EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: AL GOUGH ON TOM WELLING CASTING RUMORS

Earlier today, online rumors stated that Warner Bros. features had apparently worked out a deal with Smallville creators and executive producers for Tom Welling to take leave of the show so that he could star as Superman in the Justice League movie. This would, of course, jive with earlier rumors that the duo were holding out their cooperation for the opportunity to not only serve as exec producers of JL, but also to be given control of the Superman film franchise. This evening, Al Gough, upon hearing the latest rumors, responded pretty succinctly in an exclusive interview: "This is utter bullshit. We haven't ever been approached by anybody at Warners.  This is all utter fabrication.
  "There have been many rumors circulating over the past few weeks about Tom Welling's involvement in the Justice League movie," Gough continues. "I can tell you that neither Miles ,myself, nor Warner Bros Television have been approached by WB Features about this film.  The last time I checked with Tom's agent, he said they had not been contacted about this project at all.  We have a very cordial relationship with both Warner Bros Features and DC Comics, and in all of our discussions over the past few weeks on Smallville business, THIS HASN'T COME UP ONCE. So, there you have it from the horse's mouth--or ass--given some of the message board postings I've seen about myself!"

Comments

[Sketchrob]

Wow.... if thats the case.. thats pretty interesting indeed. Why the blackout on this from the other sites?

[kavalier]

You might want to stop using infamous_emijayne as a source. Its not doing your website much good these days. But I do appreciate that youve been able to get information directly from Gough. Thats actually been really cool.

[Ed Gross]

The truth is that I want JLOF (not really crazy about that acronym) to be a repository for all the news and rumors surrounding Justice League. What this means is that I'll use infamous as a source, as well as iesb, Patrick Sauriol or anyone posting info on the film. I just think there's something cool about eventually being able to look back at the journey a project took from inception through completion. In between, of course, I'll be posting interviews with those actually involved with the project.

[jerome]

This might just be Business 101. The rumors could still be true. I doubt them, but here's a possible scenario:

What if WB wants to have its cake and eat it too? It wants Smallville to keep going, keep Gough happy enough, his ego stroked enough, for as long as possible. But they sure as hell wouldn't want that crowd running any of its iconic franchises on the big screen.

However, they might hear the clamoring of the fans for Welling. And given the disaster that was Superman Returns, they might want to try to tilt the playing field in favor of success; a Welling Superman film, JL or standalone, at this point, is the safer financial calculation. And they've got to be concerned about watering down the franchise - could they expect the fans to put up with three actors "owning" the role simultaneously?

Nutshell: They want Welling, not Gough&Co.

Which means Gough will be the last to find out.

He'll get notified, you can have Welling for X number of days for the next Smallville season. He'll be condescendingly told, good job, but the adults are taking over. (Of course, Gough's team could accurately reply, they handled the franchise with adept skill, far superior to Bryan Singer's cinematic atrocity).

Just a theory. Gough & Co. have made a fantastic show, and made a name out of Mr. Welling. If they wanted to continue on, they should have the oppotunity to do a JL television show, and fans would have confidence that they'd probably make another great show. But it's just as likely that, when it comes time for them to wrap up Smallville, Gough&Co. might just want to be done with the whole DC universe. After all, they weren't fans of the material before the show (but should be commended for their respectful treatment of the franchise). They've expanded the DC tv/film universe and are to be congratulated. But the clock is ticking. At some point, WB would really serve itself well by clearing up all this speculation and let the fans know, if the show ends, if it's the last time they'll see Mr Welling in that character - or, is he going to continue on, in another medium or program?

[Matt]

There is NO credible evidence that Welling will be the next Superman and Gough has confirmed as much. WB are mad even considering replacing Routh and Bale anyway. Superman Returns did just fine and Routh IS the new Supes for millions of people. I can see JLA sinking and I hope Singer is given the nod to continue with a sequel! For all the naysayers, may I remind you how much better X2 was than X-Men?!

[shane]

Geez. Do you guys think Welling will ever be Superman? Then again . . . Why hasn't Welling said anything about this rumor? Did you notice Gough said it was never brought up. How could it have NEVER been brought up after all the speculation? Still alot of questions here.

[Kryptallo]

SO CONFUSING. Tom Welling is a good actor. I would love to see him as Superman. What about Brandon Routh? I don't blame him, I blame Ms. Michelle Doughtery and Danielle Harris for writing such a ballet type Superman swan song of a movie. I think Brandon deserves another shot at this because if I see Tom in the SuperSuit before the LAST EPISODE of Smallville, it's just going to ruin the whole reason I watch Smallville in the first place!!!!

[Patrick]

WB can't just take Tom Welling away from Gough & Co., jerome. Welling is under contract to star in Smallville, so if WB restricted his time there to the point that the Smallville execs could claim their show was unfairly disrupted, they'd have a legal case against WB. Plus, the bad PR they'd get for sabotaging Smallville would probably counter any good PR they'd get by putting Welling in the cape for a JL movie.

[Bobby]

Tom Welling would be perfect for Justice League. He should definitely be offered the role and take it. It would also be a huge boost to Smallville for it's 8th season.

[Ed Gross]

While I would love to see Tom Welling make the leap to the big screen, it just doesn't seem to be a likely scenario. By the same token, one could argue that the timing could be perfect in a sense: Tom takes a temporary leave of the show and allows the Supergirl character to take over, he shoots the Justice League film, finishes up the season and then shoots season eight. Season eight ends in May of 2009 and Justice League reaches theatres that summer.

Big problem is that no one from features and TV generally speaks to each other, and for that reason there wouldn't be the necessary cooperation. Nice to dream, though, isn't it?

[steven dunetz]

Tom Welling would draw more people the the movies to see Superman then any other guy!

[steven dunetz]

Tom Welling kept Smallville alive for (now) nine years! What other actor could do that!If he wears a superman suit it would draw new viewers to Smallville and last five more years! A movie version like Justice League would be great for Warner Brothers they would make billions of dollars if Tom Welling can play the part!