February 2004

Generation Lex

Thomasina Gibson talks to Michael Rosenbaum. He's a very naughty boy.

When Smallville first appeared on our screens, it wasn't just the wholesome Clark Kent who cornered the market in girlie sighs. The much maligned Lex Luthor (aka, the much admired Michael Rosenbaum) also caused the odd heart to flutter...Now battered, bruised, and without even a shirt on his back, Lex returns to Smallville via an unscheduled stopover on a deserted tropical island just outside Vancouver, British Columbia. Before he embarks on the third season of this hugely successful prequel to a comic book icon, Rosenbaum tells us what it's like playing the bald bad boy two years down the line.

"I have to say, 'It gets easier', " he begins. "I mean, I'm getting into the groove now. You know, getting used to my head being shaved and the makeup and all that kind of stuff..."

Ah, but does he still enjoy it? Rosenbaum pauses for a bit, then says, "It's a lovely job. The cast is amazing. The scripts are fantastic. For all those things, yes, I thoroughly enjoy the work. But as a human being, I would never do another episodic program as long as I live. Mark my words on that. Ever!"

We're not convinced, because nearly every person who's done episodic telly for any length of time swears at some point they won't do another series....but Rosenbaum is particularly adament. "EVER!" he affirms. "God bless that Smallville is a hit, because it would be a lot worse to be on a show where people offer a vague, 'I think I've heard of that' when you mention it. At least it's a great show that I'm on, but I don't want to do it again. Hopefully, I'll make a lot of money and get some respect, but no, I don't want to do this ever again. Even if they offered me a Lex Luthor spin-off, I'd wave goodbye."

Now, before you start panicking at the thought of losing Lex, do bear in mind that Michael Rosenbaum is a consummate tease, delivering the wickedest of lines with a straight face. Having announced that he'd never do episodic television again, he suddenly shrugs and then completely turns it around. "Well, actually, what would be fun would be if a spin-off was 'fast shot', like 24 or Alias, where it was just intense and had all these bad ass Mafia--not Mafia--but, you know, some bad ass villains and Lex."

The idea of bad-ass villains and and an even badder Lex cavorting about is massively appealing. We're sold. Staying in mischievous mode, he asks, "You think they're going to do an episode in the future, like ten years on, where I'm already evil...?" He bursts out laughing. "Nah! They couldn't do that because then they might as well just leave it. It'd be like opening a can of worms, plus it would give too much away...but then, everyone knows I become evil, so...."

Is he actually going to become evil in the series? We've seen little evidence of it so far. Rosenbaum is surprised that we're not so sure. "You don't think I'm going to become evil?" Leaning forward, he fixes his patented Luthor stare and whispers, "You're gonna see such darkness. I don't know when. Well, I do know...but I can't tell you."

Dire threats of torture garner a raised eyebrow and a very knowing smirk. "I just think you are going to see little touches and nuances every now and then. With season three especially, you're going to see little twists and turns that leave you wondering about Lex's true motivations."

Any objections to Lex's less-than-pure intentions toward Clark Kent are met with classic disdain. "I love to stir trouble with that family," he drawls. "Especially with Jonathan Kent." Lex has had more than the odd run-in with the dyed -in-the-wool farmer and dad to aformentioned super-teen. From their cool introduction, minutes after running his kid off a bridge and into the river, and throughout Smallville's first two seasons, Jonathan Kent hasn't been backwards at coming forwards about his less than paternal feelings toward Luthor Jr.

However, aside from a few harsh words when Lex took some murderous floozy's side over hers, Martha Kent seems much more forgiving. Rosenbaum agrees. "Yeah! She's more maternal. Martha is definitely the nicest to Lex. I think she tries to understand where he comes from, give him the benefit of the doubt, and she tries to convey that to Jonathan but he doesn't really understand. I think Lex really likes Mrs. Kent because she is the connection to what he wants. He wants to get close. He doesn't have a family, and they're the family that he's always longed for. He wants to be a part of that, and just as he thinks he might be able to be a part of it, then something happens. Jonathan just cuts him off or says something crass."

