An Exercise in Greatness

Are you interested in the group dynamics between Chloe and Clark now that Clark’s primary care-giver has gone to the great pasture in the sky? Did you ever wonder what it was like for Allison to work on set in the Torch Scene? Have you ever wondered what Allison’s current favorite food is? To find out answers to these and more, we hope you’ll enjoy this interview, especially considering all of these questions are from you all anyway!

Warm-ups

ALLISON: Yeah, we’re huge in Europe. Europe and South America. It’s pretty crazy, actually.

AMO: Why do you think that is?

ALLISON: I don’t know. I think it’s because the show has this American feel to it. A vibe of pro-America, and American values and all that stuff. It’s a very traditional show.

AMO: Before we dive further into Smallville-related questions--did you know you are on the roster for the Wizard World convention? Do you know if you’re still attending that?

ALLISON: Oh I don’t think so. I’m not sure; I haven’t heard anything. I don’t know. I haven’t made any commitments to anything. So I don’t know. I’ll let you know if I am. But I don’t know for sure.

AMO: Do you know anything about San Diego Comic Con?

ALLISON: I’m not sure—no one has told me anything. I don’t really know what’s happening. A lot of it probably depends on our work schedule up here. It falls on the days when we’re shooting. So it’s a bit difficult for any of us to go to those things.

A Smallville Study

ALLISON: Chloe Sullivan? I have no idea. I have no idea, no…do you?

AMO: No!

ALLISON: [laughs] Well, everybody’s speculating that there’s all kinds of symbolism to her name. Like, if you move the letters around it spells Lois. But I don’t…I don’t think any of that. I think it works for her and it’s just something that’s not in any of the comics.

AMO: Did you know that Lois and Clark end up living on a street called Sullivan Place in the comics?

ALLISON: Do they really? No I didn’t know that. That’s awesome. So that’s what it has to do with. I’m sure it does—what with Jeph Loeb being one of our writers, he knows all of that stuff…I’m sure there’s something like that.

AMO: Okay, so on to the 100^th episode. Where do you think that the relationship between Chloe and Clark will be heading the next half of this season?

ALLISON: I think they’ve developed a really amazing partnership this year. And I think it’ll keep going down that path. I don’t think they’ll ever be romantically involved. I think there are too many irons in the fire for that to ever work out. But I do think that they’ll be aiding one another as friends, now as best friends. And there’s this relationship building with Annette and myself. Where we become a family since Jonathan’s gone. Martha and Chloe are the only two left who know the secret. So Chloe’s really a part of the Kent family now. It’s just Martha, Clark, and Chloe.  So I think that it’ll continue along that path where there’s this strong sense of morality and fighting people and making sure good triumphs.

AMO: How do you see the renewed roommate situation with Chloe and Lana now that Clark and Lana are broken up?

ALLISON: Yeah, they’re not together anymore. I see it [as] Chloe going, “I don’t want to talk about this to anyone. I want keep this secret completely.” I mean I think it’ll be different and I think that Lana will pull back from Chloe because she knows about Chloe and Clark. And also, Lana’s going to be getting closer to Lex. I mean, I see them definitely moving apart and separating in their friendship…Besides Clark, it’s not like they really have a whole lot in common. So I think it’ll be moving along that way…

AMO: After the 100^th episode, we see a clear division amongst the gang, with Chloe and Clark being on a team and Lex and Lana being on another one, both against each other. What do you think about that?

ALLISON: Yeah! Yeah, definitely! And I think we’re definitely moving in that direction. I can’t be sure what their plans are for Lana and Lex, but they’re definitely moving in that direction towards them becoming a team and Clark and Chloe. It’s going to be great. I mean, I think it’s really exciting for Kristin to have something different to play that’s a little more serious. If they let her go that way it would be really great. And I’m so excited for Kristin. She’s a great actress and it’ll give her a chance to play a new part.

AMO: Do you like the new Daily Planet set?

ALLISON: Oh my god it’s stunning. Love it. It’s so beautiful. It’s so nice to be out of the Torch. You know when I was in the Torch it was great, but I was constantly walking in circles all the time. I don’t know if you knew this but I was constantly spinning around that desk. Now I have this huge massive space to work in I have stairs. I can go in and out of the big huge double doors. And I’ve got more than one set of big huge double doors…and elevators…there’s just so much there—its so rich and so much to work with and it has some awesome art deco, like the set decorator did a good job with the planning and decorating. It’s so beautiful, and the way that the lighting is.

AMO: Do you miss the Torch and the Wall of Weird at all?

