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TV Tattler: Celebrity Interviews

'Nip/Tuck' Star Slices Into the Hot New Season

Julian McMahon Dishes About 'Nip/Tuck' Hollywood-style, the Writer's Strike and a Return to 'Fantastic Four'

October 22 -- The men of 'Nip/Tuck' have packed up the scalpels and left Miami for the other coast - Beverly Hills, 90210, to be exact - for the show's fifth season, where Sean McNamara and Christian Troy will not only try to capitalize on the fact that they're in the plastic surgery capital of the world, but that they're also surrounded by a fresh batch of beautiful women.

Julian McMahon, who portrays the randy Dr. Troy, chatted with AOL TV's Kimberly Potts about the season ahead, including the swanky new sets, a pair of shows-within-the-show that will find Christian getting his own reality TV series (and requiring advice from a certain Ms. New York) and the series' ever-growing list of celeb guest stars.

Though you've always filmed in Los Angeles, does it feel like you've moved since the show is now set in L.A. instead of Miami?
[It's] very different, because the sets are so different. Not just the way they look, but we had very small sets before. And now we have these large, expensive sets, as you can see by the first episodes, where we were playing basketball in the office.

Nip/Tuck Guest Stars

Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Portia de Rossi (Olivia Lord, season five) - She's dating Ellen DeGeneres in real-life, but in 'Nip/Tuck'-land, de Rossi is the new lesbian girlfriend of Sean's ex-wife, Julia (Joely Richardson). What, you didn't know she was a lesbian? Neither did Sean, which makes it extra surprising that she's not only dating Julia, but is anxious to live with the ex-Mrs. McNamara, too. (Photo: FX)
Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Rosie O'Donnell (Dawn Budge, seasons four and five) - O'Donnell is delightfully over the top as Dawn, a rags-to-riches wealthy woman who bought plastic surgery makeovers for herself and her entire family - as well as a randy one-night stand with Christian - after winning the lottery in season four. This year she returns for more surgery after being attacked by an eagle.
Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Oliver Platt (Freddy Prune, season five) - When Sean and Christian move their practice to Los Angeles, it takes a while to attract new clients. To keep the cash flowing, they sign on as medical consultants for 'Hearts and Scalpels,' a campy medical dramaproduced by hyper, super-stressed producer Prune. Freddy, we also hear, will fall for Dawn Budge later in the season. (Photo: Getty Images)
Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Lauren Hutton (Fiona McNeil, season five) - Tough-as-nails Fiona is a Hollywood super publicist who steers her clients towards Sean and Christian after meeting them at a Tinseltown hotspot. She also advises the McNamara/Troy partners that the only way they're going to attract celeb clients is to become famous themselves, which she's willing to help them do ... for a fee. (Photo: FX)
Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Paula Marshall (Kate Tinsley, season five) - The long-time sitcom veteran plays Kate, an actress who plays a nurse on the show-within-a-show, 'Hearts and Scalpels.' Buzz is that she's also going to get a little somethin'-somethin' going with the good Dr. McNamara. (Photo: FX)
Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Sharon Gless (Colleen Rose, season five) - The 'Cagney & Lacey' Emmy winner, most recently seen on 'Burn Notice,' will pop up in several 'Nip/Tuck' episodes as a talent agent who's interested in Sean. Not that way (not that it would be a surprise on thisshow) ... she's interested in repping Sean, who gets raves for a small guest-star gig on 'Hearts and Scalpels.' (Photo: Getty Images)
Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Daphne Zuniga (Carly Summers, season five) - The 'Melrose Place' vet stars in the season premiere as an actress whose plum roles have dried up, prompting pub McNeil to try to book her for surgery with Sean and Christian to help facilitate her return to the A-list. Of course, Christian seals the deal by bedding the beauty, then subjecting her to a brutal body critique. (Photo: FX)
Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Tia Carrere (Mistress Dark Pain, season five) - Dark Pain is a dominatrix hired by a movie studio exec to inflict pain on him, which, in his wacky world, makes him feel human, because he has too much power at work. Huh? Even wackier: He hires McNamara/Troy to repair the bodily harm Mistress inflicts upon him, then calls her for a repeat performance - in his hospital bed. (Photo: Getty Images)
Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Sophia Bush (Ridley, season one) - Before she was 'One Tree Hill' cheerleader Brooke, Bush was another randy cheerleader on 'Nip/Tuck.' Her Ridley was caught making out with Vanessa, another cheerleader who also happened to be dating Matt. After Matt sawthe two girls making out, they invited him into a menage-a-trois. Which he agreed to. He is Christian's son, after all. (Photo: Getty Images)
Nip/Tuck Guest Stars
Brooke Shields (Faith Wolper, season four) - Wolper was Christian's psychiatrist, but guess who ended up needing a shrink? After suggesting his sexual compulsions stemmed from him being secretly in love with Sean, Wolper promptly had sex with Christian on her desk. She later exposed his affair with another woman, and then had his name tattooed on her lower back. Cuckoo! (Photo: FX)