"It's a tragic story," he continues. "The story of Lex Luthor is a tragic one, and the story of the relationship between Clark Kent and Lex Luthor is a tragic story. Lex has good intentions. He wants to be good, but inevitably he becomes evil. Then these two best friends who are close and will become closer as time goes on are inevitably torn apart."

Much of the appeal of Smallville centers round the fact that Clark and Lex are bosom pals who end up becoming arch enemies. The first steps toward the enmity begin when Clark discovers that Lex has been investigating him and his family. It's not a very nice thing to do, so why does Lex do it?

"Because Clark's a liar!" laughs the actor. Protests that Clark is only a wee bit of a fibber are summarily dismissed. "Clark is hiding things from Lex. Friends don't hide things from each other. There is too much going on in this small town and Lex is figuring it out and the 'I don't know Lex. I wasn't there...' approach is getting a little too much."

Heaving a sigh, Rosenbaum goes on. "Look, Lex wants to trust Clark, and he really respects Clark, but it's just too much. So he says, 'Okay! I don't think I believe you. I love you but I want to look into this.' He does and what he's found becomes the contents of a room full of evidence that shows something strange is going on with Clark."

"If you jumped out the window right here, and I was like, 'Ohmigod!' and then a few seconds later you walked back into the room, I'd be like, 'How can you be alive? I just saw you fall out the window!' Now, Clark would say, 'Yeah! I just caught on something." I'd be like, 'Look, we're 20 stories up. There is nothing there. You should have died.' Clark would say, 'I'm just telling you, I lived. Just end it.' But I'm like, 'END IT? I don't wanna end it. There's no way you could have survived!' It's driving Lex mad!"

Suggestions that he just sit down with Clark to talk things over has the actor raising his hand. 'There have been numerous occasions where Lex has given Clark a way to come clean. For instance, he's shown him the Porche from the accident he keeps in the garage and asked for more information...but every time, Clark comes on with the 'I'm just a big, dumb kid trying to do the right thing' routine. Clark Kent is a lying son of a bitch! You should never deceive your friends, man."

Even Rosenbaum admits this is rich coming from a "friend" who puts a tabloid reporter, a team of his company's best scientists, and a rabid anthropologist on the case. He laments, "Why can't they just be honest? Clark could say, 'I have these powers, Lex. You're my best friend. This is what I'm going through.' Why can't Lex just say, 'I'm tormented by my father and by my mother's death and I'm trying to do the right thing. I've been doing research on you and your family.' "

"Why can't they just lay everything out on the table, then everything would be fine. But then, there would be no season three, and we're not ready to give it up just yet." Sniggering to himself, he jokes, "Everybody would be like, 'Hey, Clark. You still burning things with the eyes? Yeah?Great! Okay! See you later.' Or 'Still shooting people at Club Zero, Lex? Yeah? Good to see ya!' "

Rosenbaum is pretty pleased with the way the writers have developed the characters in Smallville so far, and looks forward to seeing how things are going to progress in year three. "In the first two seasons they established Lex and Clark and Lex and Lionel very well. They even did a pretty good job with Lex's fiancee, Helen....eventually. With seasons three and four we have a lot of time to develop the other relationships."

One of which is with the perky Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack). "Chloe Sullivan is getting more involved with Lionel and we see that relationship develop to include Lex." Rosenbaum would also like to see more interaction between his character and Pete Ross (Sam Jones III). "We kind of know what happened with the creamed corn factory, but I definitely think there needs to be more moments where Lex says, 'I want you to know that I had nothing to do with my father stealing from your family. You shouldn't be mad at me. I'm sorry and I'd like to help.' "

Rosenbaum hopes the writers are going to go more into Lex's history and delve into what happened when he was growing up. "Personally, I'd love to see little redhead Lex come back. I love when they go back to when they were younger. I love the scene when young Clark touches young Lex's face in the truck [in the episode Lineage]. I think that was a beautiful moment. Little moments like that make the series and the more they do that the bigger the series will get."

