Interview by Bryan Cairns July/August 2006, Issue #15

Smallville Magazine: What are you in the middle of shooting today?

John Glover: A scene with Clark in the Smallville medical center where I have just been stitched up. Lex got nasty with me.

Sounds like things are getting dark on Smallville.

Getting dark? You mean darker. There has always been a dark force at work inside of Lex. That is actually a line I say today.

How would you describe Lionel and Lex's relationship?

Lex is changing. A lot of stuff is happening with him. He's traveling very fast. It is like his journey into the dark is accelerating. It is frightening for the planet, and he is moving further and further away from his father.

What is Lionel's reaction to that?

Well, he is trying to do everything he can to stop Lex and save him.

The Kryptonian spaceship showed up this season, the Kryptonians appeared, and Lex and Lana became obsessed with its origins. How did Lionel handle becoming a vessel of Jor-El?

Well, he hasn't been aware of exactly what he has been. I don't think it has been in his consciousness. He only starting learning recently. I don't know how much of that he knows about being a vessel. In the beginning of the episode, Lionel is the vessel for Jor-El. Jor-El comes through other people, but Lionel has never seen Jor-El and is not even aware of who he is.

In the episode Lexmas, Lex dreamed of his perfect world, but even in that Lionel was portrayed in a negative light.

That is Lex's twisted vision. Lex is paranoid. He's hung up, isn't he? They have a strange relationship, the two of them, but many fathers and sons do. I remember this wonderful actor, Kevin Conroy, who was playing Edmund in King Lear. He actually voiced Batman in the animated series. Edmund is the villainous son and I played Edgar, the good son. He was a very powerful man and would be running up and down the steps to the audience. His father came to see the show one night and Kevin was literally falling and tripping all through the show. He just completely fell apart when his father was there. He was a stunning actor, but this one night his head went away. He fell down the stairs and was a mess, so I think about him a lot with Lex and Lionel. This father who demands so much from his own son. 'Not good enough! No! More! That is not right!'

How was it doing that barnyard brawl with John Schneider in the 100th episode? That was probably your last scene with him.

Oh, we've had a couple more after that. But it was interesting because Schneidy and I had a big fight in the cave a couple of seasons ago where the two of us really bonded. Before that, we hadn't had much to do together. But we had this fight and had such a good time together, so it changed things from then on.

Ws Lionel partially to blame for Jonathan's death?

No. It triggered it perhaps, the physicality of it, but Jonathan had a weak heart before that. Lionel didn't go there to kill him; he went there to talk to him. What happened angered Jonathan and then he had a heart attack, probably because his blood pressure was so high.

Most actors embrace any time they have off, but you squeezed in an episode of Numb3rs this year. What caught your attention about guest-starring on the acclaimed drama series?

Oh, it has been five years since I've played anyone else on film. The guy I played had psychic abilities and it was a very different role from being Lionel. They gave me clearance to do it and I shot it about 15 minutes away from home in Los Angeles. I've never played a character so long as I've played Lionel. Each hiatus I go away and do a play on the stage, but nothing on film. I just wanted that experience, and am so glad I did it. The director was Peter Markle, who did a recent A&E movie about 9/11 and Flight 93. I had worked with him twice about 15 years ago and wanted to do so again. It was quite a wonderful experience to be with actors I didn't know on a set I was unfamiliar with.

Is there a different energy performing on stage compared to television?

It's a two-and-a-half hour event that starts at the beginning and has a definite end. With television, it takes 10-12 days to shoot 40 or so minutes. The through line is done in the imagination, but with theater, the show starts at 8 and you are out there until it is over. There is no 'Oops, can we do that again? What was that? Cut. Take two? Nope.'

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