ALLISON: Well I have a Wall of Weird in my dorm room so the Wall of Weird is still alive to play with. And I mean, I think that’s a great quality of Chloe’s because now it’s no longer about proving that these meteors are responsible for the freaks. And now it’s about a matter of making sure these people are okay, so I think the Wall of Weird still has a shift. Now it’s what the people are up to and how to protect them. .And some of the things are updated to reflect that.

Upcoming Project Alert!

AMO: How did you get that role of Tiffany on The Ant Bully?

ALLISON: I auditioned. I’ve done a few voice-overs before, but nothing really big. My agent called me. She said, “Hey, read for this, it’s a cartoon.” and so I said, “All right, cool,” so I went in and I read a few times for it. Then I heard that they wanted me for it and I was like, ‘Fantastic!” So, I went in and then I’ve been going in for the last two years, I guess. Every couple of months I go in for a little bit and a little bit more. I do … some kind of ad or something like that. It’s really great….It’s really fun. Voice-overs are awesome because you get to go so far over the top with it.

AMO: For two years? Wow.

ALLISON: I know it takes a very, very, very long time. I think it’ll be out in the theaters this year.

AMO: Yes, August.

ALLISON: Yeah. And it’s grown! When I started on it it didn’t have Julia Roberts in it. It was just Paul Giamatti, Alan Cumming, Cheri Oteri and…me. It’s gotten into a big deal. I was like, “Wow...wow…okay.”

AMO: Have you been able to work with Julia Roberts?

ALLISON: No, because with voice-overs, what they do is: You go in by yourself and read all of your lines, and the director basically breaks down the lines and tells you exactly what he wants. And you give them about 10 different options, and then he cuts it all together. It’s very strange because you’re not actually talking to anyone. It’s very bizarre, and very exciting. Maybe I’ll get to meet her at the premiere.

AMO: What would you think is the biggest challenge for voice-over work?

ALLISON: Probably not having the [other] actors to work off of. It’s really difficult to not to be able to speak to the other people. You’re like, “Okay, well, I hope that matches.” You really have to trust your director.

AMO: Did you want to say anything else about it?

ALLISON: I don’t think so—just that it’s going to be lots of fun!

The Softer Side of Allison

AMO: What is one thing that would surprise your fans to learn about you?

ALLISON: One thing…I’m an avid knitter. I love to knit. I knit all the time.

AMO: What is something you don’t like about theater, TV, and film?

ALLISON: I don’t like the zoo-like aspects of it. Like, the fact that people watch me all the time. I love what I do, and I’m grateful for what I get, but it’s very odd for people to watch you. It’s very weird. But actually, you know what? We can’t complain. I mean, we get to do fabulous work, and we love the people, but that’s just something that we don’t like, and that’s how we feel. But…for it to be the most perfect ideal job in the world, that wouldn’t be there...then it would be the most perfect job ever! [laughs]

AMO: What is your favorite sport?

ALLISON: Oh god, sports? I’m not really into sports at all actually. If I had to choose a favorite to watch or to play…my favorite sport to watch…is gymnastics considered a sport? [laughs]

AMO: Oh yeah, definitely.

ALLISON: I guess it’s gymnastics.

AMO: Dessert?

ALLISON: Oooh! Breyers White Chocolate Delight.

AMO: Food?

ALLISON: Favorite food? Gnocchi. My friend, Marissa, from Italy, makes potato gnocchi with Pomodoro sauce, a tomato sauce. It’s absolutely out of this world.

AMO: How about designer?

ALLISON: Clothing designer? Stella McCartney.

AMO: Drink?

ALLISON: Alcoholic beverage or just drinkage?

AMO: Either, or?

ALLISON: Red wine.

AMO: Do you drink soda at all?

ALLISON: No, I don’t, actually. I’d rather get my calories from red wine.

AMO: Hobbies, other than knitting I guess?

ALLISON: I love to go dancing. I love board games. I love hiking with my dog. I love going to any sort of art center. I love going to galleries….

AMO: Who is your favorite painter?

ALLISON: My favorite painter? Gustav Klimt.

AMO: How about your favorite incense?

ALLISON: I don’t use incense but I use aromatherapy. There’s a store up here called Saje and they have this therapy here called "Goddess" with scents like jasmine and rose and things like that and I LOVE it.

AMO: Your favorite television show to watch (besides Smallville, of course).

ALLISON: I was really into “The Sopranos” for a while. I don’t actually have a TV so I watch DVDs. I’d say “The Sopranos” or “The Office”—the BBC version of “The Office.” I’d say those two are probably my favorite.

AMO: What’s your guilty pleasure?

ALLISON: Staying in all day and watching movie after movie after movie.

AMO: What was the last thing that surprised you that you can share?

