July 17, 2001

Indiana man helps re-invent Superman story

Pasadena, Calif. -For a guy attempting to breathe an entirely new life into a classic character, Michael Rosenbaum doesn't seem the least bit nervous. The actor from Newburghh, Ind., plays Lex Luthor in Smallville, the latest portrait of Superman as a young man. And talking to TV critics here, Rosenbaum sounded exceptionally confident.

"Everybody always assumes that you're going to play this evil guy that Gene Hackman portrayed," he said. "For me, I'm re-inventing a character. I'm playing him in a way that no one's ever seen him before."

The WB series (scheduled for 9 p.m. Tuesdays this fall on WTTV) is a somewhat different take on the young Superman legend. Lex and young Clark Kent are best friends living in present-day Smallville, Kan. Clark is an awkward teen-ager coming to grips with his super powers, which arrived along with puberty. Lex, a few years older and bald from the meteor shower that blitzed the town 12 years earlier, is the spoiled son of a real-estate magnate, who's building quarter-million-dollar homes in the Heartland.

Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), the girl Clark worships, is part Chinese. His best friend, Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), is black. And even Clark's parents - played by John Schneider of The Dukes of Hazard fame and Annette O'Toole - are quite a bit younger than they're usually portrayed.

It's not what Superman comic readers are accustomed to. But it is, executive producer Alfred Gough said, an update approved by DC Comics, which owns the rights to Superman.

"I think the great thing about Superman is, its always been reinterpreted for every generation throughout the decades," he said. "DC will be the first to tell you that the mythology of Smallville has always been squishy at best. There is one version where Lex and Clark are in high school, something happens in the lab, Lex loses his hair and hates (Clark) for life. In a version that was done about 15 years ago, Lex was much older than Clark."

Added Miles Millar, the show's other executive producer: "For us, it feels contemporary. The issue with Smallville is, Superman feels very dated, very '50s. We want Smallville to feel like a very contemporary place. Superman fans have their own issues. I want them to embrace the show, but we're not going to be slavishly looking out for their comments."

The producers sum up what you won't see with this pithy rhyme: "No flights, no tights." They're looking instead at an action-adventure where Clark Kent thwarts crime but also deals with typical teen-age issues.

Tom Welling, a newcomer who's had a recurring role on CBS' Judging Amy, plays the high school freshman. Although he's 24 and looks old for the part, Welling projects Clark Kent's innocence.

In casting Luthor, meanwhile, Gough said they sought someone "who was like a young Michael Keaton, who had humor and charisma and a sense of danger to him."

"Which we didn't find in Michael at all," Millar joked about Rosenbaum.

"We struck out and we have Michael," Gough added before getting serious. "Michael came in and really gave us that in spades."

His sense of danger is evident in a different way in the pilot episode when Lex drives his car off a bride and ends up being rescued by Clark Kent.

"I was honestly scared," said Rosenbaum, whose previous credits included the role of Jack on The WB show Zoe.... Submerged in a car inside a 12-foot tank, "all you hear are echoes and the voice of the director: 'Michael, can you move over? Michael, can you do this?'"

But even more nervy - at least judging from the reaction of some TV writers - was Rosenbaum's decision to shave his head rather than wear a bald cap. His family had a similar reaction.

"My dad kinda laughed and goes: 'You look like an idiot,'" he said, laughing. "He rally said that, too. I was kinda hurt by it. I said: 'I look like an idiot?' He said: 'You're my son, so... yeah, you look like and idiot.'"