Nip/Tuck's McMahon Gives Thanks for Plastic Surgery
In Hollywood, not even a facelift can compare with the feel-good effects of getting a role that lets you show what you can do. Striding into a Santa Monica restaurant for lunch, Nip/Tuck star Julian McMahon is feeling pretty good right now. "I couldn't be happier or prouder," he says. "What a great ride this has been."
Since its July 22 premiere, FX's risky and risque Tuesday-night drama about two South Florida plastic surgeons -- played by McMahon and Dylan Walsh -- has raised eyebrows with graphic depictions of surgery and raised temperatures with high-octane storylines and steamy sex scenes.
Set against a backdrop of greed, vanity and desperation, creator Ryan Murphy's 13-episode first season (which concludes on Oct. 21) has so far offered up murder, assault, transsexuals, vandalism, suicide, infidelity and child molestation. Nip/Tuck averages 3.4 million viewers each week, and has performed well in the key adult 18-49 demographic, even against stiff competition from new-season premieres of network shows.
"Everything aligns," McMahon says. "It's like everything fits. It came out at the right time, with the right kind of sensationalism. Everything just moves in the right way."
Along with its more outrageous elements, Nip/Tuck is also a character study of two men on the edge of middle age, suddenly facing the consequences of their choices.
McMahon's character, Dr. Christian Troy, is a skilled womanizer and high-living playboy whose tailored suits and impeccable grooming hide a surprising moral center and unexpected bouts of compassion. It's a part that McMahon, 35, had to go through eight auditions to get. "It's definitely a gift role," McMahon says, "but I knew that as soon as I read it. That's why I fought so hard for it. It's wonderful to come into your own as a man and then put that on the screen."
Christian's friendship with his partner, Sean McNamara (Walsh), dates back to college. While early episodes painted McNamara as a good family man and socially concerned physician, later stories challenged both that perception and the initially negative portrayal of Christian.
"That's what I love about these characters," McMahon says. "You have this guy, my guy, who everybody has been calling an a--hole for last six months, and I can see where they're coming from, but I never felt he was that. I always felt he was very honest. I didn't know where they were going with the character, but I always felt there was going to be some kind of justification."
That came in the episode that aired Tuesday, September 16, with a case involving a priest charged with child molestation, who sought plastic surgery to evade prosecution. After confronting the priest and forcing him to turn himself in, Christian confessed to Sean that he was molested by his foster father, who forced Christian to trade himself for money.
"Now the justification makes me feel two ways," McMahon says. "One, I felt like we didn't need it. I liked the way he made his choices without having to have some kind of horrific background. But secondly, the justification made it wonderful in that you really see the humanity of this character."
Thus far, Christian has been beaten, shot up with Botox, had his car and boat trashed, been insulted by those he loves, and had a vengeful lover (Kelly Carlson) chain him to his bed.
"I'll tell ya," McMahon says, "about three, four episodes ago, I literally said to Dylan, 'I don't know how much longer I can live this guy's life for. It's so exhausting.'
"It's emotionally ... I can't even tell you. In one episode, he goes through so much, and I have to be there to be realistic. So one day, I'll be at the emotional depth of despair and horror, and then the same day, I'm, 'Hey' -- McMahon snaps his fingers and gives a debonair grin -- 'here we go.' I love it, but it's been really taxing."
On top of this, McMahon gets almost all the revealing sex scenes. "I do," he says with a laugh. "It's so funny. We did a show the other day, and Ryan's like, 'Do you mind if we see your ass?' And I'm like, 'What? Does it matter? Where's that question coming from?'
"My justification, at any moment in time, is, 'That's my character.' If anyone has anything negative to say, 'That's my character's ass. That's what he does.'"
One bonus of Nip/Tuck's success is that the cast got to attend this year's Emmy Awards ceremony on September 21.
"I had so much fun," McMahon says. "I've never been to anything like that before in my life. It was so great. It was like being Cinderella or something, I swear to God. It felt so fantastical to me. It felt, like, not real.
"We were sitting in the bottom section, to the back to the right. I wished I was at the front. It's funny, when they were about to finish the show, they said, 'We want all the winners to come on up to the stage, to be there when we come back.' I said to Dylan, 'Let's go! We should go.' He was like, 'No, no, we can't.' I'm like, 'Come on, we could stand there and go whoo-hoo!'"
But perhaps the greatest reward came when McMahon's 3-year-old daughter, Madison, visited the set. "I was in the middle of a scene, joking around, and Madison starts snickering. I can hear her, 'Dad, you're funny.' God, it's like, 'Thank you, finally, somebody realizes.'
"She's so gorgeous. I can't tell you. She sat there for a bunch of takes, and I can hear this little snicker. It was so cute."
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