How much is the new location going to figure into the new season? Are Sean and Christian going to hang out at clubs and become Hollywood guys?
Absolutely. L.A.'s going to be another star of the show, as Miami was in the first four years. It just opens doors for so many great situations, different characters, and you know, we bring in this whole Hollywood lifestyle, the extraordinary characters in this city and lengths people go to to do things.

Did you laugh when you first heard about the storyline with 'Hearts and Scalpels,' the TV medical drama Sean and Christian are hired to work on?
Oh, absolutely. I like the fact that it lightened up the show.

The tone seems like it's going to be lighter overall this season.
Yeah, I mean, we've had a couple of heavy years, and I think that's enough of that. The show's always been a romp, and we're just kind of keeping on romping.

The show has such a history of great guest stars, and that's continuing this season, right? Rosie O'Donnell is back as Dawn Budge?
Yeah, we've got Rosie, we've got Oliver Platt, Bradley Cooper ... We've got Lauren Hutton, we've got John Schneider, Daphne Zuniga, Portia de Rossi ...

Will we see more romance between Dawn and Christian when Rosie comes back?
Ah, there's always a thing between Dawn and Christian, but how far we explore it, I can't really tell ya, otherwise I'd be giving away too much.

I also saw a rumor about New York, from 'I Love New York,' guesting? Is that true?
Yes, she comes in, and it's fantastic. Episode six. Christian is feeling a little out of the loop, because Sean is getting all the attention from this 'Hearts and Scalpels' thing, and so he decides to do a reality show, and New York comes on to give him pointers on how to be a good reality star.

So she's playing herself?
Yeah.

And does Christian go on a reality show then?
Yeah, he has his own reality show.

That's so perfect for that character! Is that an ongoing story or a one episode thing?
Well, it's not very successful.

That's hard to believe ... Christian really seems like the perfect reality show star.
Well, you've got to watch. It's really done well.

What's up with you and 'Fantastic Four'? Will there be another sequel?
You know, I think everyone had a three-picture deal from the beginning. Mine is a little bit different than everybody else's, because I play the bad guy and (the movie) kind of moves on from that at some point and time. I don't know if that's what they want to do or not ... we haven't talked about it. I'm sure there'll be another 'Fantastic Four' ... whether I'm in it or not, we'll have to see.

Did you have fun doing those movies? Comic book movies seem like a lot of work, a lot more standing around and waiting, even more so than other films.
You know, you kind of get into that mode, you have to just get use to it a little bit, but yeah, the last one was exhausting. The last time it was exhausting for me, because I was working on 'Nip/Tuck' and doing the movie at the same time. So I was working 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for about 6 months. I'm working on 'Nip/Tuck' solely right now, and we've cut our hours a little bit, but we got picked up for 22 episodes this season, as opposed to 13 like we usually do.

That's great.
For you, maybe (laughing). It's made for a longer schedule, and with this writer's strike potentially coming up, I'm not sure how exactly it might affect us.

Has it affected the show so far? Are they trying to get a few more episodes in the can before a strike might happen?
Not really. I mean, it'll affect us if it continues for a period of time and we can't get back to work.

I've seen the first two episodes of season five. I think it's going to be a really fun season.
Yeah, it's a lot more fun. It's my favorite season so far, I think. If you want to watch out for couple, I would watch out for episode four and episode six. They're my two favorite episodes.

What's episode four? Can you give me a hint?
I can't give you any hints, because it would spoil it, but I'm telling you, watch four and six. You'll be happy you did, and the next time I talk with you, you'll thank me.

Go to our Melanie Griffith Interview >>