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2003 TV News Archives

May 1, 2003: “Smallville” in Canadian TV Guide

A recent issue of the Rogers Cable Edition TV Guide (April 5 - 11) in Canada featured Tom Welling on the cover, and included the following article within...

"Flying High" by Kevin Dickson

THEY'RE NOT MADE OF STEEL, BUT SMALLVILLE'S UP-, UP-AND-COMERS ARE DEFINITELY MAD OF GOLD.

Their sudden superstardom has taken the talented Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk and Michael Rosembaum by surprise - but they're battling this evil together.

"There's been a lot of on-the-job training," says Welling, who plays the pubescent Clark Kent, sans acne but with fire-starting hormones, on the successful series. "And a lot of help from my cast mates. We still run lines on a daily basis and give each other ideas and tips."

"It gets easier," smiles Rosenbaum, a.k.a. the young Lex Luthor, pre-bad guy behavior. "It definitely gets easier."

The show's Vancouver production base, which keeps the cast away from Hollywood hysteria, is one reason for the cast's smooth adjustment. Local-girl-made-good Kristin Kreuk didn't even have to leave home base to take on the role of Lana Lang. "My life has always been in Vancouver," she smiles, the very smile that turns Clark into an awkward teen every time he's around Lana. "It makes it easier for me. A lot easier."

This "easy" lifestyle has enabled Kreuk to hold on to her other job, as Laurel on the Canadian teen drama Edgemont, while working on Smallville. "I only work on Edgemont on Sundays," she explains. "I don't know how long the show will keep going for. This might be its last year."

Smallville fans can breathe a sigh of relief - it's Edgemont's demise Kreuk is talking about. By contrast, Smallville's producers have already charted story arcs and cliffhangers for the next five yars and are flirting with plans to introduce young Bruce "Batman" Wayne sometime in either Season 3 or Season 4.

Perhaps the biggest even looming on the Smallville horizon right now is Lex's inevitable slide into darkness. While the producers are keeping his path to villainy top secret, Rosenbaum has his own ideas about what will turn Lex's heart black.

"I think it's going to be a lot of little things or big things along the way," says Rosenbaum. "Viewers are embracing the character because he has this vulnerability. He's trying to show the world he's not just another Luthor. And the viewers see these giant traumatic positions that he's put in - dealing with his father and his mother's death, being bald as a kid, growing up with no friends.

"I think the audience is going to be very upset [when he does go bad]," he continues, "and they can't hate him because they'll know why he's evil."

But, before Lex reveals his wicked ways, there's this little thing called a love triangle developing between Lana, Clark and Lex. Since Superman's mythology tells us Lana ultimately ends up with neither of the two, Kreuk finds it both amusing and interesting to figure out who Lana would prefer to date.

"I think Clark's your marrying type," she says. "he's cute. Heis king of funny and goofy. But Lex is really mysterious and has a lot of layers. You would definitely not want to marry him," she pauses. "Well, maybe that's because you know he's going to turn into the most evil man in the world."

Speculation aside, Kreuk knows Lana will never get her man on the show, and she's OK with that. "I think Lana ends up being Clark's confidante," she says. "She knows his secret, she knows his inclinations. It's interesting to see the journey from this romantic ping-pong game to the strong friendship that they have further down the line."

Smallville's last big journey is Clark's realization of his powers - something the show's writers are slow to reveal. It's clear the Man of Steel will never fly on Smallville, but viewers are definitely hungry for some new tricks. In the movies, Clark no only has super-speed and super-strength, but also super-hearing (he can trace phone calls to their sources), super-breath (he can extinguish a star in the sky), super-voice (he is a natural ventriloquist) among others. "If he gets all his abilities next week, I don't thing it's going to be as much fun to watch him struggle throug," says Tom Welling pesively. "I don't want his abilities to come too easily. It's the struggle that makes him interesting."

And, maybe he hasn't started leaping tall buildings because there aren't any in Smallville.

Thanks to Jym Limgenco for the lead on this article.