#Smallville20: KryptonSite Interviews Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum

In celebration of the 20-year anniversary of the Smallville series premiere, and with The Complete Series finally coming to Blu-ray on Tuesday, October 19, KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne got the chance to speak with the iconic Michael Rosenbaum who entertained audiences for more than 150 episodes of the series as Lex Luthor. Fans of the show have been able to keep up with Michael through his convention appearances as well as his excellent podcast, Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, where he has perfected a great interview style with incredible guests such as Smallville’s Tom Welling, Erica Durance, Laura Vandervoort, John Glover, and John Schneider in addition to many fan favorites in the acting world.

Now, Michael is back in the role of interviewee as we asked several questions tied to the anniversary — and, yes, we also asked about that animated project that he and Tom have been talking about. You can read the interview below, or if you’d prefer to see video, you can watch it here or on YouTube if you choose. Enjoy, and even though the anniversary has passed, we have more interviews coming your way as we’re continuing our #Smallville20 celebrations!

KRYPTONSITE’s CRAIG BYRNE: It’s a general consensus among fans that your version of Lex Luthor is considered to be the best ever. What do you think it was about the Smallville version of the character that just endured?

MICHAEL ROSENBAUM: I think it was a lot of things. I think it was the cinematography, I think it was the lighting, I think it was the writing, I think it was the character development… I think that my character was really the only character that was truly developed, whether it was with glimpses into his past, or the future, the battle, always butting heads with my father… John Glover, amazing actor.

You never know how someone’s going to perceive your role – you really don’t. Everyone always embraced my character and they’d say “we don’t want him to turn bad! We’re watching Season 4, or 5, or 6, and why does he have to turn bad?” And I’m like “We know the future. We know that it’s inevitable.”

Look. I’m delighted when I read Deadline or I read Screen Rant, or on KryptonSite, where they’re talking about “the best Lex.” I’m a big Gene Hackman fan, but when critics and fans and my peers say it, it it makes me incredibly happy. I’m lucky. It was a great show to be on, and the character really got to evolvve, and there was a lot of fun playing him.

When you get a hold of this Blu-ray set, are there any particular episodes you’d like to revisit?

Selfishly, I’d like to revisit when Lex split in half – Good Lex, Bad Lex, and I’d get to see the infamous line where I say “you were right about me all along, Mr. Kent. I am the villain of this story!” That one gave me chills. I was like “wow! I sold it! I sold it!”

Moments like that – moments when I throw my father out of the building and kill him. Even at the end, when I kill my sister… there are a lot of great moments I’m like “you know, I’d like to go back and check those moments out. I haven’t seen them in a long time.”

Just watching the Pilot again… I remember watching the pilot and thinking “this is very special,” Craig. This is something that I hadn’t really been a part of, which was a real success story, and then Smallville was the first success story of my career, where although I had some roles and I had a lot of fun doing them, this was the one where everything connected and it worked. It just all came together – the quality and the role… I’m very fond of the character, and it’s exciting. I look back. I’m like wow, that pilot was mind boggling. They spent so much money on it, the meteor shower and it shows me as a young boy, and the domineering father, and right off the bat you feel sorry for him, which you never got to do. Anytime they tried to show Lex in other movies or TV never saw that side. You never saw what caused him to be so evil, and we got to see that.

Did you think this would be a show that fans would still be talking about 20 years later?

No, I didn’t. It’s pretty incredible, that with Hulu and now the Blu-rays coming out, that we have a brand new audience. It’s almost like Smallville never was off the air.

[It’s] like it’s still on the air, and in a lot of ways, it is. We’re finding a new audience, and we keep finding new audiences, and those people are sharing it with their kids, and those kids are sharing it with their kids ,and although we’re not too old yet I’m honored, man. It’s crazy to think that people still will recognize me or still appreciate my work, or the work we did on Smallville.

Is it true that you and Tom are still putting together a Smallville animated project?

I’m not supposed to talk about it, but I will say that we are working on an animated series. We’re trying to get that off the ground. We’ve got Al & Miles [series creators Alfred Gough & Miles Millar] involved. Tom and I pitched them and they love this idea. I hired an artist, and hopefully we’ll be pitching Warner Bros. and we’ll see what happens.

Can you talk about some of the people that made your Smallville experience special? I know you have a great friendship with Tom, you’ve had other cast members on Inside Of You. Can you talk about that?

Working with so many great people, so many dynamic actors on that show… I was still young enough where I’m working with John Schneider and Annette O’Toole, I’m still nervous. I feel like it helped the character of Lex being nervous around them, always walking on eggshells. Working with John Glover, he taught me so many things about being an actor and the power of touch. Sometimes he’d touch my face and say, “Lex, you know I love you.” All of these things, it was just so dynamic. And then the relationship with [Tom], who was just kind of wet behind the ears and just a newbie and someone who didn’t look down on me, it all just fit. It was the perfect puzzle. Everything made sense, and I was lucky to work with so many great actors.

What made you decide to return for the series finale?

