Tradecraft For August 9, 2007

More Burn Notice

USA's hit summer spy series Burn Notice has been renewed for a second season. This is a historic moment: a Bruce Campbell show has actually been renewed! Of course, since a USA season is only 13 episodes, I guess it's only the equivalent of the two half-seasons Jack of All Trades achieved, but Burn Notice's ratings seem to ensure it a healthy future. Variety says "Burn has blazed new trails for USA on Thursday nights, winning its timeslot among basic cable nets every week since its June 28 premiere. Ratings for the skein have been on the rise, with last week's seg notching a series-high 4.4 million viewers."

Craig's Brothers-In-Arms

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Live Schrieber and Jamie Bell will play Daniel Craig's brothers in Ed Zwick's WWII drama Defiance. Alexa Davalos and Tomas Arana are also joining the cast, as Craig's love interest, Lilka, and a Resistance leader, respectively.

Pink Panther Sequel News

The Pink Panther movies may not technically be spy movies, but they've always bordered closely on the genre, with Inspector Clouseau's adventures often taking him out of his Parisian jurisdiction and around the world. The latest entry in the series seems to be no exception, and also continues the tradition of populating the series with lots of spy actors. I'm in no way endorsing Steve Martin's version of the classic character, just reporting the developments (courtesy of Variety). Former Q John Cleese will step into the role of Chief Inspector Dreyfus in Martin's next movie, following Kevin Kline and the inimitable Herbert Lom. Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer will reprise their roles from Martin's first outing, joined by Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina and frequently-rumored Bond Girl Aishwarya Rai as "detectives and experts who join forces with Clouseau to catch the thief who has been stealing artifacts around the world." Agent Cody Banks director Harald Zwart directs, from a script by Scott Neustadter, Mike Weber, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel and Steve Martin. Yeah.