NIP/TUCK'S McMAHON MAKES IT IN THE MOVIES

Julian McMahon used to be defined by his relationship to other people. He was Mr Dannii Minogue for about a year ... and he's the son of Australian Prime Minister William McMahon.

But now the law student turned model, turned successful actor is carving out a name for himself in his own right.

His role as plastic surgeon Christian Troy in Nip/Tuck brought him fame, fortune, and a Golden Globe nomination. He followed that up with the role of comic book villain Dr Doom in Fantastic Four, and now he has his first conventional leading man role in Premonition.

Sandra Bullock stars as a housewife whose husband (McMahon) dies in a car crash. She is shocked when he turns up alive and well the following day.

Bullock concludes she has seen a premonition of her husband's death and does all she can to prevent it.

McMahon says: "I'm always attracted to something that is a little kind of skewed, a little kind of off. But I like those characters that are a little more extraordinary than just everyday life. That's what I kind of like playing, and that's what I seem to have spent most of my career doing."

The 39-year-old Australian has spent the past 18 months working round the clock.

"Nip/Tuck is definitely a consistent grind. It's a lot of hard work," he says. "We're doing a seven-day work week, which means we have to get the episode in within seven days. We have mountains and mountains of dialogue, and it's all very emotional. So you can't just walk through it. The only thing about film is usually you just have a lot more time.

"I mean, Fantastic Four is a little ridiculous. You could do like two-eighths of a page a day and you're happy with it. On Premonition, you do maybe a page or two a day, but it's still nothing compared to 10, 12 pages.

"The capacity of work is very different. They're both fun, but at the same time, they are different beasts."

Premonition is his first shot at holding up a role against an A-list Hollywood star. Bullock is one of Hollywood's major players and the film relies on their relationship. But McMahon didn't feel he had to work hard to create screen chemistry.

"It just comes or it doesn't, you know?" he says. "I feel like I have chemistry with anything. But then you've got somebody like Sandy, and you've got two personalities which just kind of play off each other.

"You can talk for hours and you can have a laugh, and you get each other's sensibilities and understandings, and you kind of connect."

Coming up next for McMahon is the second FF movie, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer.

McMahon wanted to do as many of his own stunts as he could in the new movie. Not just because it looked better, but because he didn't want anyone else to hog the fun.

"The last month and a half of me shooting that was me in this outfit," he says. "It weighed, I think, between 40 and 60 pounds, depending on what cape I had on, which is a lot of weight to carry around. I was up about 50 or 60ft high, with a half-cut-off surfboard.

"That was just intense," he says with satisfaction.

Premonition (12A) opens in Glasgow tomorrow. Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer opens on August 10.