ALLISON: My boyfriend sold two paintings.

AMO: Excellent! Does he have shows ever?

ALLISON: Yeah he does! He’s in Italy right now.

AMO: Italy!

ALLISON:. Mmhmm.

AMO: Aww, that’s a long way away.

ALLISON: It IS a long way away. But it’s good for him.

AMO: If you could work with anyone today no matter what age, who would it be?

ALLISON: Meryl Streep, I love her.

Trivia

TO BE CONTINUED…

Stay tuned next week for more information including Allison’s thoughts on Chloe and the Chlois theory, what it was like to interact with Carrie Fisher and James Marsters, her vicarious wish-fulfillment victim and much, much more!

...An Exercise in Greatness Continued

More Smallville

ALLISON: Yeah, absolutely. My character has been involved with so much change. Absolutely. She's so much more mature; and so much more selfless and open. I think that her love for Clark has grown, and she's in a more honest place. And everything is in a calm place as well. She doesn't freak out about things. She's not as frantic as she used to be and just lets things roll off her back--and I think that's important. She's really become such a voice of reason for Clark in a lot of ways. She's really the voice of reason for the show. She was such a spastic, emotional, reactionary girl. And now she's a very strong, intense, and focused and intelligent woman and she's really a nice rock for Clark. So that's a huge change. So I definitely approach her very differently now. Totally different feel to my character.

AMO: So, it actually feels different to play her now?

ALLISON: Absolutely, It's very different for me, well, because she's just nowhere near as frantic as she used to be. She still has a lot of energy and a lot of ambition but it's all very focused, very centered. She's grown up. And this has forced her to grow up, forced her to prioritize, and forced her to know exactly what she wants and what she needs to go after to get what she wants.

AMO: Do you ever think she doesn't want to grow up?

ALLISON: Chloe? No I think Chloe's been striving to grow up for a very long time and I think that she's finally starting to figure out what her life is about. I think that she's enjoyed the freedom of living on her own and having the ability to work where she wanted to work. I mean, ever since the eighth grade she wanted to work at the Daily Planet, but she knew she wasn't going to get the respect that she could get at an older age.

AMO: What was it like working with Carrie Fisher?

ALLISON: She was great! She is a great woman who has been around [show business] forever. She's done so much. So she was really cool and very, very kind to me; very fabulous. I was so nervous that I would be, like, talking out of place or anything like that. But she's really cool. And she is really funny and wild. Yeah. It was good.

AMO: What about James Marsters?

ALLISON: James Marsters was fabulous! Oh we had that whole big fight in the ice cave. I was there for three days for I worked for 2 minutes. So I did work those days. I didn't have any lines with him but I did work with him. I love James, I love him. I actually did a theater festival with him about four or five years ago in Los Angeles. I wasn't in the same show he was, but I was friends with a director that was directing him and I caught the show and well--at the after-party we got together. Love James. He's so talented as well-on the show. No, I really like James a lot. It was really great to have him on the show. But he's coming back!

AMO: Are you guys going to have more scenes together?

ALLISON: I assume so. I would think so. Right now he's really focused on Lex. So I don't have any idea-but maybe now that they've pulled Lana into it a little bit more they'll be pulling me into it a little bit more. I'd love to work with James more.

AMO: Fans are excited about the episode "Tomb."

ALLISON: I know. I hope it's good. [laughs]

AMO: Can you tell us anything about that?

ALLISON: It was a really difficult episode for everyone involved. It was a really difficult episode for my character, and we had a fantastic guest star who raised the bar for Erica [Durance], who did some fantastic work for Lois. I think everybody did really great work but it was definitely very...heavy. The weird thing about this episode is that our villain isn't a kryptonite freak. Our villain is a real, live guy-a serial killer. And so, there was two days that were shot before Christmas where Lois and I are tied up and tortured. And it was really difficult to shoot because it was this crazy reality- it's stuff that happens, you know -- it wasn't this bizarre, freak thing. So it was a really heavy episode, I think, for everybody to shoot it.

AMO: So the girl that took over your body-she's a ghost, right?

ALLISON: Yeah, she was murdered by this guy about 10 years ago and he hid her body in the wall in the back of the Talon.

AMO: The Talon?

ALLISON: Yeah, the apartment over the talon. So she wants to stop him and so she contacts Chloe and she jumps in Chloe's body. The guy kills the girls by making the girls kill themselves. He forces them to do it.

AMO: Wow...that's...horrible. When the spoilers first came out, the fans were all saying something along the lines of, "Wow that's really deep. Only Allison can handle that sort of thing."

