These are great interviews, but..
1) He doesn't actually admit he's actually going to wear the tights on Smallville in those interviews. He just says the suit is a "huge responsibility" for Clark and him.
You're right he doesnt, however that really wasnt the point of Zing posting this. This was more to shut up the "Welling doesn't want to play/hates Superman" idiots that pop into this forum.
Although if you'd like to get technical about it, he doesnt deny he's going to be wearing the suit either. At this point, he probably doesnt even know since he likely hasnrt seen a script past episode 5 or 6.
2) He's not going to straight up say he's against the Superman movie or Warners, that'd be very bad PR. He does indicate he won't be playing Superman anyway, supposedly due to lots of "elements" that would have needed to come together.
The questions wasnt whether or not he was for or against the films, it was if he'd be open to playing Superman in the movies. His response was merely that there's a lot more to it than just him wanting to do it or not, however he's always been open to the idea.
If anything, this is the final nail in the coffin that the "Tom Welling for Superman" outcome won't happen, with him trying to justify that there are bigger issues at play than him supposedly having wanted to do all along.
I think he's just restating the obvious. He can want to do it more than anything in the world, but in the end he's not the decision maker. How you've spun that into a final nail in his coffin as Superman perplexes me?
Didn't he say something similar during the Ratner days when he was actually approached? That he would have been interested in it but there were bigger issues at play? Everyone assumed it was just the scheduling conflicts of the SV series alone, but based on what he's saying here.. it sounds like there's more to it than that.
His exact comment, and you can google the youtube video of him on Carson Daly's show, was that if he "were to do the movie, Smallville would have to go away. And no one wants that."
Question:
To those who want Welling as Superman in the new movie, do you want Chris Nolan/Jonah Nolan and David Goyer's script/approach to Superman to be a follow-up to Smallville? With the same cast intact?
Or are you hoping for Welling to play Superman with a completely different cast in a film that isn't written to connect with SV?
Remember, Nolan confirmed this film is his vision of how he'd approach Superman. Nolan and Goyer developed this story concept amidst working on Batman III. They aren't approaching this vision of Superman as a followup to Smallville's take on the mythos and characters; ex: different Lois and Clark/Superman relationship, different Brainiac, different Lex setup; likely Byrne's self-made billionaire from Suicide Slums, etc. Hell, I bet Jonathan Kent will be alive too, given the confirmed MOS script basis.
I really hope this is the last time I ever have to type this but since I know you werent here during the last go around, I'll give you an abridged version: Welling is merely an actor, not a show or a continuity. Smallville doesnt necessarily need to come with him especially since the character he plays is at a time in his life that won't be/can't be explored in the new stand alone film.
Casting other actors in roles that were on Smallville isnt exactly unprecedented. Branagh played Hamlet for years in theater and then did the movie without any of the theatrical cast. Hell, big budgte franchises nowadays recast roles from film to film, see Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk
Also, as the Smallville detractors like to point out, only 2-3 million people are watching Smallville weekly anyway, so it's not like the majority of the movie going audience would know Welling past "the guy who plays Superman on TV" if even that. So the "confusion" argument is a weak one at best and applies much moreso to an actor like Routh whos been in an actual big budget Superman film already. The Superman/Smallville diehards are smart enough to sort out the continuities.
badly enough.
