October 2002

Lex Luthor: Good Guy

Michael Rosenbaum has a strange power, an ability beyond those men mortal and super. After just one season in Smallville, the actor has taken Lex Luthor--Superman's arch enemy and one of comics' greatest villians for over 60 years--and made him eminently...likeable. This "power", an amicable, down-to-Earth disposition which Rosenbaum bestows upon his character, makes it easy for Lex's best friend, the otherworldly Clark Kent (Tom Welling) to confide in him every week. About most things anyway.

Born in Oceanside, New York and raised in Newburghh, Indiana, Rosenbaum's high-school drama classes motivated him towards a degree in mass communication and threater at Western Kentucky University. After numerous off-Broadway and indie film roles in the Big Apple, plus a recurring appearance in 'The Amsterdam Kids" sketch for Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Rosenbaum heard the call of the WB Frog and relocated to Los Angeles (where he still resides), landing regular series work first on The Tom Show with Tom Arnold, then Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane before settling into Smallville.

Showcasing a diversity and range already evidenced weekly in the series, Rosenbaum's celluloid credits include the Clint Eastwood-directed mystery Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil with John Cusack and Kevin Spacey; the myth-laden thriller Urban Legend; the Keanu Reeves/Charlize Theron bittersweet romance vehicle Sweet November; frat-house humor in Sorority Boys; indie dramatics opposite Christopher Walken, Rick Schroeder and Chazz Palminteri in the upcoming Pool Hall Junkies; and higher-brow comedy in the tentatively titled In the Houze with Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, and Eugene Levy. The performer also possesses a body of voice work on several animated series, including Batman Beyond, The Zeta Project and The Wild Thornberrys, and he currently speaks for the fast talking (and faster running) hero The Flash on Cartoon Network's Justice League. Shortly before heading back to Vancouver to begin shooting on a second season of the hit WB series Smallville, Rosenbaum took some time to discuss the possibility of becoming Smallville's resident evil.

Smallville Comic: Tell us how you landed the role of Lex Luthor.

Michael Rosenbaum: It was getting extremely late in the game--[the producers] hadn't cast Lex Luthor yet and the show was to begin shooting in about a week or so. They had alrady looked at about 700 other actors when they called, so I asked them, "Well, what have 700 other actors done wrong? What do you want?" I just didn't want to audition blindly. They wanted a little charisma, a sense of danger...all sorts of things, and I said OK.

Sometimes when there's a whole bunch of producers in the room, you can get a little tense or off your game; you only get one shot usually. But I went in there, gave a good audition, and the next thing you know, I had an offer.

SC: Did the idea of having to shave your head for the role bother you?

MR: I was frightened. I don't look at myself in the mirror and say, "Oooh, hot model." I look and say, "Eh. All right. Average. Fine." But with hair. I was a little worried--I thought it would only go downhill from there. [laughs]

We tried a bald cap, and I hated it. It looked awful. It's all about reality, and if the viewers see just a little crease in the skullcap, it takes you out of reality. So, I went up to Vancouver and they shaved it while the producers hovered over me. They were just as nervous as I was--this could be the guy who plays Lex Luthor and has a horrible looking head for the next five years. But when we all looked, they were like, "Hey, it looks good," and I go, "Yeah...it's not bad."

SC: Did you read Superman comics for any insight before or after landing the role?

MR: No. I felt I went in blindly, other than the fact that I had seen all of the Superman movies and on occasion Lois and Clark. People asked, "How would you compare to a Gene Hackman?" and I said I couldn't possibly put myself in the same league with Gene Hackman. He plays an older character who's already the evil Lex Luthor, and that's what most people have seen throughout the years. They haven't seen the man before the villain.

SC: Fans are caught up in the fact that Lex Luthor hasn't become the clear-cut villain they expected. Do you see Lex as a true villain, or more of a misguided hero?

MR: Absolutely a misguided hero. It's obvious in every episode that Lex is trying to do good, trying to protect Clark, or help with the community. He's a good judge of character, with good ideas and motives and ambition. But I think people's ideas and preconceived notions of who Lex is, and who his father is, all contribute to his downfall. When you have this father you resent, you're always in his shadow, trying to prove yourself over and over again.

The season finale [Tempest], when Lionel (John Glover) shuts the company down, is a big step towards "turning to the dark side". This isn't something Lex wanted to happen; he's risking everything he has to prove time and again that he is the good guy, but there's only so much you can take. As a kid growing up as the "bald headed freak", the loner, the Daddy's Boy having to grow up and deal with proving yourself....it's just too much for anybody to take, and inevitably he's going to turn. We just don't know when.

