"Reeve May Recur on 'Smallville'"
January 11, 2003
The episode of "Smallville" featuring big-screen Superman Christopher Reeve begins shooting next week, and viewers will see it during February sweeps.
There's also a chance his character, a scientist named Swann who gives Clark Kent (Tom Welling) clues to his true identity, will become a recurring presence on the WB series.
Al Gough, one of the show's creators, told reporters Saturday (Jan. 11) at the TV Critics Association press tour that they'd like to have Reeve back, and the character could play a key role in the future of the series.
"Every hero needs a wise man," Gough says.
Gough says he and co-creator Miles Millar knew there would be a character in this season's story arc that would tell Clark about his origins and give clues about his destiny. In discussing the character, they decided Reeve would be a good person to play the part.
Reeve turned out to be a fan of the series, and everything else clicked into place.
"It's sort of passing the torch from one generation of 'Superman' to the next," Gough says.
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"The Real Girl"
December 26, 2002
Allison Mack, who plays high-school investigative journalist Chloe Sullivan on The WB's Tuesday hit "Smallville," doesn't get recognized much out on the street -- except when she's with co-star Kristen Kreuk, who plays Lana, the unreachable secret love of teen Superman Clark Kent (Tom Welling).
As rain patters on the roof of her trailer near the show's sets in Vancouver, Mack takes a break from filming and curls up on a leather couch. "They usually don't want to talk to me," Mack says. "They want to talk to [Kristin]. Honestly, I'd rather have it that way."
"I don't dress like Chloe. I'm more of a wearing-black girl, much more Club Monaco-esque. I don't wear makeup. I don't do my hair like this. I don't get it that bad, unless I'm with her. They'll recognize her, and then they'll figure out who I am."
"She can't get rid of her features. It's what makes her so beautiful, makes her stand out."
One fan comment, though, stands out in Mack's mind. "One of the girls that set up my Web site, who's really cool, she didn't ask me questions about the show; she just kept saying, 'You're such a cool character, such a great character. She speaks for such a great female generation.'"
"That's one of the best compliments I could have gotten, because I don't think there are many young role models for women out there. I'm not saying I'm a role model or putting myself on that pedestal, but [Chloe] is a very intelligent young woman, and that's a cool thing."
While Mack would like to see Chloe have a new hairdo -- including strawberry blonde streaks, although she's not holding her breath on this one -- she is happy about one thing that neither The WB nor the show's producers have asked her to change.
"One thing that I really like about Chloe," she says, "and it's a major issue for me that I want to become more involved with, is that she's not a stick. I'm not. I'm in good shape because I work hard, but I'm not a twig like the rest of the girls on television, and that's very cool."
"They're playing her as an attractive, sexy young woman that has a body that's normal and attainable. No one's talking about it [at the network or the studio]. I've only gotten compliments, and that makes me happy, because there are too many eating disorders out there."
While Mack acknowledges that a lot of pressure comes from TV producers and executives, she also thinks much of it is self-imposed. "Actresses do it to themselves. They think they need to be thin, and they're never thin enough, because when you're on camera, you look bigger than you actually are. Part of it is the actresses."
"Eventually, it will come around. We've got Drew Barrymore and Kate Winslet and women like that, who are extremely sexy and are not twigs. I had a lot of problems with image and eating; most actresses go through that. But you just have to find yourself and find when you feel the best."
"A huge part of it is having someone in your life who looks at you as if you're the most beautiful thing in the world, no matter if you're a size zero or 12 or 16 ... and encourages you to be as fit and healthy as possible and enjoy the pleasures of life, which are chocolate and Belgian waffles and hamburgers -- to enjoy that, but to a healthy extent."
Although she's strong and independent, Chloe still does carry a torch for dreamy Clark, but she just can't make the love connection.
"I don't think Chloe will ever move on from Clark," Mack says. "She's trying her damnedest. She really likes Lana, and she will always love Clark. She's trying to be Lana's friend and not do the jealousy thing, which is hard, and trying to be Clark's friend and not kiss him every time she sees him. Every episode, she has her heart broken at least once."
