Tradecraft For February 6, 2008

Michael Weston Gets A Raise

In this week's episode of Burn Notice, Michael finally needed to break down and take a real job for cash. Granted, he did it with false papers and didn't really end up fulfilling his contractual obligations, but still... he did actually get paid. In a case of life imitating art, The Hollywood Reporter reports today that Michael Weston actor Jeffrey Donovan has earned himself a well-deserved raise, more than doubling his Burn Notice salary! "Under the new agreement," the trade reveals, "Donovan will be paid $125,000-$150,000 an episode, a big bump from the $55,000 he used to make." More importantly for fans, the new deal "also adds one year to his original seven-year contract for the show."

Quantum Exposure Pays Off For Kurylenko

Still hot from co-starring in the biggest 007 blockbuster of all-time, beautiful Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko has lined up her next two jobs on the momentum of her performance as Camille. First, she'll journey to an Age Undreamed Of for director Neil Marshall's sword-and-sandal epic Centurion. "The movie," says The Hollywood Reporter, is "a thriller set during the Roman invasion of Britain in A.D. 117, tells the story of Quintus Dias, sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, who marches north with General Virilus' legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the Earth and destroy their leader, Gorlacon." Then, according to Variety, she'll head from the ancient past to the near future for Andrew Niccol's sci-fi picture The Cross, also starring Orlando Bloom and Vincent Cassel. "Bloom plays a man seeking to cross a mysterious border, something no one else has achieved; Cassel limns the guard who will go to any lengths to foil him. Kurylenko takes the femme lead."

Before either of those, however, she'll be seen as a prostitute-turned-hitwoman in the La Femme Nikita-ish action thriller Kirot. Variety says: "The project sees Kurylenko's character coerced into becoming a hit woman for a shadowy organization after being imprisoned for working as a prostitute. She escapes from her new employers and joins forces with an abused woman she encounters on the run. Together they embark on a campaign of revenge."

Campbell Turns From Spies to Superheroes

Following two spy movies (Casino Royale and Edge of Darkness), Goldeneye director Martin Campbell will next turn his attention to the superhero genre. Variety reports that the director is in talks to helm a bigscreen version of DC's Green Lantern. That's great... but do we really have to wait until Eon decides to break in yet another new Bond for Campbell to return to 007? I'd love to see him re-team with Daniel Craig!