Posted in: Movies, Superman, TV, Warner Bros | Tagged: smallville, superman, Superman (2025)

Superman: Hoult on His Lex Luthor Advice from Smallville's Rosenbaum

Superman star Nicholas Hoult shared the Lex Luthor advice he received from TV's Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum on playing the role.

If there's anything that Superman star Nicholas Hoult resembles Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum, it is that both have retained not only their youthful look of Lex Luthor, but also embraced their signature bald heads off the bad. It's something that other cinematic Lex's Gene Hackman and Jesse Eisenberg didn't initially embrace when their incarnations were introduced with full heads of hair. Hoult was already familiar with becoming part of another superhero franchise with X-Men playing the younger version of Hank McCoy aka Beast in the 20th Century Studios' franchise, but when you join DC and become part of their biggest superhero's world, it becomes a whole other can of worms. It was also a dream as Hoult revealed seeing Rosenbaum on screen on the Superman prequel series on the WB from Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.

Superman Star Nicholas Hoult on What Smallville Star Michael Rosenbaum Told Him About Being Lex Luthor

"Smallville was on the TV a lot when I was growing up," the 35-year-old Wokingham-born actor told Entertainment Weekly. "I think it was on Channel 4 or Channel 5 in the U.K. growing up." Hoult was the fourth live-action cinematic version of Superman's arch nemesis after Hackman, Kevin Spacey, and Eisenberg, with director and DC Studios Head James Gunn passing him the kryptonite torch, so to speak, to be the primary villain against David Corenswet in the title role.

Hoult shared what Rosenbaum told him when the Renfield star appeared on his podcast Inside of You in March 2024, ahead of filming. "Honestly, he was so kind and encouraging, and he really gave me a freedom and a confidence and a support that felt really lovely going into it," Hoult said. "He was probably the first person I saw play Luthor when I was growing up. So, to get to interact with him and to chat with him beforehand was really special. I appreciate that from him, his time, but also just his encouragement meant a lot."

Hoult also said he plans to return to Rosenbaum's podcast after they both see Superman in theaters. "The beautiful thing he said was, 'You've got this. Go have fun,'" he said. "It's a, weirdly, kind of uplifting and wonderful thing to play a character that you've watched someone play and do a brilliant job at, to then have them say, 'Yeah, go get it. Go take it on.' That's a really bolstering sort of thing to happen. It was very kind of him to do that because I suppose it's a weird thing taking on a character that other people have played in some ways. Normally in acting, there's no comparisons, really, when it's a unique character, but when there's been different interpretations, then obviously people do compare."

Rosenbaum appeared in 156 of the 217 episodes in eight of the 10 seasons, leaving at the end of season seven and returning for the series finale in 2011. Much of the series was about how Tom Welling's Clark Kent embraced his superhero side, initially as the Blur, integrating elements of the Justice League, before embracing the Superman moniker in the finale. While Rosenbaum and Welling spoke of a reunion animated series featuring the bulk of the cast, the news of Gunn's film put any immediate plans on hold indefinitely, but who knows if it will pick up steam once the dust settles on the live-action film?

For more, including what Corenswet said about how he was compared to his Smallville counterpart, Welling, you can check out the rest of the piece here. You can also check out the full Hoult episode of Inside of You below. Superman, which also stars Rachel Brosnahan, Skyler Gisondo, Wendell Pierce, Nathan Fillion, Isabella Merced, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Frank Grillo, and María Gabriela de Faría, comes to theaters on May 11th. You can stream Smallville, which also stars Kristin Kreuk, John Glover, Erica Durance, Annette O'Toole, Jonathan Schneider, and Allison Mack, on various platforms like Max and Hulu.

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