Creation Entertainment “Salute to Smallville” convention takes place this weekend in Parsnippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey (read more about it here), and KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne will be there and part of it, along with a variety of guests from the series including Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Erica Durance, Michael Rosenbaum, John Glover, Laura Vandervoort and Aaron Ashmore. In anticipation of the October 5-6 event, we were able to interview Erica – the first time we’ve spoken since Smallville was in the air! – to learn more about the convention experience and her return to playing Lois Lane Crisis, the Smallville animated project and more. Enjoy!

CRAIG BYRNE FROM KRYPTONSITE: I know you’ve done conventions before, but how does it feel to do the first one that’s completely dedicated to Smallville convention?

ERICA DURANCE: A bit nerve-wracking, but also fantastic. I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to spending more time with the fans. Creation organizes these great events. They have a good schedule and they have such good ideas about what we can do and how we can interact with each other. I’m really looking forward to being a part of it and seeing everyone.

What can fans expect from this event?

I know we’re going to make panels. I know the guys do their “Smallville Nights” which are super, super fun. I think the fans really enjoy it when we sit at the table and chat. Many of us spend a lot of time talking to people there. And photo ops! I’m not sure what else they’re throwing at us, but I do know there’s a lot more time spent with fans, and that’s why we do it!

When you got the call to play Lois Lane again in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, was that something you ever expected to do, or did you just think you were already Alura and that was it?

I just thought I was Alura, and that was that, and I moved on to other things. Then I was working on a movie for a friend of mine, and halfway through the show I got a text, and I got so excited. I couldn’t believe it! I was really excited. I was very excited.

They wrote a really nice little scene for me, and it’s so easy to work with Welling. We have a really good reaction, and I felt like it was like we had met the day before, and I hadn’t seen him in ten years. It was great.

Would you have liked to spend more time seeing what Lois is up to these days?

Oh, sure! I enjoyed playing her. I felt very lucky to be able to do it. I always know that the people behind all this, who write these different versions and these different scenes and these different shows, are so good, so I don’t worry so much about that part. I know I’m going to do something fun and different, and every scene is unique. So yeah, I would have been fine with doing a little more.

You reunite with some of your castmates at this convention, but you also have an episode of Murder in a small town that you did with Kristin. Did you have any scenes together and did you know it was Kristin’s show when you booked it?

Oh yes. She called me! And we had a lot of things together, and it was a lot of fun. You know, other than a few times we worked on together Smallville, Professionally, we haven’t worked that much (together) yet. We have been very good friends for years and have done other things, but we don’t work together.

I remember feeling like I was twenty years old again. I started looking at her, and we were in the circus, and I looked down, and we were both screaming. People don’t know that we’ve known each other for so long, right? It was so cool.

Fans also loved it when you appeared on Tom and Michael’s podcast. Could you respond to it more often in the future?

Don’t know. It depends on the schedule and the timing, and what they’re doing and what I’m doing, but it’s always fun to come back and talk about certain episodes and how we thought about doing different things.

Has your impression of Smallville change after you started conferences?

I wouldn’t say that much because I came to that show knowing it was successful. I knew it was special. I was excited to be a part of it. I wasn’t as fully entrenched in it as Welling, in the sense that he was there all the time, and I kind of had an objective bird’s eye view of ‘hey, you know, I know what the fans are thinking. I know I’m excited because I know they’ll like it. And I would say I’m surprised at how long it’s been since we’ve talked about it again, but not negatively. It’s great.

What do you think is the magical chemistry between Lois and Clark, whether it’s on? Smallville or other projects? What makes them work so well?

I think they balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses no matter which incarnation you see. There are times when Clark is very, very strong, and he is a hero, and he can do whatever he needs to do, and he can help Lois, who is a strong woman, but who needs help. And then you’ll see the flip side of it, where it’s in her humanity that he feels a level of connection. I think it’s the balance between both sides of parts of themselves, and it just seems to work.

I know you had a memorable experience meeting Margot Kidder at a convention, but is there another Lois Lane actor you would like to meet someday?

I’d like to meet Teri Hatcher. I’ve never met her!

What other projects do you have planned?

I did the show for Kristin (Murder in a small town), and then there are two more Christmas movies coming out on Hallmark. They’re a bit of a departure for me, and I’m excited about them. In one I play a 1960s housewife, and in the next one I’m currently filming, I’m the Queen Mother of – it’s not a fantasy land, but it’s not a real country (also). She takes care of her daughter and tries to get her on the right path. They are really different roles for me, but I really enjoy them because they are quite far removed from the person I really am. It actually felt pretty good.

Would you like to do the animation project that Tom and Michael are trying to get off the ground?

Absolute. I think it would be great. Especially when they have Al and Miles (Gough and Millar, the creators of Smallville) behind it, what they seem to be talking about… then you know there’s going to be some level of consistency with the characters, and the dialogue, and all that stuff.

Have your kids discovered you played Lois Lane yet?

They don’t know exactly what that means yet. They don’t think it’s that cool. They think Superman is pretty cool, but I think in real life I’m so different from what they see up there that it’s very hard for them to believe that, as if their mother somehow played a character who was somewhat was cool.

They just think I’m the biggest nerd, so they think it’s weird that mom is considered cool.

There was a time when they didn’t think I was cool, so I thought, ‘I’ll show you some things.’ I just put a lot of my fights on YouTube (as Lois), and they were like, “Mom, you were mad!” And I was like, “Don’t mess with me, that’s all I’m saying.” Now they call me Big Mama. “Don’t mess with Big Mama!”

What do you hope fans get out of this convention experience?

I hope their interactions are positive enough for them, and that they get to say the things they’ve wanted to say for a long time. I know a lot of people travel with family and friends. I just hope it is a very nice, good and positive weekend for them.

Tickets for “Salute to Smallville” are still available! Order your photo opportunities, autographs and event tickets HERE! Thank you to Erica Durance for taking the time to talk to us.