Author: Emma Loggins
Date: 2008-07-10

Interview:
We had the honor of attending the Burn Notice press junket in Miami last month, where were able to interview the cast and crew from the series, including the beautiful and talented Gabrielle Anwar. Here's what she had to say:

Do you enjoy working in Miami?

Anwar: I actually love it. I would much rather be too hot than too cold. I'm perfectly happy melting all day long. Jeffrey has to wear full on suits and ties, poor thing, and Bruce too. Although he gets to wear Hawaiian shirts a lot too. He's Mr. Tommy Bahama.

How do you handle doing the martial arts and hand to hand combat that Fiona does?

Anwar: Smoke and mirrors. Jeffrey's actually incredibly advanced in martial arts. He's like triple billion black belt or whatever, he's pretty high up there. Although I don't know who actually judges that stuff. But I have no idea what I'm doing. It's basically just choreography. I did dance, so that comes in handy. But as far as hitting the right artery or chopping the right part of the body, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Do you know any martial arts?

Anwar: No, I don't.

You look like you do?

Anwar: Well, thank you, but I can tell. When I'm working and I'm looking at the dailies, I go, 'Oh, God, I hope they cut around that one.'

You work with guns on the show a lot...

Anwar: Yes, I've actually been fortunate enough to go out to this huge warehouse full of props out in Los Angeles. It's very exciting. Next time I go I'm going to take a shopping cart and fill it with all the fun stuff. There's a shooting room there. It's literally a metal storage room with thousands of bullet holes in the wall. So I went in there and shot just about every weapon that is used from the second World War on. Because I'm a bit of a lightweight, I got blown back more than a few times by automatic shotguns and machine guns. It's very empowering experience to be wielding a weapon and I am by nature very much a pacifist. So if I can get turned on by it, I'm a little terrified what really happens in the military.

You're a pacifist but you like to play a character with guns?

Anwar: I'm a mass of contradictions and a hypocrite at the same time. What a mess!

What did they tell you about Fiona's back story - is she a terrorist?

Anwar: I was pretty much told nothing. But I have a very rampant and vivid imagination, so you can imagine what I came up with. I think that her intentions are all in the right place. Those organizations are almost always formed with the best of attentions and then they often go awry. Think of Scientology. Not that I'm comparing terrorism to Scientology. I think Fiona is a seeker of justice, but she seeks it in perverse and extremist ways, which I find rather refreshing.