Smallville just finished filming its last few scenes and summer hiatus has begun for the stars of the show. Allison Mack Online (AMO) was able to catch up with one of the stars of the show to talk one-on-one. Yes folks, we got the amazing opportunity to speak directly with Allison Mack, who plays the ever-beautiful and snarky reporter Chloe Sullivan. What does Allison think of Smallville this season? Well, read more to find out!

The Smallville Talk (Part I)

AMO: How is everything now that Smallville is wrapping up?

ALLISON: It’s awesome! Awesome. I mean I’m done, right? So it’s great! I’ve got tons of time off now. I’m getting ready to travel and getting ready to fix up my house and all of that jazz you do when you’ve got a real life. It’s nice.

AMO: What do you think would be your favorite episode so far?

ALLISON: Well, for season four, I would say I had the most fun doing Devoted where I was the psychotic cheerleader, because it was the most sort of wild and out there and I could be, like, really crazy and do something totally different. So that was the most fun. But I think the most interesting for my character was the episode Pariah, where I find out Clark’s secret. I think it was just a really interesting introduction to something new for me to play.

AMO: Before Pariah, we were getting clues that Chloe was possibly catching on to Clark, at least the audience seemed to think so. During Pariah, it seemed that Chloe had only just caught on after witnessing Clark’s powers. What do you think about that?

ALLISON: I think that Chloe always knew there was weird stuff with Clark and that was what I was sort of implying. It was like, “I know you’re not normal. I know that there’s something funky going on with you and I know that you might have been affected by the meteor shower in some way,” but I think she had no idea to what extent and she had no idea that her suspicions were correct and that it was that intense. So, before, what I was implying was she was like “I know that there’s something weird about you,” and I think that’s the big reason why she’s so attracted to him too, because she knows that there’s something different, something strange. But I think that the surprise and the sort of overwhelming reaction to when she actually found out that it was true was just like “Holy crap, I didn’t know it was to this extent.”

AMO: In a previous interview, you stated that you thought that Rush was a huge challenge for you back in season two. Do you think there’s a greater challenge out there?

ALLISON: Absolutely. I think there’s always a greater challenge, but I still find playing that sort of sexy character really difficult just because I’m used to playing the cerebral intellectual girls--where it’s more about what I say as opposed to how I look and move. So it’s just, playing those really sexy characters plays on an insecurity that I have which is, like, people paying attention to my sexuality as opposed to my brains. So I think that I will always have difficulty playing those really sexy kinds of characters. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that. Hopefully I will, but I’m not sure. So, I mean, I’m sure that there’s other storylines and stuff like that will pose challenges. But yeah, I think that will always be a challenge for me-emotionally to play.

AMO: Well, I’m supposed to let you know that your fans absolutely love those kinds of things—you pull it off very well.

ALLISON: Aww, that’s nice, that’s encouraging! Well, in Spell I kinda got to do that a little bit. We got to do that—some sexy vampy wild thing. Which was fun.

AMO: So Spell was a fun episode for you then?

ALLISON: It was fun because it was just the three of us girls, you know, screwing around. And we all get along very well, so we have a good time together, Erica, Kristin, and I, so it was just fun because it was just us sort of being wild. And any time we get to do anything where we’re, sort of, induced by the kryptonite we have a good time because it gives you an opportunity to be, sort of—bigger, like more broad—sort of over the top. You have this freedom to be this wild character that you wouldn’t necessarily get to play if you were trying to play reality. So it’s a nice permission slip to kind of be a little over the top.

AMO: Smallville episodes such as the episodes with Tina Greer, where the character takes over people’s body, we noticed that the cast does pretty well with acting as if the character would act—how does that play out?

ALLISON: We actually have another episode coming up, I think it actually airs this week, where the same sort of thing happens. A jump with my body, Kristin’s body, Erica’s body, Tom’s body and Annette’s body and we have to take on that character. That’s really fun and that’s definitely a challenge because we don’t all get together at one time to rehearse what we’re going to do, so we have to really rely on the directors to find the through-line with the body language and the line-delivery to sort of keep it consistent throughout—because we’re all playing the same person but none of us get to see the other person interpret that person. It’s a little difficult to keep it consistent, but luckily we have really great directors that have helped us through the whole thing.

Enough of Smallville, lets discover more about Allison

AMO: This is kind of a random question but Smallville fans have asked Michael Rosenbaum the same question and now they want to know from you, what song do you like to sing at karaoke?

ALLISON: What song do I like to sing at karaoke? Well, it used to be –what’s that song? Holy crap, I can’t remember the song…what was that I used to sing—Any Man Of Mine—a country song.