"My makeup artist would come up to me and say, 'Are you crying today?' Because there were a lot of tears happening with Chloe for a while, a little angst-ing. I don't think it's something Chloe will ever get over. That's why she becomes so successful, because she puts all of her emotions into her job."
While Chloe has ferreted out most of Smallville's bizarre secrets, she has yet to realize Clark Kent has superpowers. "Chloe doesn't pick up on that," Mack says. "It's all right. They're making her really smart, except for that. But Lex is supposed to be the smartest man in the world, and he never figures it out either."
Having just turned 20 this year, Mack spent the summer making the very grown-up move of buying a condo in Santa Monica, Calif. "I was dealing with closing escrow, going through buyer's remorse, all that stuff."
Buyer's remorse? "You never heard about that? Supposedl,y everybody who buys property goes through buyer's remorse, where they go, 'Oh, my God, have I made the right decision?' Then after you pay your first couple of mortgages, it's all OK."
After the buying, of course, comes the decorating. "Yeah, decorating the condo," sighs Mack. "I try to do artsy-craftsy things. I'm taking a pottery class with Kristen. I keep myself busy, I watch a lot of TLC."
Mack reveals she is a fan of TLC's home decorating show "Trading Spaces," in which two sets of neighbors have two days and $1,000 to decorate rooms in each other's homes, with the help of a decorator and a carpenter.
"I love watching that show," Mack says. "You get some cool ideas. I don't know if I'd ever participate."
But maybe she would, if lanky carpenter Ty Pennington showed up. Mack smiles. "I like Ty."
CYBERSPATIAL ANOMALIES: Mack has an official homepage, at www.allisonmack.com, which features a newsletter and a way to send fan mail. There's also "Allison Mack: The Unofficial Fan Network" at www.allison-mack.com, part of a "Smallville" Web ring, which links to other Mack-centric and "Smallville" sites.
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"Checking in with Kristin Kreuk"
December 17, 2001
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Keri Russell, Katie Holmes, Alyson Hannigan -- the list goes on.
While Kristin Kreuk has accepted the possibility that she'll become another brightly shining teen starlet born of The WB Network, thanks to her role as Lana Lang on the promising rookie drama "Smallville" (The WB, 9 p.m. ET, Tuesdays), she thinks she'll distinguish herself from the pack.
"I haven't really thought about the comparison thing," says the actress at a media schmooze-fest where she's too young to drink the alcohol being served.
"I think that I'm different from other actresses on WB. Partly because of my Asian side -- my look -- I don't think I come across like Katie Holmes does on-screen."
Canadian-born Kreuk, whose only other television work is ABC Family's (formerly Fox Family Channel) "Edgemont," has a self-deprecating sense of humor and a sincerity that distinguishes her from actresses who have gotten caught up, as Kreuk describes it, in "this 'look-what's-happening-to-me,' magazine-spread thing."
Both her roles have been of a young girl who seems to transcend the typical teen trappings.
"I would never say that I was more mature than anybody else," Kreuk offers as a disclaimer. "You know what people say about teen-agers -- everything in their lives is so important, every little thing matters. I never was like that."
"It was always about finding out about myself, and finding about who I am, and how to be happy and peaceful and find balance," she says. "I guess that comes across in the characters I play."
Whether she'll find peace in the eye of an upcoming hurricane of fame remains to be seen.
Hometown: Vancouver, BC. "I've been so lucky because every show I've worked on has shot in Vancouver. I get to stay at home, live with my parents -- I'm planning on moving," she says, laughing.
Heritage: "I'm half-Chinese, half-Dutch." But born in Canada.
Hobbies: "I'm a home-body. I love reading a book at the beach, or going swimming."
Heroes: "I admire Sarah Polley -- both her acting and her ability to step away from Hollywood. She's so intelligent, and it's great that there's someone out there like that who's young."