SC: How have your own father and mother influenced you as a person, or as an actor?

MR: They say you're a product of your own environment, and I think thay's true. My parents were complete opposites. My father was the antithesis of my mother--soft-spoken and subtle, didn't say a lot. Very reserved, but very smart. My mother was all over the place [laughs]--the center of attention, a partyer.

I'm sort of in the middle. I was pretty much a homebody; didn't really go to school dances, never went to a prom. I was a bit of a loner, a geek. Lex refers to his past that he was this bald headed freak at this elite prep school. Well, I was, like the shortest kid in my high school--really nervous and kind of weird--so I can relate.

SC: What was everyday life in Indiana like compared to the seemingly simple life of Smallville?

MR: In terms of just daily routine, it was a simple life, especially when I first moved there. There wasn't much going on--there were lots of cornfields, a high school, and a mall about 20 minutes away where everybody hung out. But it's grown over the years. There's a lot going on now in Newburghh, where I grew up, and Evansville--raquetball clubs, tennis courts, baseball and softball parks, restaurants.

In a lot of ways, maybe Lex would like to see that with Smallville. He's like it to be his city that he brought to its feet and made into something that was never intended into being. I don't know...every time I watch the show, it seems we're always either at the farm or the mansion. [laughs]

SC: Do you see yourself as a Smallville person or a Metropolis person?

MR: I think I'm a Smallville person who likes to get away and go to Metropolis at least every other weekend, just to have a really good time, and then come back home. That's exactly what I did recently--I flew to New York, and I hadn't been there in a year. I went into the city and had a blast--went to some parties, saw my friends. Then, four or five days later, I was like, "OK, I'm ready to go back."

SC: Who do you identify with more--Lex or Clark?

MR: A little of both. Lex is a good judge of character and I think I am too. When I look around at all the friends I have, I'm very proud to say that they're all honest, good-hearted people. Lex doesn't really have any friends other than Clark, who I think Lex sees as a really great person.

We all have our secrets and insecurities--I see that in my friends, and I think they see my weaknesses. It's all a respect thing; it's about making your friends feel comfortable, that they can be themselves around you. Lex is closer to being himself around Clark than anybody else he's ever been in contact with, which says a lot.

SC: It seems even though Lex is a good judge of character, he has a hard time "reading" his own father and doesn't know how to get the response he wants from him.

MR: Yeah, he's always waiting. Lex insinuates a lot to his father. His father'll say, "Come join me in Metropolis. Haven't you been waiting for me to say that?" and Lex is like, "I've waited to hear other things from you a lot longer." God, he's such a bad father. Why doesn't he just tell Lex he's his son and he loves him?

Jonathan Kent's (John Schneider) a real man--he can do that with his son. He shows affection. Lionel doesn't. Lex tries to get something out of him, but it just doesn't happen. It's just this big game, and it's sad.

SC: When you're not Lex Luthor, you play The Flash on Justice League. Are you a comics fan?

MR: Not really, but I appreciate them more and more. I think you have to. It is funny that somebody who was never into comics lands the role of Luthor on a hit TV series, and then the role of The Flash on a hit animated series. I didn't realize how big all this really was. It's great!

SC: It must be a real change of pace for you to play a fast-on-his-feet, fast-thinking kind of guy, while Lex has to be very calculating and methodical with his thoughts...

MR: You can never know what Lex is thinking, and with Flash, you know exactly what he's up to at all times. It's like, "Where'd he go?" and we know where he went--he went to talk to Hawkgirl. That's his plan for the day, his goal for the summer--to get Hawkgirl![laughs]

SC: Seeing that Lex is friends with Clark on the series, have you and Tom Welling formed a tight relationship?

MR: Yeah, absolutely, which is great. Tom hadn't done a lot before he got the role, but he was very eager, very ambitious, and a hard worker. He knew I'd done a lot of theater and movies and TV, and I'd been around the block, so I think, in a lot of ways, there was no ego.

I said in the beginning, "Hey, this is about us. We're up in Vancouver, working all these house, and we could be here for the next five or six years, so we all need to get along and stick together. At times, things are going to blow up. You're Clark Kent. You're going to be Superman, and that's universal. So just focus on what's important. It's all about the work." I was speaking for myself, as well.

We go out there every day with the attitude of, "How can we make this scene better? How can we make it more real, or enhance the dialogue, or whatever it is?" It's all about getting the job done, and we're all about that. We'll also goof off on the set. It'll be 11:00 at night, and Tom will suddenly make faces, or I'll do a John Malkovich impression during his close-up. The directors don't know what to think, but on film, it works out. It's all about having fun.