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Daddy Dearest
As Lionel Luthor, John Glover knows what’s best for his son Lex, himself, and Smallville.
By Mike McAvennie
Smallville comic book, Issue #5 (January 2004)

Being the father of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) is more than business as usual on SMALLVILLE--there are industries to dominate, lives to destroy, and schemes to plan. And when it comes to being bad, actor John Glover is one of the best. The Salisbury, Maryland-born star has slapped Jane Fonda in Julia, blackmailed Roy Scheider in 52 Pick-Up, helped unleash Gremlins 2: The New Batch, barked up the wrong tree as insane floronic man Jason Woodrue in Batman & Robin (“I was kissed to death by Uma Thurman,” he jokes) and heated things up as Satan on the short-lived Fox series Brimstone. He’s even been an animated antagonist, lending his voice to The Riddle on Batman: The Animated Series.

Still, to simply typecast Glover as “the quintessential villain” would be an injustice to this accomplished stage performer. His extensive theatrical career is highlighted, appropriately enough, with Tony and Obie Best Actor awards for twin-billing as John and James Jeckyll in Love! Valour! Compassion! He has also excelled on the small screen; his performance as AIDS patient Victor DiMato in the 1985 telemovie An Early Frost garned his the first of five Emmy award nominations, with the rest coming from guest or supporting turns in Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder, L.A. Law, Crime & Punishment and Frasier.

Despite the accolades, Glover doesn’t take his craft for granted. When he isn’t planning the next hostile takeover around SMALLVILLE, he can be found inside acting classes on two different coasts--either studying in one back home in Los Angeles, or teaching one at his Maryland-based alma mater, Towson University, where he also funds a scholarship for acting students. Fortunately, he was still able to put aside some time and talk with SMALLVILLE: THE COMIC about what he’s achieved, and what he hopes to accomplish next in “The Meteor Capital of the World.”

SMALLVILLE: You have a lot of fans out there who love the way you portray Lionel Luthor.

JOHN GLOVER: I’m having the best time, I’ve got to tell you, and [the writers] are writing better and better stuff. What’s been really interesting about this seasons so far is that they’re going back into the characters’ pasts and relating all our lives together more. We’re shooting the sixth episode now, and there’s been an arc through all of the storylines that’s been wonderful to play.

SMALLVILLE: How did you land the job?

GLOVER: I got a call from my agent when the producers were starting SMALLVILLE. They asked if I’d be interested in doing one scene for the pilot episode, but they thought they might have me back for more shows during the season. I was scheduled to do some plays that year, so around my availability, they had me back for eight episodes that first season. It was just a job that came out of the blue.

SMALLVILLE: Did the writers and producers plan to expand you role as the series progressed, or did they decide to do so after seeing the chemistry you had with Lex?

GLOVER: I think it was a combination of things. I mean, we have good writers, and good writers write for the actors they have. And both Michael and I love to “play” with each other, which I think comes across in our scenes. I hear a lot of people say how much fun those scenes between Lionel and Lex are.

SMALLVILLE: Actually, one consensus we’ve heard from fans and cast members alike is that the Lionel-Lex interactions rank among the series’ strengths. Why do you think the two of you get along so well at not getting along so well?

GLOVER: I don’t know. Sometimes there are people you just love to play with. [laughs]

SMALLVILLE: Lionel doesn’t exist within the Superman comics, which puts you in a position unlike most of your SMALLVILLE colleagues. With no established reference to work from, how did you go about bringing you character to life?

GLOVER: I just looked at what the writers were giving me. I also thought a lot about fathers and sons; that’s such a heavy theme in the show, what with Jonathan [John Schneider] and Clark [Tom Welling], and me and Lex. I try to look at all the problems Lionel creates for Lex as tests that I’m giving my son for his own good, to make him a better, stronger human being. That’s the basic blueprint of what I’ve tried to do, and I think it’s easier somehow because there is no history of Lionel; he’s free to be whatever we want him to be. I also like the fact that Lionel’s hair is getting longer, and longer, and longer...

SMALLVILLE: No doubt one of the main reasons why Lex hates you so much.

GLOVER: I know, I know... [laughs]

SMALLVILLE: Michael has described Lex in these pages as “a misguided hero.” Do you perceive Lionel in a similar vein, or is he simply as evil as everyone thinks he is?

GLOVER: I don’t consider him evil at all. When we’re in the cave [in the Season Two finale “Exodus”], Pete Ross says to me, “Don’t you remember who I am? Ross. It was Ross Cream Corn.” I say something like, “Oh, yes. I remember. I overpaid for that ramshackle old factory.” He says, “All you ever think about is money, isn’t it?” and I go, “Of course I do. I’m a businessman.Why does that make you so angry?”

Lionel admits that he’s a businessman and he’s ruthless about it, and that’s all he’s trying to teach Lex. He doesn’t look at himself as a villain at all, any more than, say, someone like [Rupert] Murdock. People like that don’t see themselves as villains, but as incredibly successful men who were probably taught or encouraged by their fathers to be as successful as possible.

SMALLVILLE: With Dr. Bryce [Emanuelle Singer] now out of the picture, it seems you and Lex have started mending those fences between you. Alfred Gough also told fans that your “son” will take a “very dark turn” this year.

GLOVER: Yes, poor Lex. [laughs] I’m trying to help him as much as I can! The boy’s got a trust problem. He won’t believe that I love him as much as a father should love a son, and I’m only trying to help him.

SMALLVILLE: Why is Lex coming around to your way of thinking these days?

