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Whew, this was a tough one to transcribe because of all the screencaps, but it was necessary to do so on account of how Jeffrey Donovan discusses the scene. Read on...
”Michael and Fiona flirt at the mall and then run after Lucio”
Matt Nix: So...this was another example of Fiona and Michael flirting in unlikely circumstances, and what’s fun is the flirting really comes across, and - and it’s uh, moreso than in conventional flirting scenes between the two of them, I think. Like when they’re on a job...umm, it just - the tension’s there, even if they’re not looking at each other, even if they’re just on the phones. JD: And that’s what’s so, I think so great about the writing - is that it shows so much history between them. That they can shop - pretend shop - case a kidnapping/ drop off, and still have time to flirt. Nix: I also like that Jeff Donovan manages to look cool, even with a tag hanging between his eyes from a pair of sunglasses. [laughter from JD, GA] JD: No small feat. Nix: A lesser man would look silly. [laughter from JD] But look at how cool that looks. [continued laughter from JD] [My note: Matt Nix is hilarious!!! ] JD: And there’s the signature Oliver People’s sunglasses. [brief pause] [lowering sound of voice] That was a plug. [laughter from GA] Nix: Listen - Gabrielle, were you looking forward to using the, the taser? You got to do some significant tasering in this episode. GA: Yeah. I was more focused on the actual real shopping. [affectionate laugh from JD] I love shooting in a real mall. I bought a fabulous pair of flip-flops that day. [continued laughter from JD, laughter from Matt Nix] Nix: That was part of the reason we were a boost to the uh, local Miami economy. GA: Mmm-hmmm. Nix: Yes, there we go - pulling out the taser… [everyone falls silent, watching the scene of JD running after Lucio through the outdoor mall] Now as I recall, we actually had a fair number of, a fair amount of stuff that we didn’t end up using, yes? There was a jumping over a car, and some other things? JD: Well, I’m actually running in this scene, and umm...I run around the corner, and there’s sand right around…. GA: You got hurt, didn’t you. Nix: Oh, that’s right! JD: ...right around...here.
Nix: uh-huh. JD: And I totally just blow my ankle out. Nix: Oh, that’s right! JD: And I couldn’t shoot [from] this on. So -- stunt man.
JD: Stunt man.
JD: That’s me. [laughter from Matt Nix]
JD: That’s her. [me: ]
Nix: And then, uh -
JD: That’s me. [laughter from GA]
JD: I’m just standing there with my - I’m not kidding you, with my entire ankle wrapped with ice. That’s my stunt man.
JD: That’s my stunt man.
JD: [laughs; laughter from Matt Nix] I mean - because I couldn’t actually walk ace bandaged with about a pound of ice on my ankle! GA: I thought that was you! Nix: We were fortunate to have a stunt man that looked a lot like Jeff. JD: [talking over Matt Nix] Wow. This is awkward. This is awkward. [tone of mock indignance] I’m gonna leave, I’m outta here. [laughter from GA]
[mike noises/sounds as JD rips the microphone off his shirt] [JD, overheard in the distance] I’m outta here.
[laughter from Matt Nix, GA]
This post has been edited by PhilippaConnors: Dec 2 2008, 03:05 PM
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”Michael and Fiona question Lucio”
BC: What I like is in Burn Notice, the lead characters - who are the good guys - love to torment the bad guys. ‘Cause normally in a regular TV show, they’d be in there and they would be kinda punching him and beating him and trying to get him to talk in the conventional ways. But what’s so nice is how Matt and the writers have set this up, is that we are just better and smarter than that. So we’re gonna scare this guy in the worst possible way. We’re gonna make it seem like he’s a traitor to his own people. So, I give Matt and the writing staff a lot of credit - ‘cause it makes it feel more fun for us as actors, when we know we can screw around, take pictures of the guy, get him to laugh, and - and that’ll make him seem like he’s friends of ours and put him in bad stead with his own people. JD: Yeah. A very well-written scene. BC: The more the merrier, Matt. Matt Nix: Now, he didn’t know you were going to tickle him there, did he?
