Changing lanes
Smallville’s Erica Durance talks to Michelle Byrne about the pressure of playing the young Lois Lane.
Unless you’ve been living on Krypton, you’ll know that after a 19-year wait the tights wearing superhero has taken to the skies once more this summer in the Hollywood blockbuster Superman Returns. But for the past five years Smallville has kept fans’ imaginations alive and fixed them to their television screens. Erica Durance, who plays the teenage Lois Lane, talks about her role and the impact she expects Bryan Singer’s movie to have.
Will Superman Returns have any influence on the series?
I think it has already. A lot of people who do not know that Smallville is about the younger Superman will definitely, well, hopefully, pop back into watching the show after all the promotion for the film. Because the two franchises are going on at once, the writers had to be very careful – especially with where Lois was headed in Smallville – because of the heavy focus on the return of Superman in the film and where Lois Lane is at that point. We were not quite sure until the movie came out what Lois could do, whether she could have a real relationship with Clark yet or whether we had to kind of dance around it. So I have spent a couple of years just fighting with him and we will see what happens in the future. But I like fighting better anyway. It is much more fun. You get those moments to play something subtly, but it will get there at some point.
Do you think Tom Welling (who plays Clark in Smallville) should have got the role in the film?
Oh yes. I am loyal. But they want to keep both franchises going which is financially smart because then they are getting lots of money. People have watched Tom be the kid and then for him to have actually got to do the movie would have been cool, but he didn’t end up doing it.
What do you think of Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane?
I think she’s fine. I mean, she is beautiful and she is talented and she has done a lot of films – a lot more than me. It is always intriguing to see how somebody will put a new spin on it and she definitely has Lois in a completely different time frame and life situation. So I am interested to see her in the role.
Were you a fan of the comic books growing up?
I was a fan for a long time and, more specifically, a fan of Lois. She is the hero’s woman, but she is also smart and intelligent, and she has her own path. Yes, she swoons for Superman when she gets saved and stuff, but I liked it when she was so sassy and fun around Clark.
Do you see yourself as a younger Margot Kidder or Teri Hatcher?
I grew up watching Teri Hatcher on TV, but I am trying to do a little bit of Margot Kidder’s Lois as well. What I like about the character of Lois is that each actress has done it differently. So I took a little bit from everybody. I have a little bit more freedom so, hopefully, I am not totally compared with those ladies because that would make me nervous. In Smallville, Lois starts out younger, so it is before she has got into the journalism. I worked a lot with the creators and we just took pieces of everything that everybody has done, and then tried to put a fresh spin on it.
Were you nervous about playing such a well-known and well loved character?
One side of my mind was saying I need to be respectful about playing Lois, but the other side was saying this is me doing it. I have to pretend that nobody has ever done this character before and it is fresh and new, and she’s not this intangible character that everybody has heard of. This is a new Lois.
Do you get criticism from fans if there is something different about Lois Lane in the series compared with the comics?
It is intimidating sometimes that diehard fans know so much about the character and the whole history of Superman, but they have actually been pretty positive. I have been to quite a few conventions, and I thought it was funny the way they came up to me and were like, ‘I really didn’t like you for the first, like, eight episodes. I thought you were really annoying and mean and, man, you got on my nerves. But I kind of like you now.’ So I’m like, ‘Thank you very much,’ but it is good they are honest.
Smallville is on America Plus, Thursdays at 19:00. Seasons 1-4 are available on DVD from Warner Bros.