At New York Comic-Con, the Smallville cast reunited to reminisce about the 10-season Superman show. During the panel, the cast revealed many interesting details --including that Tom Welling used to wear shorts and sandals while filming to beat the heat on set.
The moderator made a comment about Welling's wardrobe on set, noting that he often was seen wearing jeans and t-shirts. Welling said, "I loved it because we were there so often --it was a blue shirt, red jacket or the reverse-- and every once in a while they'd throw in a plaid shirt. It made it really simple for the stunt guys and me. And we didn't have to worry about wardrobe. So in that way, I really liked it. It wasn't skin tight, it wasn't any version of a leotard so that was also helpful."
Michael Rosenbaum, who played Lex Luthor on the show, then chimed in, "Well, Tom also --he would get really hot, he's a big guy. He perspires, those sets are hot --I mean those lights, and the dust and all of it. And we'd sit there and I noticed that Tom some days would be like, 'where are we? Are we wasters or cowboys?' He'd have shorts and sandals on. And I go, 'You know what? F-- that, I'm gonna do that.' So I tried shorts one day and sandals for Lex. I couldn't do it. I needed that outfit to be that guy. I had to be in that outfit or it was different --I was different."
Welling said, "Most likely if you didn't see me from like [waist down] I had shorts and sandals on. At all times." Laura Vandervoort, who played Supergirl on the show, said, "That's one of my first memories of Tom. One of the first scenes I did with him in the loft, we got to his close-up and he just --no pants. Just Birkenstocks and socks. It took the facade away from it a little bit, I was like, 'Oh okay.'"
Welling said another way he beat the heat was to have an ice pack "tucked in" his lower back. "You can't sweat on that show. You're not allowed to sweat. And even when we did the superspeed stuff and I'd run like three blocks and have to stop on a dime and not be out of breath," he added, demonstrating his tricky situation.
All ten seasons of Smallville are currently available on Hulu to stream.
Source: YouTube