Most know Julian McMahon as the insensitive sex-fiend plastic surgeon from the renowned television series "Nip/Tuck." But his new psychological thriller "Premonition," the tale of a husband, Jim (McMahon), and his wife Linda's (Sandra Bullock) struggle against time and psychology to prevent Jim's seemingly imminent death, provides McMahon with an out-of-the-ordinary role, one that is dark and twisted in a completely different way than "Nip/Tuck"'s Christian Troy.
Question: Do you like the more dark or off-center roles, not the totally normal guy roles, but something more quirky or different?
Julian McMahon: Yeah definitely, I'm always attracted to something that is a little skewed, a little off, sometimes extremely off. I like those characters that are more extraordinary than everyday life. That's what I like playing and that's what I've spent most of my career doing.
Q: This movie kind of went out of order; did this present a different challenge of keeping track of yourself throughout the film?
JM: All movies are shot out of order, so you always have to have that concept of what happened before and what happened after: where was I, how am I feeling, what am I thinking; but that is kind of a natural progression for an actor when you are working in film or television. This was a little more difficult because time frames were so skewed that you really have to make sure you're wearing the right outfit and are in the right frame of mind. This is all over the place and as much as it was in the movie, it was at least as much in the script, maybe even more.
Q: What was it like dealing with this crew and people from all over the place [such as Director Mennan Yapo who is Turkish/German]? Were there any challenges to the international qualities?JM: I am not from this country myself and I have spent a lot of time working with people from different parts of the world and different parts of America, and everybody's different. Every step that you go through has different personalities and every other director and every other actor are different people; it doesn't matter if they come from different countries. The only different thing about this was that you had Mennan and [cinematographer] Torsten Lippstock, who speak fluent German and there was a lot of "Was ist das?" being thrown around. I have no idea what any of that means, but it seemed important to them.
Q: What were the challenges of filming such a psychological role? Did it affect your personal life a little?
JM: I think that all roles are psychological. Just because it's been tagged as a psychological thriller doesn't mean that it's any more psychological for the actors than playing other roles; I think all roles are psychologically involved. That's the whole idea of an actor is to look at a piece and interpret in your own way and evaluate it emotionally and psychologically and come up with a character that's different than yourself.
Q: It is a difficult concept - being able to prevent the loss of someone who is very essential to your life. Does that impact you when you are playing the part or seeing something like this?
JM: When I read, the script it was a very emotional piece, particularly the last 15 maybe 20 minutes where it really does become about an attempt to save the life of someone who is so integral and so important and such a mainstay and foundation of your existence. In watching the movie I got very involved and emotional. It's a pretty extraordinary experience ... to think about that, to think about the concept of losing somebody and then not [losing] somebody, and trying to hold on to somebody. I found it very engaging and very sensitive.