ALLISON: Aww, that's so nice. Thank you. I hope it worked out well. And it was really great too, because we touch back on the topic of Chloe and her mom. Her mom was in the insane asylum and she's on all these [drugs]. So it was really great for my character. And the characters involved. [Also], I was possessed by another character so I really got to play totally different and over the top.

AMO: Oh yeah, speaking of her mom-you get to meet her, right?

ALLISON: Yeah. You never get to see her face though. I know, we don't know what her mom looks like, but you know, she's really nice.

AMO: Final Smallville question. You already touched on this a little bit but some of your fans feel that they have contextual evidence that Chloe is going to be The Lois Lane.

ALLISON: Yeah some people are very much stuck on that idea.

AMO: Yeah, that's true, but the show does give some evidence for the idea for Chloe, Lana, and Lois. So they were wondering what you feel about that.

ALLISON: I mean, we have Lois, right? So I don't see that ever happening. But it's an interesting thing to speculate.

Fun Facts

ALLISON: No, I don't. It's very depressing. It's really difficult because you...there's a lot that you realize after the fact.

AMO: Do you ever have to for continuity purposes?

ALLISON: Yeah. I try not to watch it with people, because the entire time I sit there and criticize myself. [laughs] So it's tough, and it's probably a better idea that I do that on my own.

AMO: How much of your time, when not filming, do you spend thinking of your character, Chloe?

ALLISON: It's always in the back of your head. And when you have a difficult scene or a difficult episode then it consumes you. But I would say a good portion of the day she pops up in my head.

AMO: Do you spend time creating back-stories?

ALLISON: Yeah. [well] the last five years have been like the major part of her back-story. But its more depicting things that I need to really get how she evolves and all that stuff.

AMO: What's your favorite word or phrase or phrase that you overuse?

ALLISON: That I use too much? "Fabulous". I use "fabulous" all the time. Actually, my friend gave me a sculpture that he called "Fabulous."

AMO: Do you have a motto?

ALLISON: A personal motto? I don't have a personal motto. But, I would say that, I really try to be happy. I guess what the Dalai Lama says about how happiness is a choice; I think that would be it.

AMO: What is the biggest waste of your time?

ALLISON: What's the biggest waste of my time? ...Cleaning up dog hair. That's a great one; I have a dog who has a lot of hair, so cleaning up dog hair. That's the biggest waste of my time.

AMO: What natural gift would you most like to possess?

ALLISON: I would love to be a painter. But I can't. So...I'm just dating a painter. I can't do it, so I find someone who can and I live with them.

AMO: So you say "You! Paint me something! Now!"

ALLISON: Exactly. "Why don't you do this?"

AMO: Does he do it?

ALLISON: Sometimes. Sometimes he just goes, "Oh that's a good idea" and then he'll forget it.

Childhood Secrets: Methods of Madness

ALLISON: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good one!

AMO: What goes through a child's mind to get those emotions of fear and anger out?

ALLISON: I've always had a really vivid imagination. So I think I just go there. I just put myself in that place and imagine that it's really happening to me. So I'm sure that's how I did it. And I had really great acting coaches who helped me a lot. So I just went there. It's kind of weird. It kind of screws you up for the rest of your life a little bit.

AMO: Was it scary a bit?

ALLISON: Yeah, completely scary. It's very real and hard. It was a good challenge.

AMO: Was it your first time working with Annette?

ALLISON: It was-yes, with Annette O'Toole. Yeah, it was.

AMO: Did you see her again between then and Smallville?

ALLISON: Nope. Isn't that weird? I know when I first saw her [again] I was like, "We worked together when I was very little."

AMO: Did she remember you?

ALLISON: She was like, "Oh my god!" Yeah she totally remembered. I think she was a little freaked out by it, I think.

The Cool-Down

ALLISON: Well, thank you so much for running my fansite. I appreciate it!

AMO:It's really my pleasure. I have a really great staff there as well. Well, thank you! Good bye, Allison.

ALLISON: Ciao!

Trivia

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: As usual, we'd like to thank the fabulous Allison Mack for taking a large portion of her afternoon and devoting it to answering questions from her fans, and doing so effortlessly and graciously. We all appreciate the wonderful efforts she makes to keep us updated on her career. A hearty thank-you also goes out to Allison's "people" who arranged the interview and continue to remain as awesome as ever. We'd like to also, once again, extend thanks to Allison's fans who keep this site running with their enthusiasm and love for Allison. You are all a blessing to us, and as the webmaster of this site, you bring smiles to my face on a regular basis. Thank you, all. Finally, we want to give acknowledgment to the fantastic editors of this article. You gals rock. Well, until next time, as Allison would say, "Ciao."