GLOVER: Well, he went through a very strenuous time on the island [in “Exile”], and there were some things in his past that as a youngster he didn’t deal with very well. That’s what I meant earlier about people’s histories coming up more this year. We’re finding out where people have come from and what they’ve been through, and some of those things have been hard for Lex to shake. He’s had some psychological problems that are best not spoken of...

SMALLVILLE: ...Though they’ll undoubtably surface at some point soon.

GLOVER: They’ll have to. It’s a necessary part of his makeup...some trauma, I guess, that he never was able to deal with. That’s his problem--he just can’t face the reality of things. If he could accept certain things about himself, he might be a healthier boy. And that’s all his father is trying to help him do.

SMALLVILLE: Have you used real-life experiences with your own father to help you in your scenes with Lex? By that, we’re not suggesting that your father was teaching you to be evil or something...

GLOVER: I lost my father a year ago, and he does come to mind all the time. But I’m not teaching Lex to be evil. Hopefully, the tests are so difficult for him that storywise, I’m creating a neurotic, psychotic mess. [laughs]

SMALLVILLE: In many ways, SMALLVILLE is about Lionel Luthor’s life philosophies versus Jonathan Kent’s. You and John Schneider play bitter enemies in the show. Are the two of you close off-set?

GLOVER: Oh yes. It’s an incredible company together. We all get along very well and love to work with each other. From what I’ve heard about some shows, we’re quite fortunate in that we’re all so copasetic and that everybody respects each other.

SMALLVILLE: Allison Mack [“Chloe”] also remarked on that camaraderie when we spoke with her a while back. She also mentioned that she’d hoped to do more scenes with you and Michael this season, and it seems she’s gotten her wish, having made her “deal with the devil.”

GLOVER: You can call me the devil. I’ll let you do that. [laughs] I’m so happy to be working more with Allison; she’s an amazing actress. I’m very lucky.

SMALLVILLE: Is it safe to assume Chloe will be working for Lionel for the long term, despite the fact that she realizes you’re using her to betray Clark?

GLOVER: I hope so. I know Lionel would hate to lose her [laughs], and I don’t think he’ll let her get out of his grasp. She’s too important to him. She’s just a little skittish and doesn’t understand. She’s got a good conscience, that Chloe...

SMALLVILLE: Guess you’ll have to break her of that, because there’s no room in the boardroom for a conscience.

GLOVER: [laughs]

SMALLVILLE: Admit it--Lionel just loves messing with people’s lives.

GLOVER: You could look at it that way, but I don’t think Lionel does. He’s an incredibly successful businessman who needs to have as much information as possible. He just knows how to charm people and get things from them, but I don’t think he’s the kind of person that just pulls the wings off flies and watches them just because they’re around.

SMALLVILLE: We understand that Lionel will also have ties with several established figures from the Superman comics that are making their first trips to SMALLVILLE this year...

GLOVER: Yes, there was Morgan Edge, played by Rutget Hauer. We had a great time with him, and he’ll be coming back. I haven’t played with Perry White yet, but there’s all kinds of stuff set up, with him investigating Lionel’s background. Michael McKean played Perry, and I hope he’ll come back that I’ll get to play with him.

SMALLVILLE: Do you have a favorite episode?

GLOVER: Not just one. I mean, I love the episode where Martha and I were held hostage [“Insurgence”], and the one with Blair Brown, who claimed to be Clark’s mother [“Lineage”]. There’s also a script I just got, called “Shattered,” [airing Nov. 19] that’s really going to be fun. It’s a pretty dramatic episode, and Lex is in a lot of trouble that he can’t come to grips with himself; he can’t see the reality of the situation, so some drastic steps will have to be taken with him.

SMALLVILLE: His father, no doubt, will ensure that those steps are taken.

GLOVER: Oh, I have to, because I love him so much. [laughs]

SMALLVILLE: Is there something you think fans will learn about Lionel Luthor by the end of this year that they couldn’t possibly have forseen during the previous two seasons?

GLOVER: Oh, yes. There are some things that on the surface look horrific and that no human being could do or live with himself and do. Hopefully, though, they’ll understand why, because things aren’t always as they seem.

SMALLVILLE: An article by New Yorker critic Pauline Kael once called you “the prime rotter of 1980s films,” and stated, “Without question, Glover played more despicable, and believable, villains than any other actor in the business.” Why do you like playing the bad guy so much?

GLOVER: They’re really good roles. They’re active and exciting for an actor, they make things happen to people and events, and they move the conflict of a piece along. I guess that all started for me with the John frankenheimer movie 52 Pick-Up, with Roy Scheider and Ann-Margaret; it was a great villain role. Then, as what happens with film and TV, you kind of get typecast, so I was playing a lot of smarmy, villainous, evil, psychotic people for a whole.

What I find especially interesting about being Lionel now is that I’ve never played one character for so long; I’m just so used to “flipping” from character to character to character. But the writers just keep deepening the characters and make them all so fascinating. During the next hiatus, I might want to attack a different kind of [role], but I’m quite loving the way everything’s going. Knock on wood.

SMALLVILLE: Even though you grew up in a small town, do you consider yourself a SMALLVILLE person by nature, or a Metropolis native?

GLOVER: Well, I went and lived in New York for 20 years, so I can do both. I’m ambidextrous. [laughs]

SMALLVILLE: As someone who’s both a part-time student and teacher in acting classes, have you learned anything as an actor while working on SMALLVILLE this season?

GLOVER: I don’t know if I can come up with anything specific, other than to just have more patience.

SMALLVILLE: That’s very interesting. We asked your “son” a similar question a while back, and he said the exact same thing--that he was learning to become more paatient as an actor.

GLOVER: He did?! [laughs] There you go. I guess that’s why we like working with each other. Like father, like son.


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