Magnificent Bastard talks

The Courier-Mail

by Sean Fewster
March 22, 2006

JOHN Glover has just missed a train or, more accurately, the train has just missed him.

"You want to talk about trust?" he laughs from the Smallville set in Vancouver, Canada.

"Yesterday I was sitting in a limousine parked on a train track, with a real train coming at me.

"There was a driver in the front seat who was ready, according to the stunt co-ordinator, to drive me off if the train didn't stop in time. Now that's trust, my friend!"

Glover, who plays the villainous Lionel Luthor on the Channel 10 show, came away unscathed but not empty-handed. So impressed were the show's stunt men, they gave him one of their team T-shirts.

"I got a lot of respect from the crew for that stunt, so let's hope it translates to the viewers as well," he says.

He need not worry – portraying Lex Luthor's father has won Glover legions of fans around the world.

Over five years, he has become the Wile Coyote of the series, having been blinded, interrogated and even buried under a collapsing mansion.

Despite it all he keeps coming back for more skulduggery, earning him the affection of viewers. "They call me 'The Magnificent Bastard'," he chuckles.

"Isn't that a beautiful title? I love it, and have done since I found out about it a couple of years ago."

It's a title the towering actor has well earned, not only in his time as Luthor but throughout his career.

On both stage and screen, Glover has made a name for himself by playing charismatic, arresting, magnetic villains, including Daniel Clamp in Gremlins 2: The New Batch and even Satan.

In Lionel Luthor, he found an opportunity unique amongst the Smallville cast to play a character with an uncharted destiny.

While everyone knows Clark Kent grows up to be Superman, and Lex Luthor a super-villain, Lionel's future is a blank slate.

"That's because there's no Lionel in the Superman mythology – he's just pure imagination," Glover says.

"He doesn't have to end up anywhere, as anything, and he can go in so many directions.

"That's been very freeing, for both the writers and me, plus nobody else has played the character before so there's no one to compete with."

The only time Lex's father gets a mention in the Superman comics is in the past tense, as he was murdered by his evil son.

"Perhaps that's what's going to happen to me," Glover muses. "If so, I hope I'm going to get a really nice death scene at some point.

"To do your own death on film would be great. I mean, who doesn't think about their death? To be able to act it out and not really die would be fascinating.

"Of course, I want any such scene to be as close to the end of Smallville as possible."

Glover has no intention of leaving the show, noting it is the longest he's ever been associated with any one thing in his career.

"I've been with this group of people for five years and it's quite wonderful," he says. "Plus I get to come to Vancouver to film and it's just beautiful."

When he is not plotting the downfall of Krypton's last son, Glover spends his time on the stage and, believe it or not, in acting class.

"Five years ago, I was feeling this kind of frustration with my work which was making me very unhappy," he says.

"I felt like I was drowning because, even though I was doing what I'd wanted to all my life, I was so unhappy with it."

A friend connected him with Los Angeles-based acting coach Milton Katselas; Glover found the classes so invigorating he remains a regular to this day. "There's always more to learn, and it's wrong to think you can ever stop finding out new things," he says.

Back on set, Glover spends most of his time on and off camera with his TV son, Michael Rosenbaum.

The duo has an excellent relationship, with Glover praising the younger actor's energy and humour.

On-screen, however, it's a different story.

"I think Lionel wants Lex to be like Lionel, and not like himself," Glover says of his character's poor parenting skills. "He can't accept Lex's flaws – he thinks they make him Lex – and that's what makes our scenes together so exciting.

"He can't, and likely never will, give Lex his love because he's not enough like Lionel."

For the actor who has worked extensively in science-fiction and genre shows, that "human phenomenon" is the hook to the series' success.

"We look at the 'man' in Superman, and in all the other characters," he says. "That's what makes it fantastic to watch."

His brush with the train complete, Glover is looking forward to his next scene, which is far gentler but no less menacing.

"In two hours I have a scene with Clark's mother," he drawls with menace, slipping into character.

"I'm wooing Martha Kent and I'm doing very well at it, let me tell you . . . indeedy do-do."

He breaks into that familiar laugh, and you know things are about to get worse not only for the Kent family, but for everyone in Smallville.

"I don't ever get to go into the town where they shoot the exterior scenes," he says coolly.

"I'm not allowed into Smallville proper, and I think we all know why."

Smallville Channel 10, Thursdays 7.30pm

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