I think a lot of people thought I quit the show, I had a six year contract and I ended up doing the seventh season, so I definitely didn’t quit. But after three years, when they were finally finishing the show, I said, “you know, Lex Luthor was an integral part of the show, He needs to have some sort of finality, I just felt like the fans deserved it, I deserved it, the show deserved it, and I called the the writers at the time, because Al & Miles weren’t on anymore, and I just said, “Hey, man, how’s next Friday? Write some scenes for me, and I’ll come in and work a full day.” So I got to kill my sister Cassidy Freeman. I got to have a scene with Clark, this final scene, and I got to see a little glimpse into the future of him wearing a white suit. It was a good idea to do it, and I think everybody really appreciated it, including me.

Can you talk about the interactions you’ve had with fans in recent years?

We do these conventions, Tom and I. We’re doing Motor City Con in Detroit. We’re doing L.A. Comic Con. Wave such a blast with fans and everybody who meets us, I think, has a wonderful time. It’s just really great to be with the fans – without them, we would be nothing, as you know.

We do a thing called Smallville Nights where I wear a bald cap and Tom wears a flannel, and we read scenes from the Pilot, People interact with us, they get to read scenes, and we just have a real blast.

And I’m doing my podcast, which is called Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum as you know, and I get to bring on guests like Tom and Kristin Kreuk, and Stephen Amell, and Justin Hartley… I’m having Jensen Ackles back on the podcast, and Nick Frost is coming on… just a lot of great people. I’m blessed, man. It’s fun to talk about old times when I have Kristin or Tom on the show. It’s fun to explore our past.

Is it a lot more fun to be able to talk with them knowing that you don’t have to work a 15 hour day?

Yes. That is absolutely more fun, to just sit back, and give them my undivided attention and just enjoy them for an hour and enjoy the human beings they are and they have become. These candid conversations I have on the podcast are really special to me. It forces me to focus, which is not easy for me, but I give them my undivided attention. I really enjoy listening to people. I don’t have a list of questions.;I just kind of talk off the cuff for the most part, and I talk about things that I think people want to hear, so I enjoy it.

Do you think you and maybe Tom might do like a live watch sometime?

Yeah! We were talking about that. We were thinking what a great show it’d be if we had our own podcast, and we were able to do some viewings, where we talk to people while we’re watching. A viewing party or something would be great, especially with the Blu-ray coming out. That’d be really cool.

Is there a part of you that wishes that things had worked out with Crisis on Infinite Earths so that you could have worked with Tom on screen again?

You know, I’m working on a TV show that I wrote that Tom loves and his wife was like “you have to do that,” so Tom and I are pitching it to a studio soon. I think you’ll get a kick out of it. We’re hoping to sell it, and we want to work on screen together again.

[For Crisis], it was one of those things where it just didn’t work out. When they came to me, it was like “we don’t have a script, we’re not giving you any money, this is the way it is.”

I didn’t really think my character fit into that world. Even on Smallville, my character was this dark force, this tortured soul… it fit on Smallville, but I don’t know if it would fit anywhere else; I’m not sure. But when the right time comes, I’m sure you’re gonna see me shave my head again at some point.

When I was doing my books, when we talked about “Justice,” you seemed really fond of that one because Lex actually got to be funny, for a change.

Yeah. I always wanted to be funny, and in some episodes, I was able to show a little bit of humor. But yeah. That was always something I wanted to incorporate in the role, and at times, we got to see that. There was a time where the Flash says something and I say “and I want a ponytail. Disappointment abounds!” It was moments like that the audience got a chuckle, I got a chuckle, and I got to deliver something funny. I’m always about trying to bring comedy to everything.

Can you talk more about some of the humor you’d bring to set?

I would just show up and then when they’re doing their close up, I’d walk in maybe with my pants down and a pair of boxer shorts, just trying to make them laugh, make the crew laugh, get everybody excited about working 14 hours a day. I was always joking around with everybody, trying to just lift spirits up. Also, playing such a dark character that for myself, I wanted to entertain, I wanted to do, like, stand up throughout the day. So it was always my feeling to just be like, “all right, I’m going to tell some jokes today. I’m going to make people laugh! I’m going to do some impressions!” It was exhausting, trust me, but I did it anyway.

Do you think having a comedic background helped you with the dramatic side playing Lex?

I think there was that. I think Lex just wanted to be loved. He wanted to be appreciated. He wanted to be trusted. He never got those things. And he wanted to be more himself. He never got to be that little boy, that little boy that was a prankster, that had fun, that did all those things. So me as Michael Rosenbaum, I would do those things because I think Lex couldn’t. It was a difficult role to play, so I tried to be light on my feet and just have fun throughout the day, just so I could go into that dark place. Otherwise, I think I would have gone mental.

Why should fans be picking up this Blu-ray set on October 19?

People should buy the Blu-ray because I think they should see the show the way it was intended to be seen. I think they need to see it in the highest quality with the best sound, too really see how wonderful and beautiful this show is.

Our thanks to Michael Rosenbaum for doing this interview and to the Warner Home Video publicity team for making this happen. You can pre-order Smallville: The Complete Series on Blu-ray here – orders support this site and we can’t wait to see it either! Video of this interview can be found below.