Michael Rosenbaum...
On his audition:
"[The producers] said, 'We want some edge, we want some comedic timing, we want that brooding undertone, that menacing undertone of Lex.' So I literally went through the two and a half pages of dialog, and went, 'Here I'll be funny, here I'll be charismatic, and here I'll be a little manacing.'"
"I went in there and the casting director had this chair, and she wanted me to sit there and do this and do that. I said, 'I don't want to do any of that. I don't want to be confined to the chair, or the desk. I'm just going to do what I do, and you just film me.'"
On being a Superman fan growing up:
"No, I can't say I was ever really a big fan. I loved those big Superman movies. I loved Gene Hackman, always idolized him as a kid, Christopher Reeve obviously."
On what he knew about Lex:
"Oh, I knew who Lex Luthor was. All I could think of was Gene Hackman. Am I going to play this caricature of Lex Luthor, be this wild, crazy guy, and play it over the top? The producers said, 'This is just what we don't want.' I didn't want to make Lex a stereotype of everything that's ever been written or documented or taped or filmed about Lex Luthor. This was the first time. I wanted people to like him, and I think that's what the producers wanted. I like that about him - he wasn't just some goofy character where people go, 'Oh you're that goofy guy on TV.' There's something unusual about him when you watch him. This show is different. It's all unique. It's the story before the story, and that's exciting. And it's all real. We're plying it as real as you can play Superman. Everyone thinks of the cape and the tights - and it's not. It's as simple as we can be. That's what we're doing. I think that's more exciting. There's more to go. There's always new levels to reach."
- from The Official 2004 Smallville Yearbook
Based on these and other comments I've read from Rosey, not to mention the fact that he's a known prankster and catching him in a serious moment is a very rare thing indeed, I think if he made any comparisons between his version of Lex and Shea's version, they were probably made with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
Get over yourselves. It's a reasonable question in an appropriate forum. 
)