BC: Uhh - I’m not sure what we exactly planned. But he was ticklish, so we knew that if I grabbed him, that something was gonna happen, so… [laughter from GA, JD, Matt Nix] Nix: Yeah, you can’t fake that. [continued laughter from Matt Nix] JD: Actually, Bruce - you know, obviously is very funny if you’re fans of the show. Uh - and he makes all of us laugh a lot. But in this particular scene, he made me laugh so hard in take -- about “it’s just photoshop” [everyone pauses to hear the line; laughter from GA] That made me laugh for about an hour. And I - we couldn’t shoot the scene.
Nix: Yeah, we lost a lot of money, Bruce. [hearty laughter from JD, GA] Because - JD: We’re not kidding! Nix: Because the way that you said - the way that you said, “it’s just photoshop”...that probably, I’m not - I’m not joking, that probably cost about $15,000. [raucous laughter from BC; laughter from GA] BC: Well, I’m glad you kept it in! JD: True. Nix: And - and, and...if we - if we had cut away a frame later than we did, you would see Jeffrey Donovan dissolve into giggles on the floor...in a pool at Bruce’s feet. [laughter from JD, GA] JD: The other - the other part is you laugh because it’s tension. There’s tension there. I had four pages of dialogue to speak [laughs]...like, right now. Just so much stuff. And I - and when you’re tense from that and you’re nervous you tend to laugh more. Nix: That’s a good excuse. JD: And these - and like, Gabrielle with the taser, and Bruce with the Polaroid, threatening him...[starts to laugh] It just killed me. It just killed me. Nix: Now, I wanna know Gabrielle, what is it - you’ve never been called upon before in your career to be the heavyweight, the physical threat. Has that been, what’s that been - GA: No! Nix: What’s that been like for you? GA: I’m having a blast. I mean, in this particular scene, I think Michael was scripted to actually break the ankle at the end. Am I right? Nix: Yeah, yeah. Originally, yeah. GA: And I was sending subliminal messages to Jeffrey to let me be the pain perpetrator. And it worked! [laughter from Matt Nix] JD: How did it - how did it come up? How did you end up -- GA: You suddenly turned to me and said, “I think Fiona should break his ankle.” And I was like, I am psychic! Nix: Really! JD: [in an amazed voice] I don’t remember that. I’m so glad that happened. GA: I am, too. JD: You are tele-path-ic...ally... [laughter from Matt Nix] GA: -- challenged? [laugh from JD, Matt Nix]
I love it when Jeffrey Donovan says, "Gabrielle with the taser, and Bruce with the Polaroid, threatening him...It just killed me. It just killed me." And he kind of trails off into laughter after the thing about Bruce with the Polaroid. Man, this was SUCH a hilarious scene! I'm gonna have to bump this thread when BN starts back up, as I know this is one of macgyversg1's (aka, mac's) favorite scenes...
This post has been edited by PhilippaConnors: Dec 2 2008, 02:17 PM
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”Michael on the balcony with the kidnapper”
JD: One of, of course, the great movies in - of all time is uh, Scarface. And the great Steven Bauer was in it as uh, Manolo - oh, how do you say it? Yeah, Manolo, right? Matt Nix: Manolo, I think? Yeah. JD: Yeah. And um…he’s great. And he’s terrific. And I’m supposed to play a hostage negotiator that convinces someone of his stature and anger - [starts to laugh] - to uh, not take money right away. [laughs] And we’re - I’m not kidding, on a 35 story condo overlooking Florida’s coast. And I throw the phone...I...look at his eyes.
[Note: Jeffrey Donovan is referring to this scene]
JD: I thought I was actually going to die. And that is a real gun he brought, just because he’s a method actor. And it was really loaded. [pauses] So I was - I never sweated and he sweated a lot. [laughs] Uh, which was good, cause I was “cool.” But the way this scene is written is I negotiate and confuse him. [starts laughing again] And then you go away to the kidnappers. When you come back, there wasn’t really any dialogue. And so I improvised and I ran it by the writers and they were cool with it, thank goodness…[it] was that I tried to explain to him why -- Nix: The nature of the financial instruments just being used to pay him. And we just thought it was sort of fun and it was - it was a fun improv for him to do. And, and - for the record? That gun was not really loaded. That’s a joke. JD: Yes. It was.
