s the sixth season of the hit WB series Charmed winds to an end, Science Fiction Weekly was lucky enough to sneak into their chamber of secrets for a behind-the-scenes look at the film's final days of production. Though the spellbinding sisters, who are played by Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan and Holly Marie Combs, were not on set during this particular visit (off conjuring spells, one supposes), supporting cast members Drew Fuller, Dorian Gregory and Billy Drago graciously took the time to reveal a few of the show's secrets, and hinted at the dark days to come.
Drew, how has your first full year of television work been?
Fuller: This is my third time around with The WB. I had a pilot three years ago that never made it off the ground, and then I had a show last year and we shot seven episodes, and so this was actually my first full complete year on network television. So as much as you think, "Oh yeah, it's going to be easy," literally, once you get to episode 13 and you're working every single day—I live about an hour from work—at 5 a.m., and it's a little bit of grind after all.
Does the supernatural aspect of the show appeal to you?
Fuller: It's different. It's fun. I think the biggest reason Charmed is such a success is because nobody takes it too seriously. Everyone kind of takes it for what it is and has fun with it, these boundaries that we've been given. It's fun, but it's much harder, I think, than a mystery or just a normal television drama, because here you have to make dragons and witches and potions and spells all really believable. In order for the audience to even believe it a bit, you have to sell it. I think that element is a big challenge.
Were you a fan of the show before you joined the cast?
Fuller: You know, I don't watch that much television, but when I found out there was a possibility that I could be on the show, I started watching [it] to get a feeling for the comedy element, and what they were going for.
Is there any actor or performer on set you get along better with than anyone else?
Fuller: Someone asked me the other day, "So, do you have a favorite?" and I was like, "I can't say that because, of course, it's going to get back to someone and then I'll hurt someone else's feelings." All of [the cast members] have a very individual personality, and so I connect with each person really differently. I share something in common with everyone, which is really cool.
Can you give us a specific example?
Fuller: I think I learned the most, acting-wise, from Alyssa. She's fearless in her approach to acting. I mean, she's been doing it for so long and she's so confident and comfortable that she'll, take after take, do something different and new every time, and she's not afraid to go for that. I've really taken that as inspiration. Rose is one of the smartest individuals I've ever met in my entire life. That girl is a power-reader; she can read a book in three hours, and she retains everything, and she's lived all over the world, and she's so knowledgeable about filming things. Holly is just the sweetest individual ever. She's just so awesome; whenever I felt I had a problem or something I wanted to talk about, I'd go to Holly immediately. Brian is a sports guy, and he and I can talk about sports for hours.
Do the writers try to invest the characters with a lot of your own personality quirks?
Fuller:I think a little, yeah. There's a lot of inside jokes for us, like something that we would get that I don't know if the audience would catch on to, like names of boyfriends or something would be the name of their real-life boyfriend, or something like that. I think yes, there's a part of me in Chris, but I've had to bring that. It's not like they sat me down and watched how I act and tried to incorporate that into the character. I felt it's been entirely character-driven, and then I've had to bring my personality to it; I'm not bringing the character to me, I'm bringing me to the character.
Has your run on Charmed turned out the way you expected?
Fuller: Truth be told, I was originally signed on for two episodes, and that was going to be the season finale of last year with the possibility of two more, obviously depending on how well I gel with the cast. Then they saw the dynamic and they liked what they saw, and they called me over the summer and told me they were going to pick me up for the whole season, which was great. They kind of started hinting at "We're going to make you the son," and "You're going to be the son from the future that helps save the family."
So I've kind of known all along, and that's actually been the hardest thing. I mean, it's easy for a character, because now I have a direction; I know my relationship with Holly and Brian is much different than it would have been if I wasn't their son, but it was also more difficult because I couldn't tell anyone, whether it was in interviews or on set. I think they told me before they told anyone else, so it really helped my character because it set the story; they didn't know I was their son, but I did.
What can you tell us about the upcoming season finale or next season?
Fuller: I don't know anything about next season, but the season finale came up on us very quickly this year, and I think this is one of the first years where they had an overall arc, because one of the things about the show is that you can watch Charmed and put it in any order whatsoever and you won't feel like you need to see last week's [show]. This year, there's been an arc with my character, coming in and trying to save the family, protecting my brother from turning evil, and I think they're going to try to develop another full story next year.