Hangs out with: "All my friends are thinkers. Nothing particular in life has forced me to mature, just little things. My parents both worked, so I was independent from an early age."
by Stephen English
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Big Bad Dad
Friday, Febuary 14, 2003
With his leonine name and leonine mane, Lionel Luthor aims to be king of the jungle, even if that means picking up his cub, Lex (Michael Rosenbaum), by the scruff of the neck every so often and giving him a good shake.
But for Lionel's real alter ego, actor John Glover, it's more about having a good time.
"I hope I make Lex's life as bad as he makes mine," he says. "We have a fabulous time together -- Michael and I -- playing."
On The WB's Tuesday-night hit "Smallville," Lionel is the ruthless-tycoon father of the future nemesis of Clark Kent (Tom Welling), who will one day grow up to be Superman (as if all those red, blue and yellow clothes weren't a clue).
Last season, owing to Glover's theatrical commitments, Lionel was more of a distant menace, off in Metropolis and only dropping by Lex's little business enterprise in Smallville now and again to cause trouble. This season, with Glover firmly under contract, Lionel has been a strong presence, alternately enraging Lex and poking around the seemingly bottomless well of Kent family secrets.
One thing that's been keeping Lionel close to home is the blindness he suffered early in the season. "Oh, it's wonderful," Glover says. "To add that element to a guy who's so much in control and needs his power so much and needs to know everything ... to add that limitation to him, which will put in such a level of paranoia, which will make the manipulative things so much more complex -- is just wonderful."
A native of Salisbury, Md., Glover worked on Broadway for a decade before gaining attention by being slapped by Jane Fonda in 1977's "Julia." Turns out the role taught Glover a valuable lesson in playing characters the audience may perceive as bad -- but who seldom see themselves that way.
"I had the great honor and privilege to work very early on in my career with Fred Zinnemann, who directed 'Julia,' and I played this real smarmy sonofabitch. But when I went up to meet him in his hotel room that day, he said, 'You know, Sammy' -- the character's name was Sammy -- 'thinks of himself as being a very noble character.' It was my first clue to that, playing him. Now, I've played my fair share of villains."
"But that's the trick. They can't think of themselves as being evil. There's another mindset there."
All through the first and now second season of "Smallville," Lionel has battled, undercut, spied on, cheated and impeded Lex in the young man's attempts to assert his own business independence. The question is -- is it just Lionel being a bad dad, or is it all for Lex's own good?
"That's how I put it in my mind," Glover says. "That they're basically tests to strengthen him. I don't know how well you remember the pilot, but little Lex, on the day of the meteor shower" -- which heralded Clark's arrival in Smallville from outer space -- "he was just so terrified and frightened and couldn't be in the helicopter."
"So I've taken it from that -- that they're all tests to strengthen his character, to make him a stronger, better person, to take over the empire."
Asked if Lionel has a conscience, Glover says, "Yes, oh, yes."
But where? "Where? Deep in his soul. It's all based on strength. It's all for Lex. It's going to make him a stronger person. I have to look at it that way. I played a character in '52 Pick-Up' that was completely amoral, but Lionel is not. No, there's a conscience in there that's working."
Another twist this season is the addition of Clark's adoptive mother, Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole), as Lionel's personal assistant. This has caused more than a few problems with hubby Jonathan Kent (John Schneider), but has allowed the Kents to get a clearer picture of Lionel's curiosity about Clark.
Glover sees a connection between Martha, Lex's late mother, and the mysterious Rachel Dunleavy (Blair Brown). Rachel appeared in a November episode called "Lineage" as a crazed woman who believed Clark was the son she gave up for adoption.
As it turns out, that long-lost child was Lionel's. The episode "Prodigal," which aired last week, featured the return of Lucas Dunleavy (aka Lucas Luthor, portrayed by guest star Paul Wasilewski).
Paternal revelations aside, viewers may recall flashbacks showing Lex as a child adorned with flaming-red hair -- which offers Glover a clue to Lionel's romantic preferences.