This post has been edited by PhilippaConnors: Dec 2 2008, 12:35 PM
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”Michael fights Perry Clark”
JD: [referring to actor Arye Gross, who plays Perry Clark] He was terrific! He was such a good actor. Um...very uh, believable as a kind of government agent who you wouldn’t suspect of pulling out a garrotte. [pause] And, and the French is, “garrotte.” [assuming a slight French accent] [snickering from GA] Matt Nix: One of the things I got asked a lot was whether...what, what’s Michael’s kryptonite? And, and - I think there’s more than one answer to that… JD: A garrotte? Nix: But one of the things I liked is that he’s uh, he’s vulnerable to people that he um, disdains. Um, and so he doesn’t like bureaucrats, he doesn’t think much of bureaucrats. He’s - he’s not looking to them to be a physical threat. And I thought it was fun to have the bad guys know that. And that if you’re gonna send somebody after Michael, send somebody that he’s going to underestimate. Um - and...Perry Clark, the assassin -- JD: Yeah. Nix: -- was just such a person. JD: We worked really hard on choreographing this fight, of the stages of how he would, uh, believe - make me believe that he was not a threat, then pull out the garrotte. The only way I could survive was if my hand came out soon enough. And then that he would uh, be pretty good. Which is why I say, “wow, you’re pretty good.” [laughs] And then I let him choke me to death because I know I have a, a gun underneath the thing and I can shoot him. GA: [referring to the scene where Michael Westen shoots Perry Clark] Ooof! Ooof! JD: I loved shooting this scene. I loved the, the believability and the plausibility. And that’s one of the things we work on [in] the show, is would this happen and if it did, how would it really happen. Nix: With the caveat that it’s a little harder to run with a bullet in your body than that, but -- [laughs] JD: [speaking softly] Yeah. Nix: But we’re, we’re - it’s a television show. We’re allowed some license. [pause as everyone watches the end of the scene; screen fades to black] And he’s out. JD: And that’s - well, that’s a commercial. I know how to act to commercial. [laughter from Matt Nix, GA]
[this scene really was fantastically choreographed, wasn't it...]
This post has been edited by PhilippaConnors: Dec 2 2008, 12:39 PM
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Thanks Philippa, That was a great stroll down memory lane. At least we'll have those little goodies to remember the classic that was Burn Notice when it does leave us.... Not now, however, but eventually.
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QUOTE
this scene really was fantastically choreographed, wasn't it...
This was one of my favorite scenes from ALL of Season One. Just the way it played out ... the lighting ... the choreography ... the acting ... and Jeffrey Donovan driving the scene home with his brutal coughing fit at the end. (I wondered from the first time I watched this episode what kind of makeup is used to simulate the bruise on his neck? Because it seriously looked like someone literally tried to choke the life out of him)
Anyway, I love when Perry Clark asks Michael if he has any coffee ... and Jeffrey Donovan's reaction is priceless. The jaw drops, the voice changes and he's like "coffee" -- half statement/half question/split-second of you've gotta be kidding, well ok ... I'll play nice ... "I think I've got some instant."
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The feeling of putting yourself on the line and really putting your talent out there, and betting on yourself and having it work, is the most exhilarating feeling in the world.” ~ Conan O'Brien
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From: Ol' Virginny
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Glad you enjoyed the commentaries, LuLu! They were a lot of fun - tough to transcribe on account of JD's way of articulating his thoughts on a couple of these scenes, but they were a hell of a lot of fun because he did such a great job of articulating what filming the scenes were like. It was totally worth it, in other words.
QUOTE (siggy26 @ Dec 2 2008, 01:44 PM)
This was one of my favorite scenes from ALL of Season One. Just the way it played out ... the lighting ... the choreography ... the acting ... and Jeffrey Donovan driving the scene home with his brutal coughing fit at the end. (I wondered from the first time I watched this episode what kind of makeup is used to simulate the bruise on his neck? Because it seriously looked like someone literally tried to choke the life out of him) ...
I loved this scene as well, Siggy. I too was impressed by the mark left on his neck from the garrotte. And how impressive was it that JD really *looked* like he was getting the life choked out of him? The veins bulging on his forehead, his face beet red, beads of sweat on his forehead, and as you said, the wheezing as he tries to catch his breath...wow, what a fantastic bit of acting.
I'll tell you, this episode just keeps getting better and better on subsequent viewings. It's a terrifically written, beautifully acted show from start to finish.
BN Season 1 DVD commentaries, Episode 9, "Hard Bargain"
Dec 2 2008, 11:28 AM
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