AMO: Oh, by Shania Twain.

ALLISON: Yeah—because I used to sing country music.

AMO: Did you really?

ALLISON: I used to, yeah. So any time I have the opportunity, a lot of times I sing country music because I know how to do that.

AMO: According to imdb.com—it says that you’re an established singer and dancer.

ALLISON: I haven’t been dancing or singing since the show started, so it’s been quite a while since I’ve been able to do anything like that. But I used to, a lot. And I miss that too—that’s really been hard not having that as an outlet.

AMO: What would be your dream role to play in a movie or theatre or television?

ALLISON: I’d love to originate something on stage. I’d love to do something just totally new and different and challenging and exciting and funny and dramatic all at the same time and have it when I have me do it for the first time. So everyone will be comparing performances to me as to opposed to everyone performing each other’s performances and comparing to people’s performances. I think that that would be a dream come true for me if that actually ever happens. I’d be really excited about that. And I’d love to do something--like old Woody Allen. I’d love to do a movie like Annie Hall—you know like Hannah and Her Sisters. Just one of Woody Allen’s old films that are all about relationships and people and good conversations and interesting dialogue.

AMO: Right, well, Woody Allen always has those deep movies.

ALLISON: I know, I love him. I love his movies.

What sort of things does Allison get fannish about?

Movies:

ALLISON: Annie Hall is my favorite movie of all time so it doesn’t get better, in my mind.

AMO: Do you watch it a lot then?

ALLISON: Yeah, once a week at least.

Books:

ALLISON: Oh my god, I LOVE Harry potter! I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

AMO: Yeah, I know—it’s July 16th

ALLISON: Oh my god, yeah, my sister and I are both Harry Potter fanatics. We’ve both read the book about six times—each of them.

AMO: And the movies, do you like those as well?

ALLISON: I don’t like the movies as much as I like the book—as always. I think visually they captured it—especially the last one. Like they really captured the characters where they fit the description of the characters but, I don’t know—Harry’s voice in my head is totally different than Daniel Radcliffe’s. And you know it’s just kind of—it messes with your imagination if you see someone else’s interpretation of what you’re reading.

AMO: That’s true—I think the book’s a lot more fun to speculate on anyway.

ALLISON: Yeah, totally! Well and there’s more to them…I think in general that happens anyway—there’s always more to the books then there is to the movie.

But what really interests Allison?

ALLISON: Kids With a Cause is an awesome charity that I used to be the spokesperson for before I moved to Vancouver. It’s basically an umbrella charity—what I mean by that is they don’t specify with one sort of—you know kids with AIDS or orphans or low income housing kids or things like that. They really work with all different charities and so basically they raise money, and they give it to whatever charity they’re working with at the time. There’s sort of a link between the public and money and things like that too and then other smaller charities that you can send to. Yeah, it’s a really great charity…the thing I liked about Kids With a Cause is that it was hands on. Like we would go to the specific orphanages or hospitals and do visits with the kids ourselves so I could see what I was doing and who the money was going to. Whereas a lot of other charities throw a big party—and you go—and supposedly all the money that is made from our being at the party goes to the kids, but that doesn’t always happen and you don’t even get to see the kids—you don’t get to see what you did. So I prefer working on something where it’s a much more hands-on.

To be continued…

Stay Tuned for Part II…where we’ll learn more about how Smallville works and Allison’s summer plans! Also, find out what she recommends to her fans!

AMO’s exclusive interview with the illustrious Allison Mack debuted recently, answering some of her fans most requested questions. We’re back again with part two of the interview. More of the fans questions are answered delightfully, as Allison enjoys the beautiful day in Vancouver.

The Smallville Talk (Part II)

Previously, on AMO, Allison discusses how Chloe perceived Clark before and after the “big reveal” scene in Pariah where Chloe witnesses Clark use his powers, unbeknownst to him.

AMO: So, do you think that Chloe knows everything now or do you think that she’s kind of getting all of the details?

ALLISON: There’s this episode called Blank where Clark loses his memory completely and Chloe is the one that finds him, and so she spends the episode following him around covering for him. During that episode she discovers his ability to shoot fire from his eyes and his x-ray vision and she kind of figures out all of his extra powers in that episode.

AMO: That’s got to be fun!

ALLISON: It’s a really great episode--where she spends the whole time just covering for him, covering for him, covering for him. He sees Lana for the first time and he gets the heat vision and that whole thing. So it’s a really great episode. She finds out the majority of his powers then, but she doesn’t know that he’s an alien.

AMO: So she thinks he’s the ultimate meteor freak?

