Superman on Television

Interview with "Smallville" Actor Tom Welling

Titan Magazines contacted the Superman Homepage to pass on an interview with Tom Welling (who plays Clark Kent in the hit TV show "Smallville") as a preview for what we can expect from the release of the "Smallville Yearbook" which goes on sale on May 25, 2004.



Tom Welling Tom Welling on Smallville:

"It wasn't Lois & Clark. It wasn't Superman. It was about a high school kid. Going into that first audition, I didn't know how anyone could prepare to play this role, and as I was waiting in the room to go in to the audition, I realized that you have to take everything that makes this kid a super hero, and throw it out the window. I had to do it just like a normal kid. The special effects and everything else would help fill in the blanks - and that's how I've tried to attack this material, even now."

Tom Welling on filming the first few episodes of Smallville:

The first few episodes of the series were taxing for cast and crew. "The biggest challenge for me was rest," Welling admits. "We were out of control as far as production goes, working sometimes 20 hour days, and working on three different episodes at one time. That's changed now: things are more predictable and easier. It's simpler to wrap your brain around what to expect when you go to work, and what you're working on. I had no idea what it was going to be like - I had nothing to compare it to."

Tom Welling on Clark Kent:

Tom Welling Unlike some of his colleagues, Welling wasn't a great Superman fan when he was growing up, so he wasn't concerned if something in the script might contradict a minor piece of continuity from the middle panel of an obscure issue of a 1950s Superman comic. "I am able to go at Clark with only the information that they give me on Smallville in the scripts," he says. "I don't know who he's going to become, so I'm figuring him out at the same time as he's figuring himself out."

Tom Welling on meeting Christopher Reeve:

Welling's lack of knowledge of Superman gave rise to some humor between him and Christopher Reeve when the past and future super heroes met for the filming of Rosetta. "We were being interviewed, and they were asking Christopher about Superman, and what he would do, and Christopher was saying, 'Shush - he's not supposed to hear this yet! He doesn't know who this Superman is. Don't tell him!'

Tom Welling looks back at the first three years of Smallville:

Looking back at the first three years of the show, Welling comments that "what gives me the most satisfaction is watching the pilot, because we've come along so far - myself included. That always puts a smile on my face, because at the time I was really figuring it all out at once, but now we've all grown up a little bit: the production, myself, the scripts, the storylines. Everything! For me it's very entertaining to watch Clark."