"Martha's a redhead," Glover says. "I think Lex's mother was a redhead, too, as is Rachel. So Lionel's got something for redheads. There's something about her that's softening some part of Lionel. There's a part of Lionel that's never been seen before, that's starting to emerge as she comes around."
"She's an amazing woman. I can see why Lionel might want to fall in love with her -- oops, did I say that?"
Any fan of "Superman" knows Lex Luthor eventually turns out to be an evil megalomaniac, but his father's ultimate fate is less defined.
Lionel might even do something good, someday. "You mean I don't do good now?" Glover says. "What are you talking about? I do good almost every week. Like, in 'Jitters,' when we had to seal off the plant with the gas leak, and Lex was inside. I said, 'Go ahead, seal him in.' He came out a lot stronger for it. There, I've done good. I've strengthened him. I thought about it before I said to lock him in. I didn't do it just haphazardly."
"He's got a tough challenge in Lex. The strength of that child -- it's a challenge."
CYBERSPATIAL ANOMALIES ... "The Talon," located at www.purebluesun.com/thetalon/main.html , offers a manifesto on why Lex and Clark's schoolmate crush, Lana (Kristin Kreuk), should be together. Uh, can you say "jailbait" ?
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'Superman' Reeve Visits 'Smallville'
January 7, 2003
The WB confirmed Monday (Jan. 6) that Christopher Reeve, who played the Man of Steel and his alter ego, reporter Clark Kent, in four movies, will appear in an episode about Clark's teen years on The WB's hit drama "Smallville," during February sweeps.
Reeve will play a scientist who gives Clark a glimpse at his future superhero destiny.
Interestingly enough, Reeve isn't the only person to revisit the Superman legend. Annette O'Toole, who plays Clark's adopted mother Martha on the teen drama, starred opposite Reeve as Clark's high school sweetheart Lana Lang in 1983's "Superman III." Kristin Kreuk plays Lana on "Smallville."
The WB will also air and public service announcement following the upcoming episode for the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation founded by the actor after he was paralyzed from the neck down in a 1995 horseback riding accident.
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"Clark Kent sees 'Red' in 'Smallville'"
October 14, 2002
It's a day of mixed weather in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada -- either warm, bright sunshine or sudden rain showers. However, inside converted warehouses next to a frozen-food distribution company, it's always a day in Kansas -- and the weather today is partly cloudy with a major chance of severe thunderstorms.
In production on the sets of The WB Network's hit "Smallville" is an episode called "Red," written by Jeph Loeb and currently scheduled to air Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 9 p.m. ET. After a season-plus of being the best-behaved alien teen with superpowers in the whole world, Clark Kent is about to kick loose, and woe to anyone who gets in his way.
Clark, played by newlywed heartthrob Tom Welling, has handed over hard-earned money for a class ring, unaware that the red stone is actually a fragment of a meteor rock. This time, though, instead of the green kryptonite that makes Clark ill, it's red kryptonite, which apparently makes him want to wear leather, ride a motorcycle and plant a lengthy, passionate kiss on classmate Lana (Kristin Kreuk), the object of his ill-concealed affections.
Sprung from near-obscurity to pin-up status in one season, Welling still is capable of having an effect on those who see him regularly. Shot inside the set of the Talon, Lana's coffeehouse, the kissing scene is watched on monitors in breathless silence by crew members. In the wake of the first take, some sigh, fan themselves, or let out exaggerated breaths. One jokes, "I can't watch that; it's dirty."
For Welling -- who shrugs off reports of the crew's reactions -- it's not so much about filming the kiss as what its effect will be on the characters.
"Those kind of scenes, where you're kissing the other actors, oddly enough, Al [Gough] and Miles [Millar], our writers, always write them in situations where at least one person involved in the interaction won't remember it," he says, doffing his black-leather jacket and taking a break in the show's hospital set. "So, it's actually the aftermath that becomes more important."
Last season, in an episode called "Nicodemus," Lana was sprayed with a substance from a dangerous flower and lost all her inhibitions. "Lana kissed Clark, and she forgot," Welling says. "She asked him if anything happened, and he said, 'No, don't worry about it.' But that just gave him something to feed on and build on."