ALLISON: Yeah, she thinks he’s just been really affected by the meteor shower. And in the season finale she witnesses something else that sort of makes her think, “Oh my god maybe it’s not just about the meteor shower, maybe its something else.”

AMO: Now that Lois has arrived into the series, what do you think about Chloe vs. Lois?

ALLISON: I don’t like to pit them up against each other, because I don’t think that there is any competition between the two of them. I think that Lois really softens Chloe because the majority of the situations we’ve seen Chloe in, she’s been the most aggressive, the sort-of most mature, the most intelligent out of the people that she’s been around, whereas with Lois she’s grown up with Lois—she’s grown up sort of like Lois’ little sister kind of like, tagging along being, sort of, under her. So any time Lois is around Chloe steps out of the power position and Lois takes over. You can see a really interesting side of Chloe just because she’s never really pushed control to someone as much as she does to Lois and sort of taken the back seat to the power position as much as she does to Lois. So it introduces a really great dynamic to my character because it shows a specific side to her that you haven’t seen before.

AMO: That’s true, she’s always quiet around Lois.

ALLISON: Yeah, she is a lot more sensitive than Lois and, so you get to see a sensitive, sort of, compassionate side of Chloe that you don’t see very often. Because Lois is much more like—for all the aggression–kind of “who gives a shit?” you know? Chloe is not as much that way when she’s with Lois.

AMO: Do you think she’s that way when she’s not with Lois?

ALLISON: I think she’s a tendency to be more that way, but I think when she witnesses someone else do it, she realizes, “Wow, that’s not really the best way to approach all situations,” and takes two steps back. But I definitely think that that is a family trait (laughs). I definitely think that blinded aggression and ambition runs in the family.

AMO: Lois is older right?

ALLISON: Yeah, she’s 19 and Chloe is 18. Or maybe she’s older, maybe she’s 21—I don’t remember.

AMO: I think the years have kind of mixed--

ALLISON: They’ve all kind of blended together.

AMO: They’re all above 18 now.

ALLISON: (laughs) Yeah, exactly, that’s the important thing, right?

AMO: Yeah. But now you get to see all the dynamics with Lex’s character—going after Lana.--We just saw Onyx. ALLISON: Oh, okay—oh god, what a great episode.

AMO: I actually have a question from one of your fans.

ALLISON: Oh, fantastic!

AMO: How do you and Tom prepare for your scenes together? Specifically thinking of Onyx.

ALLISON: Specifically me and Tom?

AMO: Yeah, like in the Onyx episode for instance when Lex drops the ceiling on Chloe and Clark.

ALLISON: Our days are usually so crazy packed that we don’t really get a rehearsal period per se. Usually, Tom and I meet before a scene happens on the set with the director and the crew—it’s called a private blocking so the crew steps off the set. And it’s just the director and the actors and then the director of photography. We read it through a couple of times just to say the words out loud, and then we block it. We sort of stage the whole scene depending on where the camera’s supposed to be and where we’re going to be and what kind of shots they want and all that stuff. And after that we just shoot it. I mean, it’s such a quick process that really, the first three or four takes are our first rehearsals--to actually see what it feels like to go through it for real. I mean, we work five days a week for 10 months a year and we shoot 13 to 14 hours every day. We shoot like, seven pages a day whereas a feature film shoots 2 pages a day. So, we work at a really fast pace so any sort of rehearsal or preparation is sort of up to you to do at home before you end up going to work. Once you’re there you should know what you’re doing and what you want to accomplish in a scene, before you start shooting it you really don’t have an opportunity to go through it again. So it’s pretty intense.

AMO: I can imagine!

ALLISON: Yeah, it’s a pretty intense process.

AMO: Especially because you have to meld together with Tom’s performance.

ALLISON: Exactly. Exactly. I mean, we’ve been working together for so long now. We’ve been working together for four years. We kind of know how the other person works and the choices the other person’s going to make. But, it’s still difficult. I mean, rehearsals are a luxury you just don’t get when you’re in television.

AMO: Interesting. But theatre is a different story right?

ALLISON: Theatre, yeah. You rehearse three or four weeks prior to opening. And then you have a couple of weeks of something called previews which is like dress rehearsals in front of an audience, and then you actually open the show so you have a LOT of rehearsal time for theatre.

AMO: Well, and you have to memorize a script for theatre.

ALLISON: Exactly, and you don’t get any do-overs for theatre, whereas like in film if you screw something up, you can be like “aww…cut I want to try that again.” You can’t really do that in a play.

AMO: Yeah, well, you can try but…

ALLISON: (laughs) That doesn’t always necessarily go over very well.

AMO: Do you prefer working in movies, theatre, or television series?

