More Than A "Remember Him" - Eric Johnson Looks Back On Smallville

Interview by Craig Byrne

Page 2 of 2 - Continued from the previous page

When did you find out that they were bringing you back for the "Visage" episode in Season Two?

I knew that I was going to be coming back for the second season in some capacity, so I knew something was coming, and then there was a debate of how many episodes it was going to be. I didn't know the fate of Whitney until I got to the last page of the script, and I'm like "Oh! So that's what happens." It was an interesting way to read it.

The crazy thing about that episode, first of all, it was the coolest stuff I got to do in the show, with that opening sequence. There were seven cameras rolling on that sequence. We had bombs and explosions. We had a camera in a helicopter. It was just huge; it was epic. It was super intense. And then three days before the episode aired, we had to go back there and shoot a close-up. We went back there, and all of the water that we were in when we originally shot was frozen. They had to break through the ice to do a couple of shots. It was crazy, and literally, they cut it into the episode that aired three days later.

Talk about going out with a bang. I mean, literally.

Was it strange to play Tina Greer as Whitney?

No, it was totally fun. You have to do it a little bit differently. Lizzie Caplan was great. She was great when we had her in the first season. It was fun. I think everybody really enjoyed those episodes. I know Kristin really enjoyed it in the first season. It's just an opportunity to do something a little different in your own skin. So I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a lot of fun.

We never actually did see Whitney's body. Did you ever think there was a possibility of him actually coming back?

[Laughs] Well, you never know on Smallville, right? Stranger things have happened. Somebody - I think it was my dad - said that maybe he was buried in a Kryptonite grave, and the next thing you know, you've got Zombie Whitney running around Smallville.

I definitely never would have said no. I know there was a scheduling problem once for something that they wanted in a flashback, but they were really good to me, and it would have been fun to go back and play with the old gang, that's for sure.

Were you surprised when Whitney was brought back for a flashback in Season 4? How did that come about?

It was just like anything. They told me that they were doing a flashback to the first season, but nothing says first season like having Whitney Fordman around.

It was a crazy day. I was shooting another show, and I had to get all my stuff in and get on a flight really quickly, or I was going to not be able to make my shoot the next day in Winnipeg. We ended up shooting that in about 20 minutes. It kept getting pushed to later and later in the day, and I'm like "literally, I have to leave." There was a bit of a communication error, apparently. So they threw the cameras up, and we ran through it three consecutive times within 20 minutes.

I'm good friends with the director of that episode, Pat Williams, now, and we laugh about it.

Have you kept up with watching the show?

I did see a couple episodes, obviously after I was off. It's amazing that it's been ten years. The last five years, I really haven't seen much, but I also haven't had cable.

Is it possible you'll be tuning in to see how it all ends?

I would love to. Whether I see it on the actual day or not, I'll be downloading that on my iTunes, that's for sure.

Has anything surprised you about what the show has become?

Yes and no. Am I surprised that it's ten years later and the show is finally coming to a close? Absolutely. But I was never surprised by the show's success. It's one of those feelings you have when you first read a script and become a part of something. You just knew it was going to be around for a long time. I remember watching the Pilot as it aired, and thinking it was going to be around for a long time.

It's a really nice, interesting part of my career. It was a great learning experience. So I don't know if anything really surprised me in terms of the success, but definitely, the longevity... I mean, ten years for a television show is incredible. It just doesn't happen. I think that's amazing, and it's a testament to the hard work and the commitment that everybody has put into the show. For someone like Tom, the amount of hours he spent on that show, it's amazing.

Eventually you got to play a comic book hero yourself in Flash Gordon. What was it like to go from playing the bully to the hero to actually being the hero?

Flash Gordon was a tremendous amount of fun. It was like being five years old every day. We just had a tremendous amount of fun. We were under budgeted. We never had enough money, and we never had enough time. We were always under the gun, but the team that we had really came together as a group. We managed to pull it off, and it was an absolute blast. Playing the hero is always fun. He was a bit of an affable, dorky hero to a degree, and that was a lot of fun. But being five years old every day, running around, and driving a '69 convertible Firebird is a pretty great way to make a living.

Do you still keep in touch with any of the Smallville cast?

I'd run into Allison [Mack] every once in a while, and it was always great, but the thing is, when those guys are shooting or when you're shooting, your life is consumed in the show you're doing; and when you're not shooting, you're off either chasing the next thing, or you're in a different city, so the most time you're going to spend with the people you work with is at work, because you spend 70-80 hours a week there. I'd be happy to run into anybody, but you have to move on and go onto other things. There's never any ill will in that; it's just the nature of the industry.

What can you tell us about your role on Rookie Blue and why Smallville fans should tune in?

I think people might recognize Missy Peregrym from Reaper and Heroes [and Smallville's "Delete"], so there's a reason to tune in.

It's about five rookie cops learning to be cops the hard way. It's a lot of fun, and it's a show with a lot of heart, too. It's a great summer show, and if you're not doing anything on Thursday nights in the summer, it's a good way to spend an evening.

The character I'm playing - it was funny. For my 30th birthday, I got the first role I had ever played. I had been looking for playing cops for a long time, thinking "I can't wait until I'm old enough to play a cop." And the first cop role I get the grizzled veteran. [laughs] I'm 30 years old and I'm playing the grizzled veteran detective, a guy who's been around the block. So that was pretty funny. Again, it's a great show.

I always consider myself very lucky to be working with great people. I got to work with some great people on Smallville, and Flash Gordon, and again, I'm fortunate to work with a great group at Rookie Blue.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Congratulations and thanks to the fans for supporting Smallville for a decade. The thing that I've found that at first was a little scary but humbling is just the passion and commitment of the fan base. It was amazing to watch that unfold, and see the excitement build, to see the show take off - it was incredible. So my thanks to the fans, to everybody to tuned in every week. I don't want to speak for everybody on the show, but I'm sure they all feel the same way. There's no way it's on for ten years without that kind of support, so I want to say thank you.

Be sure to catch the Smallville pilot re-airing Friday night, April 8 on The CW! We've created a special discussion forum to talk about it, so check it out! And then, beginning April 15 - new episodes of Smallville leading in to the series finale on May 13! We will believe! Thanks again to everyone for reading, and to Eric Johnson for participating in this interview.

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