"This, in turn, will give Lana something to think about -- except, in this case, the red kryptonite itself, and the effect that it had on Clark, won't go away. He remembers what happens, so that in turn has its own repercussions in the relationships he has with people in this episode. I'd like to think he's more of a teenager in this episode. In other episodes, he's always watching himself."
"He's always weighing the consequences. In this one, there are just no consequences. There's just what he wants to do. It's very important to show that side of him, because it brings him more in touch with the reality of being a teenager."
"When you're an adolescent, that's when most of your passions and urges and desire to rebel come out," says Kreuk, relaxing in the same hospital set after finishing her scenes for the day. "That's when you explore and learn, so Clark Kent, of course, went through that. Even more so, because he has superpowers, because he's an outsider, his parents aren't his parents, and he's an alien. He has to deal with all that."
Just because Clark's kiss makes Lana's knees buckle, don't expect her to fall head over heels. "Clark and Lana have issues," Kreuk says. "Her major issue with him is how secretive he is. He lies to her; he can never tell her the truth. She can never be with somebody who does that, and she knows that."
"Red" also reinforces the new role of Clark's pal Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), who last week joined Clark's adoptive parents (John Schneider, Annette O'Toole) as keepers of the Boy of Steel's secret.
It's a big change from the first season, when many fans thought that the Pete character -- who was introduced in the original DC comics -- was underused. "Honestly," Welling says, "I think they brought Sam on not knowing his potential. It was like a firecracker that someone put in their hand, and they figured it wouldn't do much, but it blew their hand off. I think they went, 'Ouch!'"
"They really started to see him shine. I think it's interesting for the show, to bring in a different dynamic. It gives Clark someone to talk to. Mom and Dad don't understand, they're old, and they're parents. What parents understand their child?"
"There's going to be a big bond between Clark and Pete this year," says Jones, taking a break outdoors in the fresh Canadian air, "because of the simple fact that they're going to be spending a lot more time together."
"This year, you're going to see why they're friends. You're going to see that Pete's really there for Clark. It's going to be really cool to see this friendship grow, because Tom and I have become good friends in the last year. It'd be cool to get some of that stuff we have caught on camera."
"I'm like the man behind the man."
As the day winds to an end for Welling, he starts to head out the door, still wearing the leather motorcycle jacket. Asked if he gets to keep it, he flashes the same dazzling smile that a female co-worker says "makes it all worth it."
"We'll see," he says before driving off into the sunset, just like the superhero young Clark Kent is destined to become.
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Tom Welling, 'Smallville's' Model Hero
October 2, 2001
Before he got hired to play the teen Clark Kent/Superman on the new WB series "Smallville," airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET, Tom Welling made his living as a model in the United States and Europe.
"It's a whole different world," he says of modeling. "I quit last year, and I'd been doing it for about two years before that."
Asked if he liked it, Welling says, "I had a good time. I made a little bit of money and traveled a lot, had a lot of fun. But I was ready to move on and find something a little more fulfilling for myself."
"I like doing more in front of the camera. At the end of the day, I feel like I've gotten more done when I'm working as an actor, rather than as a model, just standing there smiling."
One wonders what models think when they're just standing there. "I never really knew," says Welling, "and that's why I'm not doing it any more."
Besides, as a model, a guy seldom gets to leap off tall buildings. "I do as many stunts as reasonably possible," Welling says, "to give the directors more opportunity in the editing room. I actually jumped off a two-story barn and did a split-second of free-fall before the ratchet and the harness caught me. That was a great time. That was fun."
Then there was the fire. "I was walking through a hallway the other day, then they brought in the special effects and made it completely aflame, the worst fire I've ever seen, and there I am, walking through it. It's amazing. It made me look good."
"The great thing about acting is, in every scene, there's a little something different and a little something exciting. You put those all together, and you have yourself a great job."
by Kate O'Hare
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