Tom Welling Talks about the Growing Pains of Clark
1 March 2005
Over the last four years Clark Kent as portrayed by Tom Welling has had to do a fair bit of growing up, and we have been treated to some fascinating insights into Clarke Kent 's various interpersonal relationships in Smallville. In a recent interview for issue 127 of Dreamwatch the actor shared some valuable insight with writer Robert Falconer.
When we first met young Clark Kent he was the typical teen struggling to come to terms with many teen issues as well as the added pressures of hiding his super powers from the world at large. He also had your typical teenage girl problems. As Tom Welling is keen to point out, much has changed over the last 4 years.
At the very start of the series “ Clark couldn't look at Lana… even without the Kryptonite necklace. On the other hand, we're doing an episode now where he's sitting in the Talon and these cheerleaders walk up to him and say, ‘Hey, Clark, let's go out on a date.' He's suddenly a cool kid. Now that's sort of a hard concept to swallow considering that one knows that in the future Superman isn't really the ‘cool' guy the way we define it today. He simply doesn't have time.”
Basically the present exploration of Clark Kent 's character is just that an exploration, which sort of illustrates much of the testing of boundaries that many teenagers have gone through since time began. “So if you compare the way Clark started – being very unsure of himself and uncertain what to do – you'll see that now in season four he's grown into a guy whose got a lot more confidence and who is more at ease with himself. Certainly he's still trying to figure out who he is, but he's not so much worried about who he is anymore. I think he's also trying to take an approach to his life where he's more accepting about what's happening to him, rather than being scared of it.”
In regards to events which are likely to unfold in some of the later episodes Welling is unsure as to what he can reveal at this point. He does give a small bit of insight as to what is happening to one of the relationships that has been an integral part of the show for some time.
“I'll tell you now that Lana won't be such a big part of Clarks life. The character of Alicia Baker [introduced in the episode obsession] returned for two episodes this season and Clark moved further away from Lana and closer to Alicia. You're going to continue to see the push and pull in the relationship between Clark and Lex. Aside from that, I honestly can't tell you what the producers have planned for late season episodes.”
As many fans will be aware season three of Smallville seen the departure of (Sam Jones III) who portrayed Clark 's best friend Pete. This departure opened the door for some new characters to come into the Smallville series, and the new Lois Lane played very effectively by new comer Erica Durance stepped into the role and won viewers respect almost as quickly as she did the cast and crew of the show. Welling when talking about the actress is very quick to point out how much he enjoys the onset chemistry between his character of Clark and Erica [Durance] as Lois Lane .
“What I particularly enjoy about her character is the side of Clark that she brings out. I love the sarcastic, tongue – in cheek humour that we're able to portray in that relationship, and haven't been able to in the past because of the heavy, dramatic situations that Clark often found himself in with the other characters.”
You can read much more of what Tom Welling had to share about the working with Erica Durance and his views on Smallville in the new issue of Dreamwatch magazine which is out now in the UK priced at £3.50
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