ALLISON: Theatre.

What is in store for the future, Ms. Mack?

AMO: On the subject of theatre, we heard last summer that you were going to work with a theatre in Vancouver. Is that something that you’re going to continue doing?

ALLISON: No. I didn’t actually end up working in Vancouver. I was thinking that I would have liked to, but nothing ended up working out right. Right now I’m just sort of concentrating on traveling and I’m teaching a workshop in LA—at the beginning of May which should be really great. You know, it’s difficult to find projects that are of value to me, emotionally and creatively. And I work so hard on the show during the year that when I have time off it’s really important to me to do something that’s personally fulfilling. And if that means not working—and traveling—then that’s sort of what I choose to do. I’ve had a lot of scripts given to me and projects handed to me that have been fascinating and I’ve been really excited about. A lot of them have gone to other actresses or haven’t ended up being made because of finances and things like that. So nothing has seemed to really work out in that direction, so I’m just kind of like, “You know what, something’s telling me to take this time to go and have a good time traveling.” So that’s what I’m doing…It’s a difficult decision to make though. I mean, work is work you know and you get to a point where you’re kind of like, ‘Alright, well I want my career to move forward so I guess I should probably do a job. I should probably do something other than Smallville’. But I feel like for me and the kind of career I want and the kind of actress that I want to be, it’s very important for me to pick the right project coming out of the show, because I think it’ll have a lot to do with the way the public perceives me.

AMO: So have you auditioned for things—or just getting the scripts?

ALLISON: I’ve had several meetings for different things but nothing that’s ended up coming to fruition. But, I’ll let you know if anything does! But right now it looks like I’ll be spending most of my summer with a backpack on my back.

AMO: You’ve done that before, right?

ALLISON: Oh, I’ve spent that every summer so far. It’s nice, it’s good to get off the continent. I feel like it puts things into perspective for me and I come back and can prioritize with a clear head. It’s easy to get wrapped up in things that aren’t that important especially being in the television industry.

Quick Peek at the Past

AMO: So as far as the show Opposite Sex, you do have some fans who loved you in that show…

ALLISON: Aww! That’s good to know!

AMO: One of them would like to know ‘where would you have seen Kate going in terms of her independence—had the show continued, do you have an idea of where they would be going as far as her independence and strong will’?

ALLISON: I haven’t thought about this character in years. Well, I personally think that Phil was a much better choice for her because he challenged her a lot more--intellectually. And it’s nice to be with someone who adores you as much as Phil adores Kate. So I think, had the show continued, I think that they would have had a bit of a relationship but, I mean, it’s a teen drama right? So there had to be some drama breaking up, going to back to Jed, blah blah blah…all that stuff. But personally—if it was real life? I think she should have gone with Phil—but I always pick the dorks.

What does Allison recommend to her fans?

AMO: Can you please recommend a CD, DVD, and a book to your fans.

ALLISON: A CD, DVD, and a book? So for a book I would recommend—well a DVD Annie Hall—obviously. For a book I would recommend….Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. It’s my favorite book of all times, and a CD…what CDs do I listen to like over and over and over again? Probably Zero 7. I don’t know the title of the CD, but they’re fantastic. Their music is Morcheeba-esque kind of sound. It’s great, I can’t get enough of it. That, or a John Glover mix. John Glover makes the best mix CDs of anyone I’ve ever met in my life.

AMO: You mean like a personal mix?

ALLISON: Yeah, He picks the most amazing songs. And I would say probably Joni Mitchell’s Blue. I think it’s pretty much the best CD ever made.

AMO: You mentioned the Orange County Children’s Workshop. Do you have any idea of what you’re doing there?

ALLISON: It’s a two-day workshop, and it’s capping out at 12 kids on the first day. It’s going to be all sort of—just a lecture of me and my techniques and improv. Sort of teaching people my techniques, which is a lot of intense memory and personalization and object work and things like that—that’s all surrounded by improv. My second day then they’re bringing in a monologue scene, and we’re going to apply what we learned the first day in the second day.

AMO: Well, we’re going to go ahead and wrap it up. Thank you for taking the time out for me today!

ALLISON: Of course. Thank you!

The End* * (Actually there was a bit of a Verizon "Can you hear me now" commercial going on with the conversation towards the end, but for the sake of the audience, we've left it out. We just figured we'd mention it because it was actually quite funny.) Acknowledgments Allison Mack Online would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Allison Mack for taking time out to communicate with her fans. It was an honor to act as liaison. We would also like to extend a “thanks” to the editors of these articles. And finally, on behalf of the entire site, a thanks to the fans for treating Allison so well.