Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum shaved his head multiple times a day so his hairline would not become visible while playing Lex Luthor, and he has a picture to prove it.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter during an interview celebrating 20 years since the DC superhero series premiered on The WB/The CW, Rosenbaum said, "My hair would start to grow throughout the day, so they had to really make sure all these colors were blended to make me look like I was bald so I didn't have the hairline." According to the actor, the makeup process "took two-and-a-half hours" in the first few years but the team eventually got it down to "about an hour and 15" after he requested a speedier turnaround.
The black-and-white image provided by Rosenbaum gives fans a side-profile angle of him sitting in a makeup chair as his makeup artist shaves his head with a razor blade. This picture demonstrates Rosenbaum's commitment to the supervillain role but also the crew's attention to detail. In that same interview, co-showrunner Miles Millar recalled that wardrobe director Steve Oben would enhance male characters' physical attributes on the show. "In certain sequences, he used to stuff socks into certain people's underwear to give them bigger bulges," Millar said.
"I'd go, 'I don't want to wear a purple shirt again,' and he'd say, 'I don't care what you want to wear. This is what I was given. Wear it or don't. It doesn't hurt me,'" Rosenbaum added. "He would always come up to us and say as he's fixing our wardrobe, 'You should do that [take] again.' Or he'd say, "I don't know why we're going again, that was perfect.' Out loud. Directors would hear him. He was just a personality. He was fun."
The interview also featured series co-creator Alfred Gough and Smallville stars Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, John Schneider, Annette O'Toole, John Glover and Erica Durance. Rosenbaum originally won the producers over by showing confidence in his initial audition tape and refusing a call back for a screen test, which Tom Welling noted is a very Luthor-like tactic. However, the actor's experience filming the pilot proved challenging, with Rosenbaum reportedly having a series of panic attacks while shooting the complex car crash sequence where Luthor gets submerged underwater.
Smallville ran for 10 seasons on The WB/The CW before continuing in comic book form. Smallville: The Complete Series is out now on Blu-ray.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter