Creation Entertainment’s “Salute to Smallville” convention is happening this weekend in Parsnippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey (read more about it here), and KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne will be there and a part of it, joining a variety of guests from the series including Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Erica Durance, Michael Rosenbaum, John Glover, Laura Vandervoort, and Aaron Ashmore. In anticipation of the October 5-6 event, we were able to interview Erica – our first time talking since Smallville was on the air! – to find out about the convention experience, her return to playing Lois Lane in Crisis, the Smallville animated project, and more. Enjoy!
KRYPTONSITE’S CRAIG BYRNE: I know you’ve done conventions before, but how does it feel to be doing the first completely dedicated to Smallville convention?
ERICA DURANCE: A little nerve wracking, and also fantastic. I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to spending more time with the fans. Creation runs these really great events. They have a good schedule, and they have such good ideas of what we can do and how we can interact. I’m really looking forward to being able to be a part of it and see everybody.
What can fans look forward to seeing at this event?
I know that we will be doing panels. I know that the boys do their “Smallville Nights” which are super, super fun. I think the fans really enjoy when we’re at the table and we chit chat. A lot of us spend a lot of time talking to people there. And photo ops! I’m not sure what else they’re throwing at us, but I do know that there’s a lot more time spent with fans, which is why we’re doing it!
When you got to the call to play Lois Lane again in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, was that something you had ever expected to do, or did you just figure you were Alura already and that was it?
I just figured I was Alura, and that was that, and I was moving on to other things. Then I was working on a movie for a friend of mine, and I got a text partway through the show, and I just got so excited. I couldn’t believe it! I was really thrilled. I was very excited.
They wrote a really fun little scene for me, and it’s so easy to work with Welling. We have a really good repartee, and I felt like it was just as if we had seen each other the day before, and I hadn’t seen him for 10 years. It was great.
Would you have liked to have gotten to spend more time seeing what Lois was up to these days?
Oh, sure! I liked playing her. I felt very lucky to do it. II always know that the people that are behind all this, that write these different versions and these different scenes and these different shows, are so good, so I don’t really particularly worry about that part so much. I know I’ll be doing something fun and different, and every scene is unique. So, yeah, I would have been fine with doing a little more.
You’re reuniting with several of your castmates at this convention, but also you have an episode of Murder in a Small Town that you did with Kristin. Did you have any scenes together, ad did you know it was Kristin’s show when you booked it?
Oh, yeah. She called me! And we had quite a few things together, and it was great fun. You know, other than a couple of times we worked together on Smallville, we haven’t worked that much [together] professionally. We’ve been really good friends for years and done other things, but not work together.
I remember feeling like I was about 20 years old again. I started to look at her, and we’re in the circus, and I looked down, and we just both shriek. People don’t know that we’ve known each other for so long, right? It was so cool.
Fans have also loved it whenever you’ve shown up on Tom and Michael’s podcast. Might you be showing up on it more in the future?
I don’t know. It depends on schedule, and timing, and what they’re doing and what I’m doing, but it’s always nice to get back and chat about certain episodes and how we felt about doing different things.
Did your impression of Smallville change after you started doing conventions?
I would say not so much, because I came into that show knowing it was successful. I knew it was special. I was excited to be a part of it. I wasn’t so fully entrenched in it as Welling was in the sense that he was there all the time, and I had a little bit of that objective bird’s eye view of ‘hey, you know, I know what the fans are thinking. I know that I’m excited, because I know they’re gonna like it. And I would say I’m surprised at how long it’s been that we’re going back around and talking about it, but not negatively. It’s wonderful.
What do you think is the magic chemistry between Lois and Clark, whether it’s on Smallville or other projects? What makes them work so well?
I think they balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses, regardless of the incarnation you see. There are moments that Clark’s very, very strong, and he’s a hero, and he can do everything that he needs to do, and is able to help Lois, who’s this strong woman, but needs help. And then you’ll see the flip side of it, where it’s in her humanity that he feels a level of connection. I think it’s that balance between both sides of parts of themselves, and it just seems to work.
I know you had a memorable experience meeting Margot Kidder at a convention, but is there any other Lois Lane actor that you would love to meet someday?
I’d love to meet Teri Hatcher. I’ve never met her!
What other projects do you have coming up?
I did the show for Kristin [Murder in a Small Town], and then I have two two Christmas movies coming out on Hallmark. They’re a little bit of a departure for me, and I’m excited about them. In one I play a 1960s housewife, and in the next one that I’m currently shooting right now, I’m the Queen Mother of — it’s not a fantasy land, but it’s not a real land [either]. She’s taking care of her daughter and trying to get her on the right path. They’re really different roles for me, but I really enjoy them because they’re quite far away from the person that I really am. It actually felt quite good.
Would you like to do the animated project that Tom and Michael are trying to get off the ground?
Absolutely. I think it would be great. Especially if they have Al and Miles [Gough and Millar, the creators of Smallville] behind it, which they seem to be talking about… then you know that there’s going to be a level of consistency with the characters, and the dialogue, and all that kind of stuff.
Have your kids found out yet that you played Lois Lane?
They don’t quite know what that means yet. They don’t think it’s that cool. They think Superman is pretty cool, but I think I’m just so different in real life to what they see up there, that it’s really hard for them to gel that like in any way their mom played a character that was somewhat cool.
They just think I’m the biggest nerd, so they find it weird that Mommy would be considered cool.
There was one time when they didn’t think I was tough, so I was like “let me show you some things.” I just YouTubed a lot of my fights [as Lois], and they were like, “Mommy, you were angry!” And I was like, “don’t mess with me, is all I’m saying.” Now they call me Big Mama. “Don’t mess with Big Mama!”
What do you hope the fans get from this convention experience?
I hope their interactions are positive enough for them, and they’re able to say the things they had wanted to say for a really long time. I know a lot of people travel with family and friends. I just hope it’s a really fun, good, positive weekend for them.
Tickets to “Salute to Smallville” are still available! Get your photo opps, autographs, and event tickets HERE! Big thanks to Erica Durance for taking the time to talk to us.
Dan
March 12, 2015 at 6:11 am
that website sounds like it’s run by an idiot 12 year old.
anyone with half a shred of common sense knows Smallville isn’t connected to the current CW comic universe, just like they know a 39 year old actor who played Spider-Man two whole reboots ago isn’t paying a new, high school aged version of him.
side note: think you meant Season 1 finale of Flash ; )
Shaun
April 25, 2015 at 8:52 am
…um, duh – that’s the point. One of Flash’s powers that he develops is being able to change his vibration frequency to visit parallel universes. That’s one of the reasons so many people are excited about a Flash series – he can do crossovers with any DC property ever made, Arrow/Flash-verse or not.
Ian
March 25, 2015 at 1:18 pm
The other article said that it might be a possibility depending on certain things. Possibility does not make it false.
Craig Byrne
March 25, 2015 at 1:43 pm
It actually does make it false because it is not a “possibility.” As stated in this article sources that do not exist are being cited. There was no press conference, and really, those producers would never reveal a season’s endgame like that anyway.
Anyone thinking there’s any truth to those reports is seriously thinking wishfully and should learn that people do make up BS for web traffic.
Andrew Jamison
April 23, 2015 at 4:42 am
Would it be plausible for Tom to maybe have a cameo as Clark (not as superman) just as a nod to the fans or would this still not be possible?
Craig Byrne
April 30, 2015 at 4:48 pm
Why? Henry Cavill is Clark Kent now. What would Tom Welling gain by playing Clark again? He’s already done it for 218 episodes, I think he’s over it.
Newscaster
May 13, 2015 at 3:01 pm
Oh please. There was a report in APRIL by a major source about this. And apparently you’ve never heard of the flash and this little concept called ‘parallel universes’?!? Dude I know more than you do clearly.
Craig Byrne
May 14, 2015 at 6:22 am
The point of this article is that people are stupid enough to believe anything, and you confirmed it. Major outlets can get duped too.
Krazy Joe
March 27, 2015 at 2:18 am
“Secondly, Tom didn’t even really put on the costume for the Smallville finale ”
— One of the MANY reasons the Smallville finale was a piece of stinky garbage.
Bex
April 19, 2015 at 1:44 pm
Thanks for this. My brother told me today that Tom Welling was going to appear on the Flash and I just laughed because that doesn’t sound like something remotely true so I had to do my own googling.
smallvillefan
May 20, 2015 at 8:06 am
Despite being a fabricated rumor, i think u guys aren’t seeing the big picture here. How awesome would it be if Tom Welling showd up in The Flash, or in Supergirl for that matter,since she talks so much about her cousin…
Does anyone else get excited about this or is it just me?
They will eventually bring someone to play Clark Kent in super girl. And Greg, I dont think it will be Henry Cavill. Nope. Not a chance. So why not Tom?
Craig Byrne
May 22, 2015 at 10:37 am
The big picture is that Tom Welling wouldn’t put on a Superman costume for his own show. Why would he do it now?
Stevie Craig
November 2, 2015 at 3:24 am
He didn’t put on the superman costume in Smallville because the show was about Clark Kent not Superman. Plus the creators came out and said at the start of the series it wouldn’t be happening
Craig Byrne
November 2, 2015 at 7:18 pm
Also, Tom said he wasn’t going to do it. Anyone who thinks Tom Welling wanted to wear a costume is delusional.