Young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) rescues a fellow classmate in the "Metamorphosis" episode of SMALLVILLE.
© 2001 The WB

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Tom Welling Talks SMALLVILLE

Tom Welling has been talking about how his role of young Clark Kent and the budding legend of the man who will be Superman will be depicted in the coming SMALLVILLE TV series on The WB.

While talking to Ian Spelling's syndicated Inside Trek & Sci Fi column, WElling spoke of his role on the series, saying, "In a sense, you can take the fact that Clark has special abilities and attributes and throw them out the window. I deal with Clark as a normal kid just trying to fit in.

"When you take those attributes and put them back into the equation, they almost make Clark's life more difficult. They create a loneliness. For example, if you could run faster than anyone else, you could rob a bank and no one would ever see you. Clark can do all these great things, but he can't tell anyone or show anyone. That creates a barrier of loneliness for Clark, because he could be the coolest guy in school, he could be the best football player, but he can't go ahead and show anyone what he can really do...So his abilities work against him."

Welling also emphasizes that in spite of the character's eventual transformation to the big guy with blue tights and a red S on his chest, the program will eschew traditional superheroics. The actor says, "Clark's not saving the world every week, just Smallville. There is action that will revolve around him saving the day, if you will, but we'll always have the personal side of the story, because we know what will eventually happen to these characters. Clark will get close to Lana, but won't really get there. There will always be an opportunity for Lex and Clark to turn against each other, but it may not happen just yet."

Sill, he adds, "I don't know what the long-range plans are, though. They only give us the script for the next episode the Friday before we start shooting it. And a lot of the villains you'll be seeing are on the humanesque side, I like to say, because everything that happens on SMALLVILLE, even though it may be far-fetched, will be plausible."