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> >From Zap2it,
> Julu 15th/2002
>
> **'Charmed' to Be Irish**
>
> Late last year, independent film star Rose McGowan was
> having a hard time coping with the long hours and relentless
> schedule of the Sunday-night series "Charmed," on
> which she plays Paige, the long-lost half sister of the
> Halliwell siblings (Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano).
>
> Used to an unpredictable movie life, McGowan drew on innate
> abilities to manage the situation.
> "It's very hard for movie actors," she reveals during the
> network's up-front presentation to advertisers in New York.
> "It's probably easier to get a sitcom.
> The thing with movies is, you have a life punctuated by work, and
> this is like work punctuated by a little personal life.
> I do like the other side.
> I love having my lazy days; I think everybody does."
>
> "Being on a 90-hour-a-week schedule is tough. But I'm a trouper.
> I do whatever I have to do. I'm Irish. I pull up my work straps, just
> keep going. Irish people, I generally find, have a really
> strong work ethic.
> We do what we have to do, get down in the trenches, buckle down.
> Or you put on a lot of lip gloss and fake it."
>
> Born in Italy as one of six children of an Irish father and a
> French mother, McGowan moved to the United States when
> she was nine years old.
> A chance encounter in Los Angeles led her to be cast in
> writer-director Gregg Araki's 1995 film "The Doom Generation."
>
> After several indie film roles -- including one in "Southie," as
> the sister of Donnie Wahlberg's character -- McGowan took a
> chance on television last year and signed on to the fourth
> season of "Charmed."
>
> The character of Paige -- given up for adoption because she was
> the result of a forbidden love affair involving the Halliwells'
> mother -- was created in the wake of the departure of original
> series star Shannen Doherty, whose character, Prue, was killed off.
>
> Because her father was a White Lighter, a mystical guardian of good
> witches, Paige has interesting magical abilities, including "orbing,"
> which involves popping instantly from place to place.
>
> Thrown into the deep end of the witch world, Paige spent the last
year
> coping with her new sisters and their strange existence, which
includes
> regular battles -- and even occasional romances-- with demons.
>
> Sporting long brunette locks and hip-hugging pants as Paige,
> McGowan says the most fun of the past season was "wearing cute, sassy
> clothes.
> I buy a lot of my own clothes.
> I like to wear what I like to wear.
> It's not necessarily what I would wear, but I like very much
> designing characters. I'm very hands-on."
>
> As to flashing a lot of bare belly, McGowan says,
> "Well, you know, what are you going to do? Gotta do it.
> I don't like showing my [breasts] as much, so I think the belly
> was a safer area."
>
> "Charmed" fans might have a hard time recognizing McGowan in New
York.
> Her dark curls are gone, replaced by a sleek, chin-skimming style
> in light auburn, which sets off her pale sweater and leather skirt.
>
> "I got really tired of looking like myself," McGowan explains.
> "I could be blessed with red hair, but I'm not.
> But I don't think I like natural red hair as much as the choice
> of red hair."
>
> Although The WB had a panic attack when "Felicity" star Keri Russell
> chopped her long, curly locks, McGowan's new 'do hit smooth sailing.
>
> "[Producer Brad Kern) loved it.
> They were all over it.
> I just tried it out on [WB Entertainment Chief] Jordan Levin.
> He loved it. He was the only person I was worried about. I'm in."
>
> For a long time, McGowan was romantically linked with shock
> rocker Marilyn Manson, but these days, she says,
> "My secret thing is probably the blond, blue-eyed Iowa boy."
>
> In the 4th season opener, Paige had a boyfriend, played by Jordan
> Bridges, but the Halliwells' perpetual demon danger torpedoed that
> romance.
> After that, things became rocky for Paige.
>
> "In the beginning, every week, there was a new dude," McGowan says,
> "and I complained, 'Come on now!'
> Then I went to being the total opposite.
> So if we can find a happy middle. I don't have to be a total slut,
> but I also don't have to be Miss Nun."
>
> Asked if she has a preference for human or demon, McGowan replies,
> "Oh, I don't care. As long as they don't have goofy makeup on,
> I don't care.
> No horns. Not down with the horns."
>
> However, McGowan doesn't mind if one of Paige's former paramours,
Glen
> Belland (Jesse Woodrow), makes a return appearance.
> "I'm lobbying for him to come back.
> Now that I've remembered him and put it in my brain,
> there'll be a chance.
> He was a sweetheart."
>
> Although McGowan enjoys her stint on "Charmed," which has moved
> into its fall slot on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET, she doesn't
> plan to make television her career.
> "I was never interested in doing television," she says.
> "I don't think I still would ever do a show from the pilot,
> because that would mean you potentially have five years.
> That's a commitment I can't live with."
>
> "Even if 'Charmed' goes seven years, it will still only be three
> for me, so it's worth it.
> I like the get-in, get-out thing, hop on the train while it's
> moving.
> My attention span is such that it doesn't last that long."
>
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