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'Smallville's' Michael Rosenbaum on working with Tom Welling again: 'I had a tear in my eye at the end'
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"Smallville" star Michael Rosenbaum delighted fans when he confirmed that he'd return to the show as Lex Luthor for one final time in the two-hour May 13 finale. Zap2it caught up with Clark Kent's ex-nemesis at the "American Idol" Top 13 party on Thursday night. Rosenbaum was fresh off of his first day on the set of "Breaking In."
"Don't you really want to ask the big question: Why are you at an 'American Idol' party? When I'm 38 years old?" he asks immediately. "My answer is it's a FOX party. I didn't even know it was for 'American Idol.' I just showed up, and there's J.Lo pinching my butt cheeks."
Once he answered that one, we got to the real big question. Why did he hold out so long before agreeing to come back to "Smallville"? It was a rough wait not only for the fans, but for the producers and his long-time friend Tom Welling.
"I always wanted to make it work," he says, "but I was really busy. Adam [F. Goldberg], the creator of 'Breaking In' -- he and I were creating a show that I created, that we sold to SyFy, so we're still developing it. We also wrote a horror movie together. So we were just working a lot and I was doing a movie here or there."
He sighs. "It's so funny how the fans can get so intense." He deepens his voice to an angry tone. "'What is he doing that he can't come back? George Clooney came back to "ER," and he can't? How big is he?' I'm like, 'Guys, God, relax.' It's not about that. So one day, I called the producers up, and I just said 'Hey, I'm doing this new show, but I'd love to come back and finish what I started.'" He pauses and laughs. "Which I thought I finished three years ago, by the way, but, let's do this. And they made it happen."
Rosenbaum went to Vancouver about two weeks ago to shoot his final scenes, and he had a great time getting into character... with the help of a new accessory. "I had a bald cap that looked amazing," he says. "I couldn't shave my head because I was on 'Breaking In.'"
He confesses that he did initially have a few reservations about going back to the "Smallville" set. "There were personal reasons why I quit 'Smallville' that no one really knows about, that I never really talk about. It was just personal things, that I just never talked about. It was nobody else's business. But I never heard the end of it," he says, chuckling. "Look, I always said I never thought it would last 10 seasons. I can barely have a relationship lasts 10 days. Ten years on a TV show? That's a long time. But then they started calling me out. I finally said, 'You know what guys? I want to do this. Let's just do this.' I want to do it the right way, I want to do it for the fans. I swear to God I did it for the fans. I never want to hear 'Why didn't you go back?' I wanted it to end the way it should have."
Now that all is said and done, Rosenbaum says he thinks that the final scenes between Clark and Lex are "excellent." He was warmly welcomed back on the set by old friends. "It was so great. I went up there and guys that weren't even working on the show anymore came to set to hang out. One guy brought me a joint," he jokes. "I mean, it's a real family."
Rosenbaum and Welling had a great time working together again. "Tom and I had a wonderful time together," he tells us. "We laughed a lot. I shot a couple of scenes with him."
It wasn't all laughter, though. Fans are going to have a very emotional finale experience come May -- and they're not the only ones. "I shot for 19 hours, and honestly, I had a tear in my eye at the end. I was like, 'Man, this is really it,'" Rosenbaum says wistfully.
He did it for you, "Smallville" fans, and when "Breaking In" premieres on April 6 at 9:30 p.m., you'll have the chance to repay the favor. "Hey, I came back, so now all I ask is I hope that my fans and everyone will tune into the new show," Rosenbaum says. "I think 'Breaking In' is a lot of fun. I think it's a really funny show. I love a good caper."
-- Additional reporting by Brill Bundy
-- Additional reporting by Brill Bundy
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Photo/Video credit: Getty Images
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Great to have him back. It's just too bad that it's only for the final two episodes. I would have liked to see it build up a bit more with him involved. I just hope that he plays a very big part in the final two episodes. The show began as a parallel journey between Clark and Lex and it should end that way.
He calls them his "fans"? They have no respect for him. He never should have returned.
He did it for the fans? What baloney. Ask someone who works on the show, he did it purely for the money. And he demanded so much money for his limited appearance that if it wasn't for Tom Welling, who sacrificed a large part of his own salary for the episode just so the show would be able to afford Rosenbaum's demands, then we wouldn't be seeing Lex at all.
You want to thank anyone, or praise anyone for 'doing it for the fans', then praise Tom. He made this happen, he pushed it through, and he put up a lot of his own cash to do it, almost his total fee for the finale in fact. Rosenbaum just cashed in for as much as he could possibly get, and didn't care where the money came from, how unreasonable it was, or how much it would damage the budget of the finale. Tom made sure that Rosembaum got his blood money, but also by sacrificing his own cash, made sure that the budget on the finale wouldn't be affected either, so nothing would have to be cut or toned back.
And that's Tom Welling in a nutshell, always doing everything possible to make the show as good as possible for the fans, and never publicizing that fact, or expecting praise for doing so. Fans of this show will never know just how much they owe his efforts over the years, but without Tom and how much he genuinely cares, and how much he has fought for the show behind the scenes, this show would have been very different, and much lesser, creation. And also would have been off the air long before now.
So Rosenbaum can bask in his pool of self-created worship, while real fans meanwhile know who the real hero behind the show truly is.
As a Smallville fan of many years, while yes I have always wanted Michael back, I never went to such great lengths as others did. Of course I respected him, I actually watched a few things he has done since. So, yes, I do have respect for him, I did not pine for him to come back, merely hoped. But I am very grateful and thankful that he has returned for the finale.
I love how Tom is in realife a genuine nice guy.. almost a real life clark kent. I have always loved that they got him to play the role.
Wow, Smallville Set Monkey, if that's all true then that's just yet more evidence that Tom Welling is actually Superman.
Otherwise, I'm delighted Michael came back for his two scenes - I hope they're worth all the blood money and I'm just excited for this show to reach the end - so many wonderful memories.
Thanks, Carina, for getting us the interview, we really appreciate it.
I don't care why he came back, I'm just glad he did. The final with Rosenbaum and Welling is gonna be epic.
I'm just curious set monkey, where did the info come from? Am I to presume your name is because you're actually from the set?
If what you're saying is true, though...wow. Tom Welling is my hero.
I say this bum don't like some one on the set what a no class bum all you he can do is say good things about one person on set he sounds like some one else who comes on set and only says good things about one person JS aka pa the cry baby kent i would not pay to see eney thing they do every again.
I have no reason to doubt SetMonkey. Rosenbaum has been a schmuck ever since his final days on the show 7 years ago, and these details just prove further what a total jackass he is. His smarmy comments thru the years, and even in the story above, are just so self-righteous and disrespectful of the series which put his career on the map.
The fact that fans, stars and producers had to beg and beg for his return just speak volumes. Folks, whatever you do, do not tune in his 'Breaking In' show. He's a con-artist who has only his self-interest in mind.
Kudos to Tom Welling, who has always been a first-rate class act.