who talked about both “Burn Notice” and “Battlestar Galactica.”

But first, here’s an edited transcript of my talk with Matt Nix.

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