The Smallville cast reflects in NYCC on what made this Superman different

That Kleinville Cast can’t stop talking about Michael Rosenbaum. While the actor who brought Lex Luthor to the small screen wasn’t present at New York Comic-Con’s Smallville cast reunion, many of the panel’s anecdotes, jokes, and plugs revolved around him. Moderated by Walt Disney World entertainer Cameron Matthews, the panel welcomed John Glover (Lionel Kent), Erica Durance (Lois Lane), Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang) as well as Clark Kent himself, Tom Welling – the host a Kleinville Rewatch the Talk Ville podcast with Rosenbaum. “Michael’s an idiot,” he said, “so it’s a lot of fun.”

Looking back on the show, which ran for 10 seasons and 200+ episodes on The CW, it’s impressive that the show has maintained its character-driven story and maintained its “no flights, no tights” policy for so long. Twenty years later, audiences are expecting superhero shows to come to The Suit, the crossover event, and reveal the great bad right away. As Welling said to the other cast members on stage, regarding the “no flights, no pantyhose” phrase he had written into his contract, firmly believing that “if we had put the suit on, we wouldn’t have lasted 10 years.” in Season 1.”

It gave them the freedom to slow down, be a drama series, and not be “bound” (Welling’s words) to any particular comic arc. Even a character like Glover, who could so easily be a campy villain, was humanized in the series. (The actor said the biggest compliment is when people stop him in the street and ask if he’s a good guy or a bad guy.)

Refusing to go that easy route “made the show focus on what it was supposed to focus on,” added Durance, who admitted to being the nerd on set and was aware that Lois too Clark’s life according to mythology should not occur at this time. (Meanwhile, Welling later admitted that while he knew who Lois Lane was, he didn’t realize Lana Lang was a comic book character until later in the series.) Indeed, Durance’s high energy was such a change that the writers began to giving her incomplete and running sentences in the script to reflect the way she speaks. Welling recalled asking him about it and saying, “Why are they doing this? I can screw up these lines all by myself.”

The general tone was jocular and upbeat, with Kreuk and Durance ripping Welling and Glover all three. An ongoing part was that Welling was in charge of casting the show, though in reality — ironically as an actor playing Superman — he wasn’t always aware of the power he held on set. “I didn’t want to cast Rosenbaum,” Welling joked, citing “his attitude” as the reason. “I just didn’t know we were going to click each other.” Durance said he was the only person who ever verbally abused her on set. “To be fair, he’s not,” she said.

“That’s nice of him,” Kreuk joked. “That’s nice of him. He pushes.”

One thing Welling (lovingly) promoted was pranks. Welling considered feuding with Rosenbaum a few times in later seasons while he was producing and directing the series. When Lex Luther has to give a speech as President of the United States in Season 7 Episode 18, they wrote a two-page speech for Rosenbaum to recite that they knew they weren’t going to do the episode and didn’t tell him until he was on the set that there was no teleprompter. “Didn’t someone put him in a green-screen suit, too?” Kreuk asked, and Welling raised his hand in embarrassment and explained that they had him dancing around like smoke in a skin-tight suit.

Image: Warner Bros.

However, the temperature in the room got pensive when a fan asked about working with Christopher Reeve and Welling shared a story about shooting the late one superman Actor on his last screen appearance before his death in 2004.

“Me and Greg Beeman, who was the showrunner at the time, flew to New York,” Welling said. “We had a day of shooting. Chris was only supposed to be there about three hours and I think he stayed about six and a half […] The idea was that we would shoot all his coverage, he would leave and then I would shoot all my stuff with someone else. But he wanted to stay with me, and it got to the point where his nurse said to him, “I’m going to call the police,” and he said, “For who?” and she’s like ‘On she. You are done. You can’t be here.” He really just wanted to be there and I think it turned out great. I didn’t know what to expect, but he didn’t want you to feel sorry for him.”

Ultimately, that dedication was something the entire cast can relate to, and they believe the show will endure without tights or flights all these years later. “Family,” Glover said. “It’s about family. It attracts everyone. We all have families, and that was special because there was one a very special boy.”

“I think it’s about the weirdness that makes you special,” Kreuk repeated. “Everyone has this desire, what makes them kinda weird or different is what actually sets them apart. It’s an ambitious kind of dream.” It’s reassuring to see stories where these values ​​prevail when the world or a person’s personal life is difficult. For Welling, it’s about the simple concept of identity that defines superhero stories Kleinville accessible to all, no matter who they are: “Who am I? Why I’m here? What should I do?”