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'Burn Notice' star boosts Sunscreen festival

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By WALT BELCHER wbelcher

@tampatrib.com

Published: April 30, 2009

The USA network's hot action drama "Burn Notice" is the biggest thing to hit Miami since "Miami Vice."

And series star Jeffrey Donovan is creating the same kind of ultra-cool buzz about the city's South Beach that Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas did 30 years ago.

Cameras are clicking just about everywhere he goes when locals and tourists spot the actor.

"I just love it here; I love Florida so much that I've moved here," says Donovan, who is headed to St. Petersburg on Saturday for the city's annual Sunscreen Film Festival (see www.sunscreenfestival .com).

He's busy filming the third season of "Burn Notice," which returns to USA on June 4 in the 9 p.m. Thursday time slot (one hour earlier this season).

"We're raising the bar as far as action and romance goes this season," he said in a telephone interview during a break in filming. "And we've got more guest stars."

Actress Moon Bloodgood joins the cast as a Miami police detective obsessed with uncovering the truth about Donovan's character.

Donovan, a 40-year-old Massachusetts native, racked up an impressive list of film and TV roles before he landed the role of resourceful, outcast spy Michael Westen.

Blacklisted (in spy lingo he was "burned") for mysterious, undisclosed reasons, Westen is stranded in Miami, where he hustles up work as a freelance tough guy. He has been told he will be killed if he leaves town.

While trying to unravel the "burn," he helps people in trouble with the help of former spy pals Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar) and Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell). This usually involves outwitting thugs with his wits, fists and MacGyver-like devices.

"This season my character learns more about what is behind his getting 'burned,'" Donovan says.

Series creator Matt Nix has said viewers will learn more about the pasts of all the main characters.

Because "Burn Notice" spends six months on location in Miami and has pumped more than $25 million into the economy over the past two seasons, it is the largest film production in the state. It's also a ratings winner for USA, averaging 4 million to 6 million viewers each week.

The third season, with 16 episodes, will add an additional $15 million-plus and provide about 300 jobs in Miami.

"We're about the only show in town and now that I've become a Florida resident I want to get involved in supporting the film industry here," says Donovan, who is coming to Sunscreen to give it some celebrity star power.

The festival, which is under way today at the Muvico Baywalk theaters in downtown St. Petersburg, features more than 50 films, many of them low-budget independent productions.

Donovan says he plans to attend the Sunscreen Film Festival Awards presentation on Saturday and the "After Party" (for VIP ticket-holders only).

Fans of "Burn Notice" might get a kick out of following Donovan's adventures on the set on Twitter (http://twitter.com/jeffrey_donovan).

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