Dorian Gregory, how has Charmed continued to surprise you over the past six years?
Gregory: Every season is a surprise. One thing I love about the show is that there are no boundaries and no parameters. Every season is a super surprise. I mean, what surprised me most about this season is the last six episodes, as far as where it's going and where it ends up. You're going to be shocked.
Can you give us some hints?
Gregory: I so wish I could, but when you see it you'll understand. Your whole thoughts about everything are going to be cleared up, redefined and shocked [laughs].
What's been the big challenge for you this season in terms of character development?
Gregory: Darryl has grown so much, I think. I find that Darryl has had to take a huge leap, if you go back to the beginning of what he was all about from the pilot to where he is now. What I really like about Darryl is that he's this guy that we all love, and he had his own manual on life. And what the show has forced him to do is redefine everything that he thought was true, and I think that's what life is all about. You go into it believing one thing, and you end up having the rug just taken out from under you. The fact that he's adjusted and embraced it ... now when you look at Darryl, he's more interesting. I just find that there's more depth to him, and I think that's what happens in life, period. I think that's what this ride has done for him.
Let's take it one step further. Darryl was clueless; it's not even that he had an inkling of something in existence, Darryl didn't think anything was in existence. Darryl was brought in by T.W. King, who was his partner, and the only reason he was even helping was because he was an old-school kind of cop. I was his partner, but I still had to go by the book, and then it segued into where he had a real affinity for the girls, as far as building a family; he was a huge family man, and that's what these girls were all about.
Does the fantasy element transcend the show and make an impact on your real life?
Gregory: That's what I love about Charmed. I came to the show embracing everything, embracing the unknown, and embracing things that I don't understand, and I find that this show is really good about putting that little bit of "maybe" in it so it's not so far out in left field that you say, "No way, nohow, no possibility." It always leaves me with a question of "Huh. This thing that I thought couldn't be might be, and the thing that happened to me 15 years ago that was just a bump, maybe wasn't."
Billy Drago, you usually seem to get a lot of dark roles.
Drago: They have no redeeming social qualities whatsoever.
On Charmed, you play the demon of fear, right?
Drago: Actually, on part one of this two-part episode, I get to be the demon of hope. Now, hope ... is a demon, but without hope there's no fear.
Do you feel like your role has given you the opportunity to evolve as an actor?
Drago: I understand it's a series and all that, but it's a unique opportunity to explore "What's fear all about?" Because fear is just another energy. To get paid and stroked to explore what I'm afraid of and how I deal with it, and to use that same energy in the character makes it fun. It's a unique educational opportunity for me, because everybody's afraid at some point.
What are you afraid of?
Drago: I used to be terrified, and I still am, of heights. I've shot many, many high scenes, done a lot of high work in film, but in all this exploration, these times I've been lucky enough to play this character through the years of the series, I've finally realized in some sense, without sounding completely like an idiot, everybody's fear comes down to that fear of the unknown, what's going to happen. That's been the interesting thing to me, to explore all of the fears, and all of them seem to come down to that; I mean, that's the one thing we haven't figured out yet, and that's why [we have] religion and evil and good and all that.
Your character seems to change frequently. How do you maintain an emotional connection with Barbas?
Drago: Well, he's always a demon, but I try not to judge him, and I try to approach him from an audience's point of view. I try not to judge what it is he's doing at all, so he's only just doing the right thing. Fear is a necessity; in order to survive, you have to be afraid or there's no fight-or-flight syndrome, so I think he's doing the right thing every time.
Does it become difficult to keep your bearings on the character when he is changing so frequently?
Drago: I find in one sense not that it's getting more difficult, it's just that I find that I have to fight the "habits," like I have a habitual way of behaving and so I have to go back and look at some of the episodes and say, that's acting out of habit rather than acting out of the moment. The struggle for me as a creative person has just been to define the way to continually look at fear or hope or any of those demons that I've played, to look at them each time from a fresh, new perspective. I have to remind myself, "OK, forget you've done this before." Each time I try to do something brand-new and learn something myself.
Back to the top.
