Cult times Article Dec 2001
Julian McMahon thinks he knows what people like about Charmed. "I think it's a mixture of drama and comedy and stupidity and seriousness and it's got the gamut of...everything," says the actor, who co-stars as Cole Turner on the long-running Supernatural series. "It's a love story mixed in with a tragedy and with fantastical stuff. It's a mixture of...everything. No matter what, you can sit down and travel to our world for a certain period of time. I think that's a great escape for people."
McMahon has been around for a while now as Cole, creating both havoc and romance for the Halliwell sisters, first Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Prue (Shannen Doherty), and now Phoebe, Piper and Paige (Rose McGowan). Cole, of course, is a demon, but he's not such a bad guy. Hell, he adores Phoebe and, when last seen in Black as Cole, she was seriously considering his marriage proposal. Certainly, the character's come a long way since The Honeymoon's Over, the episode that introduced the character and his other identity, Belthazor. "When he came on the show he was basically The Source's right-hand man, the head of the other world," McMahon explains. "He'd come to destroy the witches [and to snatch the Book of Shadows]. He was the last resort call-up guy, the guy who they call on and say, 'Go destroy them.' Obviously that couldn't happen because then we wouldn't have a show. He came up, fell in love with Phoebe and now he is someone who's conflicted between being good and being bad.
"It's actually a very realistic trait, I think, to a certain extent. He's somebody going through the challenges of life, like all of us. That's kind of interesting, particularly when you think that he's been around for a few hundred years and he's going through it for the first time. That thing that keeps me interested in playing him is that variety of stuff I get to do. Every time I get a script it's totally different type of performance I get to deliver. I get a constant challenge of things to play because Cole is half-demon and half-human and he's struggling between the two. There's some more of that kind of thing coming up on the show. The one thing I really haven't gotten to play yet is Cole as the really, really bad guy. And it's coming up. He gets bad. I'm looking forward to it."
Speaking of bad, there was apparently much bad blood splattered about in the days before Doherty's departure. The story supposedly went that the ladies of Charmed got on great at the beginning, but that Milano and Doherty ended up butting heads, a situation not eased any by Doherty's bad girl reputation and rap sheet. Doherty eventually was invited to exit Charmed, this despite the fact that she directed the third season finale. McMahon offers his view of the situation, but bear in mind this point - unmentioned by either McMahon or Cult Times because it's a rather sensitive subject: McMahon, who's long divorced from Danni Minogue but is still married to Baywatch Hawaii actress Brooke Burns, with whom he has a toddler daughter named Madison, is now, reportedly, dating Doherty. "I never had a nightmare on the set," says the actor, who, it should be noted, was separated from Burns long before he and Doherty began their relationship. "In fact, I never had a problem. I always found it a very open and conducive environment to getting the best work we could done. This year is a different dynamic with Rose coming in and being the youngest of the three sisters. It lowers the age group. I'm just the kind of guy who comes in and does my job. With regards to all that tension on the set that people always talk about, I really didn't notice it."
Does that kind of stuff get in the way of people watching the show, so far as it removes them from the fantasy? "Either that or it just intrigues you enough to watch," McMahon replies. "It's basically about getting the audience, for whatever reason that may be. You don't know. You never really know. Some people would come and watch the show simply because Shannen or Alyssa or Holly and now Rose is on it. There are a whole variety of different reasons why people watch or don't watch shows. I don't think you can pinpoint which one thing brings in an individual. The fact of the matter is obviously you need hype to stay on the air and, because things are so difficult for any show, the more hype the merrier. Whatever that hype is, positive or negative, it really doesn't matter."
And it really doesn't seem to matter in the case of Charmed. Never a breakout hit, never a Buffy The Vampire Slayer-like critical darling, Charmed just goes on and on, somehow just a bit under the radar. This season's no exception. McGowan showed up, audiences accepted her and, after the Charmed Again season opener, in which Phoebe and Piper dealt with Prue's demise and Paige's arrival, it's business as usual. That also means, for Cole fans, plenty of their favourite conflicted, love-struck demon. It's mentioned to McMahon that some actors don't particularly love genre shows and films, as they feel the inherent otherworldiness of such projects is a distraction that gets in the way of delivering a genuinely affecting performance. McMahon acknowledges that, yes, some actors do feel that way, but he adds that he's not one of them. It goes back to that sense of reality he mentioned earlier in the conversation. "I'm on the side of the fence that thinks you have to realize what it is that you're doing and accommodate it accordingly," he says. "This is not a show based on the reality you and I know every day. It's a show based in a fantasy lifestyle and existence. You have to play things along those line. Costume plays a big part for me. The characters that you play against and all of the special effects play a huge part in the show. The last series I did was a very serious, down-to-Earth cop show [Profiler]. It's a totally different type of performance and a different type of show. You have to realize what you're doing and shape your performance in regards to that." McMahon has been doing just that since 1989, when the Australian actor - the son of the late Sir William McMahon, former prime minister of Australia - first appeared in a star-making commercial for Levi Jeans and then in the Aussie daytime Soap Opera The Power, The Passion. Subsequent work included the American soap Another World, a regular role as Detective John Grant on Profiler, as well as independent features, such as In Quiet Night as well as the upcoming Chasing Sleep, the latter a Horror-Thriller. Just recently, he appeared opposite none other than Shannen Doherty in Another Day, a made-for-TV movie about a woman (Doherty) who gets to relive the two days before a tragic event that forever changed her life. "I got to do that because Shannen was playing the leading lady and she asked me to co-star with her and another guy, Max Martini [recently seen in Level 9]," he explains. "I liked the idea that even with a second chance in life, it's inevitable that you can't change the destiny or somebody's plan. I hear it's pretty good. Francis Coppola and USA Films put it together, but I haven't seen it yet."
Right now, McMahon's back on the Charmed set. And, as the conversation comes to a close, it does so with McMahon predicting that he could be hanging around the Charmed set for a good, long while to come. "I'm up for a few more years, sure," McMahon says. "I particularly like working with Brad [Kern] the executive producers on the show, and the writers because they've given me some really great stuff to work with. The reason I took this role in the beginning was to play the Devil's right-hand man. At the time it was a very cool thing for me and an opportunity that you don't get very often. We also made a promise to each other that I'll do the best work that I can if they'll do the best work they can. As long as we keep up our sides of the bargain I'll be there."