It's just as well there have been a few touching moments (no pun intended) between Clark and Lex, because the poor bloke hasn't had much luck with the women in his life. Victoria Hardwick (Kelly Brooke) literally and figuratively tried to screw him out of his company. The voluptuous Desiree Atkins (Krista Allen) tried to be the first Luthor black widow. Then last, but not least, it appears the second Mrs. Luthor makes a bold attempt to get her hands on the Luthor lucre by jumping ship (well, "plane" actually) to leave the guy stranded on a deserted island with neither rum nor Keira Knightly for consolation. Ever the gentleman, Rosenbaum leaps to his screen wife's defense.

"Actually, we don't know what happens. When season two ends, Lex wakes up on a plane, there is no Helen, the controls are all smashed, and we're heading down toward the ocean. I don't know where she is. No one does at that point, and nobody knows what's going to happen." He jokes about the time, "I thought maybe they were going to kill me off and then I'd be done. I could go back to LA, grow my hair, and become human again."

Rosenbaum is fairly taken with the idea of people seeing him with hair in Smallville. "I'd like to do an episode where I put on a wig and play the villain or something. Wouldn't it be great if I did a guest spot as The Flash?" The actor does the voice for that character in the Justice League cartoon. "I couldn't wear Spandex though. Not with my little chicken legs. But I could have a body double. Somebody with a really great body. I want to be depicted as someone who has a really nice ass. I could do a shower scene, 'Hey! Look at me. Look at my really nice arse.' "

Resisting the urge to say that we've seen his bottom during a scene in the film Sorority Boys (albeit in skimpy red knickers), and that it looked extremely pert, we move right on back to Smallville. Rumors of Lex's demise are greatly exaggerated. Rest assured our loveable rogue-in-training returns in a blaze of glory and deliciously plotted revenge. Sadly, he loses a few marbles along the way--but what's a bit of madness between friends?

In what has to be one of the most traumatic episodes of the show, and a triumph of acting for Rosenbaum, Lex loses it in spectacular fashion in Shattered. The cause? "All I can say is, people should show Lex a lot more respect because the shit is going to hit the fan if they don't. There's only so much someone can take. People keep lying to him. His father lies over and over. He's constantly being betrayed. He's just going to implode and then everyone had better watch out."

Luckily, Michael Rosenbaum's grasp of reality is firmly intact--well, as intact as it can be for someone who confesses that his ideal way to impress a woman would be to visit Disney World. Yes, you read that right.

"If I loved someone as much as Lex loves Helen, I, Michael Rosenbaum, would take her to Disney World, just me and her," he explains. "I mean, all the characters would be there: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy, but we'd have the place to ourselves and go on all the rides together. Lex would go to a swanky private island and fly in sushi chefs and do the kinds of things rich people do....but I'd rather do the Disney thing."

When he's not careening down Space Mountain or sailing with the Pirates of the Caribbean, Rosenbaum likes to settle down with a good book. "I read books about dead presidents. I recently read The Dark Side of Camelot--that's a really excellent book that goes through the whole Kennedy assasination along with other scandals."

As well as devouring epic tomes, Rosenbaum shares the words he writes with his makeup artist. "I write a lot. I've done a couple of scripts. One that I'm trying to get produced now is about growing up in the small town where I grew up, and another is a hockey movie. It's slapstick--kind of like Dumb and Dumber meets Tommy Boy. I sit in the makeup trailer in the morning and read Natalie whatever I've written."

There's no word on what the lucky girl things of his work, but then, if we had Rosenbaum's dulcet tones just reading the phone book to us every morning we'd be in no fit state to comment either. Wonder if she'll ever need a holiday replacement?

Additional reporting by Elise Harris.