Erica Durance Interview

[tv star collector]

Erica Durance by John Sciulli/WireImage.com
Smallville's Erica Durance

Erica Durance's Lois Lane is getting a superhero boyfriend this fall on CW's Smallville (premiering Sept. 28 at 8 pm/ET). And while he's tall and handsome, you'll never see him wearing a red cape.

The future "Daily Planet" reporter will be paired with Oliver Queen (aka Green Arrow), to be played by Justin Hartley, who starred as Aquaman in the Smallville spin-off pilot that CW opted not to pick up for the 2006-07 season. "I haven't met him yet," Durance says, "but it's lovely that [they found a Smallville role for him]."

Will Oliver's arrows puncture Lois and Clark's forever-budding relationship?

"I'm the actress, not the writer, talking, but I think Lois being with Green Arrow will make Clark search through some of his feelings and make him ask himself why he feels that way," previews Durance.

The actress theorizes that putting Lois and Clark together in a full-blown romance potentially could harm their on-screen pizzazz faster than a chunk of gold kryptonite would wilt Superman's extraordinary abilities. "I think [the powers that be] would have to figure out how many years the show is going to go," she muses. "Then they can map out how far they can bring Lois [and Clark's relationship] along."

In other words, Durance would prefer not to see Lois and Clark go the way of Moonlighting's Dave and Maddie. (Remember how flat-out boring those private eyes became after falling into bed?) "Watching characters dance around each other and bait each other and not quite fall into sentimental love is interesting for me to see," she says. "What is also interesting for me to see is these two fighting with each other and finding out why they love each other."

Still, we all know — thanks to reading Superman comic books (and from watching Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain, Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve, and Kate Bosworth and Brandon Routh) — that the intrepid reporter and the last son of Krypton are destined to be together. It's like what Martha Kent told Clark last season when he lamented not being able to be with Lana. She told her boy that maybe he was meant to have somebody else, only he doesn't even know it yet. (Cut to viewers screaming at their TVs: "Lois! Lois!")

When Durance assumed her Smallville role back in 2004, she wanted to bring to the Lois-Clark dynamic more of the spunky qualities that Kidder did in the Superman films of the '70s and '80s. "I watched some old movies [like Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant's] Bringing Up Baby to kind of get that idea," she shares, hastening to add, "I'm not comparing myself to Katharine Hepburn, but [Lois and Clark have] a similar kind of relationship."

How has Durance's life changed since becoming Lois? "I do more traveling, my life has a faster pace, and I'm getting opportunities to do films," says the actress, whose upcoming movies include The Butterfly Effect 2 and Ecstasy.

While Clark and Lois may have to wait a while before they figure out their true feelings, Durance knows that in real life she's already been struck by Cupid's arrow. She and actor David Palffy (Blade: The Series), having met three years ago while filming an episode of Stargate SG-1, wed in January 2005. "We're quite a team," Durance gushes. "I feel very lucky. We share a lot of the same interests. I'm very opposite to Lois in that I'm nonconfrontational. Let's make love, not war."

[TJL]

She's pretty...

[Dr. Thong]

Originally Posted by tv star collector

Erica Durance: "I'm very opposite to Lois in that I'm nonconfrontational. Let's make love, not war."

My kind of woman - likes sex and avoids confrontations!!

[Buffyboy323]

Originally Posted by Dr. Thong

My kind of woman - likes sex and avoids confrontations!!

I hear ya.

She's one of my favorite Smallville Characters.