eason one of Smallville, covering the early years of the Man of Steel, was widely acclaimed last year as the best new show on television. The series managed to combine a great-looking cast (a la Dawson's Creek) with mysterious mutants (a la The X-Files), and comes up with a fantastic new slant on the origins of the flying crimebuster.
Cleverly veering away from the stereotypical "man in tights" scenario, Warner Brothers has gone for the "boy in jeans" look, and cast Tom Welling in the role of Clark Kent, an adolescent Superman in the making.
Soft-spoken, open and as modest as they come, Welling is perfect for the part of small-town farm boy destined for greater heights. Born and raised in New York, Welling—6'3" of body beautiful—was strutting his funky stuff as a model before taking the brave step of moving to Los Angeles to further his acting career.
Why did you choose to give up a lucrative career in modeling to attempt the far riskier challenge of acting?
Welling: I'd been to a few auditions in New York and received some really good feedback, which helped boost my confidence level, and I just felt I could go for it. I decided to give it my best shot and work as hard as I could, and it's paid off for me.
How did you end up as Clark Kent in Smallville?
Welling: The usual way. I went in for a couple of auditions and you know, you do one and then you move up to the next level and eventually they choose you.
What was it about the script that made you take the part?
Welling: The first thing was that it was such a different take on what had gone before. I mean, we all know what Clark is going to become in a few years' time and we all know where characters like Lex and Clark's parents are going to be a few years down the line. So I was intrigued with how the writers were going to get them there and wanted to be part of that journey.
Another interesting thing was that the writers dealt with Clark as a human rather than an alien. You know, for the most part he's an adolescent kid trying to fit in with the rest of the guys. He worries about class assignments and getting on the football team and dealing with his feelings for Lana Lang [Kristen Kreuk] and all of those things, but at the same time, he knows his special abilities set him apart from the rest of his friends. He can do all these incredible things but doesn't fully understand them or why or how he can do them.
He can't share any of this with his friends, even his parents don't fully understand why or how he's like he is, so it was appealing to me to be able to take the role and try to portray Clark dealing with all of those issues.
How much research did you do for the role of Clark Kent?
Welling: I didn't really do much. I actually made the choice not to do research on anything that has already been done, because I wanted to approach things from a fresh perspective and create my own version of Clark Kent. In fact, I was watching TV one night and saw an episode of The New Adventures of Superman where he asked his parents where he'd come from and I jumped up and turned the television off because I wanted the character I play to find out from his own "parents."
What can you tell us about your version of Clark Kent?
Welling: Well, he's from the planet Krypton and he came to Earth in a spaceship during a meteor shower which fell on the town of Smallville, killing Lana's parents and generally causing havoc, which Clark feels is somehow his fault. He was found and raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent [John Schneider and Annette O'Toole], who adopted him, and they have a very strong parent/child bond. He goes to Smallville High School with his two best friends, Pete Ross [Sam Jones III] and Chloe Sullivan [Allison Mack]. Fate and a spectacular car crash bring Clark and Lex Luthor [Michael Rosenbaum] together and they quickly become best friends, too.
At the beginning and throughout season one, Clark is just discovering the extent of some of his powers. In the pilot, we find out he has great strength and speed and is indestructible. For instance, Lex hitting with his car should have killed him, but obviously doesn't, and then he's developing more powers like X-ray vision as he grows. When the X-ray vision first manifests itself, Clark kinda gets a headache and doesn't know how to control it and it's all very confusing. As the season progresses he has more control, so starts to home in on his abilities. Clark has more "gifts" to come, but he doesn't know that at this point, so it's a real voyage of discovery for him.
Are you looking forward to finding out what the other "gifts" are?
Welling: Absolutely! That's really what the show is about, him finding out who he is and why he's here. I have no idea which of his other abilities are in store. I'll be finding out along with everybody else and, yes, I'm really looking forward to that.
How difficult is it is to play an adolescent?
Welling: It's not really difficult, because when we first meet Clark, he is kind of thrust into a whole bunch of situations that are new to him, with these abilities that he's trying to come to terms with and learn more about, and I'm kind of in the same situation. I haven't had a lot of experience in television, but just somehow found my way here with some acting abilities, which I'm told I have, and which I want to develop to the full. So in a way, it's very simpatico that Clark is learning about himself as I'm learning about myself trying to develop him.
And then, most of our audience has either been through or is going through adolescence, and what's great about our show is that it touches on issues and topics that all of us recognize from our own experiences, and I just draw on that.
Why do you think Clark uses his powers for good rather than evil?
Welling: I think it's all down to his upbringing. If he'd been found by Lionel Luthor [John Glover] for instance, then he would have grown up with an entirely different set of values. You have to ask yourself, "Why doesn't he just go into the bank and just take the money?" or "Where does the desire to do the right thing come from?" and the answer is right there with Clark's parents. What I really like about our show is that Martha and Jonathan are not out of the loop. They are there for Clark to go to whenever he needs them, and though they are grappling with Clark's abilities as much as he is, they always promote them as positive, special "gifts" which are just a part of what makes Clark who he is.
There are many different relationships centered round Clark. Which is the most interesting for you?
Welling: There are many different relationships. There's Chloe, Pete and Clark, three friends just trying to make sense of high school and the weirdness that abounds in Smallville. There's the Lana/Whitney [Eric Johnston] thing, which is interesting, because we know that Lana and Clark don't get together in the end, but all through Smallville they get this close. There's Clark's very close relationship between his mom and his dad and then, of course, there's the conflict between Clark, his father and Lex. For whatever reasons, mainly to do with Lionel Luthor, Jonathon doesn't want his son to have anything to do with Lex, but recognizes that he has to give Clark the space to make his own decisions.
I find the Clark/Lex relationship the most interesting, because you know where both these characters are going to end up, but it's how they get there that's the intriguing part. Often when we see them, it's like, "Is Lex going to find out about Clark's abilities? Are they going to stay friends? Is Lex going to go good, is he going to go bad?" ... so many times it's just on that fine line and then something happens to keep us guessing. I think it keeps the intensity there and creates a really good energy between us. And Michael [Rosenbaum] is great to work with. He's a very talented actor and I've learned so much from him. He always tells me to push the limit and always tries to screw around with the material and play with it and enjoy it.
Have you any idea what causes them to swing from best friends to mortal enemies?
Welling: I haven't a clue, but it must be something pretty momentous. My wish would be to see the beginning of that battle start in some future season of Smallville.
What can you tell us about season two?
Welling: Absolutely nothing! Honest! They don't tell us a thing, in case we give it all away to journalists. Seriously, I really don't know much. I can tell you that in this episode, three twisters hit the town, causing massive destruction, which leads to circumstances that change everybody's lives forever. We're going to lose one of the residents of Smallville, but I can't tell you which one. Both Lionel Luthor and Lana are in deadly peril, and Whitney is going off to join the Marines, so it could be any of them.
I've heard that in season two, Clark develops a new ability and that a friend finds out about his special powers, but other than that, I'm as intrigued as the next person to find out what they have in store. There's talk about us exploring the relationships between some of the characters more, you know, Lex's relationship with his father, the relationship between Lana and Clark and Chloe and Clark, and I think we're going to find out a lot more about people's past. But that's it.
What other wishes do you have for the show?
Welling: Just that people keep watching and enjoying the show and keep telling us what they think of it. That we keep improving on the great start we made in season one and make season two even better. I think one of the great things is that we, meaning the cast and crew and writers and producers and everyone else involved in the production, really care about what we put out on screen. We really care about each other and my wish is that that continues for a very long time.
Also in this issue:
Philip Haas of Lathe of Heaven.
