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Daddy Dearest
More from actor John Glover who plays Lionel Luthor, father of Lex, in Smallville who talks to Steven Eramo.

Starburst magazine, Issue 308


Last issue, Actor John Glover talked about his career in the theatre and films and his current role as Lionel Luthor in Smallville. He is full of praise for the acting ensemble which has been assembled for the show, in particular, star Tom Welling, who plays Clark Kent, the young Superman.

“I don’t think Tom had done a great deal of acting before he was cast on Smallville, but he’s turned out to be a truly gifted young man. He watches movies all the time but does so to learn from them. Because most of my scenes last season were with Michael Rosenbaum I’d often walk around the set after I had finished filming just to say hello to everyone. Usually when I saw Tom he’d tell me, ‘I saw this movie and noticed [this or that].’ It’s no different this year. He’s working all the time at his craft. We’re lucky to have people like him, Allison, Michael, Kristin Kreuk [Lana Lang] and Sam Jones [Pete] as well as the stunning and talented Annette O’Toole [Martha Kent] and the brilliant John Schneider [Jonathan Kent].”

He may have spent much of his time with Lex during the first season of Smallville, but Lionel Luthor was not entirely focused on running Luthor Corp and trying to control his son. “One of the things that the writers touched upon was my character’s womanizing,” explains Glover. “There was a three-story arc involving Lex’s girlfriend Victoria Hardwick, who was played by a young English actress, Kelly Brook. Basically, Lionel had something going on with her, too, which came as a surprise to Lex. Because they weren’t quite sure how they were going to use Lionel last season I did quite a bit of theatre in between my stints on the show. I wonder what Lionel’s and Victoria’s relationship could have turned into, though, if I’d been around more.

“This year, of course, Lex is involved with Dr. Helen Bryce [Emmanuelle Vaugier] and they’re planning to get married. I don’t know what’s going to happen there but I’ll be curious to see if Lionel will try to vie for some of the good doctor’s attention. I think it would make for an interesting, if not slightly twisted, rivalry between him and Lex if they end up fighting over the same woman. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Although Clark’s father Jonathan has warmed up slightly to the idea of Lex and Clark being friends, he has very little use for Lionel. Naturally, he wasn’t very pleased when in the second season of Smallville his wife Martha accepted a job offer from Lionel to be his assistant. “It was Annette’s idea that Martha should go to work for Lionel and I thought it was great,” says Glover. “It certainly helped fuel the tension that was already there between him and Jonathan.

“I think Lionel is envious of what Jonathan has,” continues the actor. “He sees the Kents as being in a very healthy family relationship and wishes it could be the same with him and Lex. Sadly, Lionel is unable to truly open up to his son. There was a terrific episode we shot this season called Prodigal that introduces Lionel’s illegitimate son and Lex’s half-brother Lucas [Paul Wasilewski]. I enjoyed working on that one, especially as we got to see how Lionel dealt with one son differently than he did the other. Funnily enough, that often happens in real life.

“This is just one example of why our views—no matter what their ages—relate to Smallville and its characters. I remember flying to home to Los Angeles last summer after working on an episode and I began reading the script for the next story. It was Heat, where Clark’s sexual urges cause him to unintentionally start fires with his heat vision. There’s a scene where Jonathan is explaining to his son that these feelings are perfectly natural. Clark just needs to learn how to control them with regard to his heat vision. It’s no surprise that being a teenager, Clark is embarrassed by having to discuss this at all with his dad. I doubt there was any grown man out there watching who couldn’t identify with that ‘situation.’ The creators of this show have tapped into the emotional pulse if you will of our audience, which is quite an achievement.”

In Smallville’s second season opener Vortex, the town is recovering from the devastating effects of three tornadoes that struck during the Year One cliffhanger Tempest. Among those injured was Lionel, who subsequently loses his sight after undergoing an operation to save his life. Portraying a blind person proved to be quite an acting challenge for Glover.

“The biggest frustration was not being able to look at peoples’ eyes,” he says. “That, of course, goes along with being blind. There’s a significant loss of control there and that must have been hard for Lionel being that he’s a man who needs to be in control. As an actor, it was difficult for me not making eye contact with a fellow actor, especially Michael because the two of us convey so much just in the looks we give one another in our scenes together. That said, I enjoyed finding different ways around this obstacle. I also loved the fact that after Lionel regained his sight, the producers had him pretend to be blind for a while longer. That’s typical of the type of person he is,” chuckles the actor. “Now that that’s over, I’m sure he has more tricks up his sleeve for next season.”

Smallville isn’t the actor’s first time working in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genres. He has appeared in such films as Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Robocop and Batman and Robin. On TV, Glover was The Devil in the short-lived series Brimstone, and before that he played an unjoined Trill who attempts to steal the Dax symbiot in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Invasive Procedures.

“Brimstone was great,” he enthuses. “That was another occasions when they called me in to do the pilot and it turned into a regular job, which made me quite happy. It was another really good experience and we were all so surprised when they pulled the plug on it. The series was getting better and better and the producers and writers were working hard on creating a whole world around Peter Horton’s character [Ezekiel Stone]. They were also giving me more to do as The Devil and developing this terrific power struggle between him and Ezekiel.

“Deep Space Nine was also fun. I was kind of hoping that they would have my character back some time. Here was a guy who felt so inadequate and he turned evil in order to get what he felt he deserved. It was such a fascinating part to play. The cast and crew were incredibly supportive and welcoming to me. The actress who played Dax, Terry Farrell, is a terrific lady with a great sense of humour. We both enjoyed working together.”

Currently, Glover is mulling over other projects to work on during the Smallville hiatus. He’s not one to sit still for very long and likes to keep busy. “When I first arrived in Los Angeles I became a little bogged down in the whole success thing. Now I’m at a place in my life and career where I just want to work. It’s what I do and it makes me very happy.”



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