Tom Welling: ‘Professionals’ Action More ‘Grounded’ Than ‘Smallville’
Professionals brought Tom Welling to The CW. His new show premiered Oct. 11 and he joined the cast of The Winchesters, too. There’s a lot more where Professionals came from. It’s a different sort of action than Smallville though and Welling explained how his new show is more grounded in reality.
Showbiz Cheat Sheet spoke with Welling in 2020 when he’d wrapped Professionals, but it took until now for it to find a home on The CW. Welling explained the differences between Professionals and Smallville action. Professionals airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
Tom Welling and his ‘Professionals’ co-stars are not superheroes like ‘Smallville’
Welling played Clark Kent on Smallville. Though he never officially became Superman, Clark used many of his powers on a weekly basis. On Professionals, Welling plays Vincent Corbo, head of a security firm who puts their specialized skills into action.
“There’s helicopters, there’s explosions, there’s all these really cool things that happen but it’s all justified,” Welling said. “It’s very grounded in the real world which I was looking forward to that.”
‘Professionals’ hit Tom Welling with a car
Welling was in the thick of the action for Professionals. He recalled one vehicular stunt that was pretty harrowing.
“I get hit by a car which was fun which really meant me running and jumping on the car,” Welling said. “It looks like the car is moving in the show, but what actually happens is the car is stopped and then I run and I dive on the roof and I just kind of roll over. That was fun because no one thought I would really do that. I was like, ‘I can do that, let’s try it.’ Thankfully, we got it in the first take. You don’t want to do that too many times.”
They trained hard for the show
Smallville’s powers were mostly visual effects. For Professionals, Welling had to be able to do a lot of what Corbo does, or at least look like he knew how.
“They had us do a boot camp,” Welling said. “The boot camp was more to learn about how these teams do operate with each other. Less about the actual firing off rounds, it was about respecting the weapon, the idea that their first choice isn’t always to pull their guns. A lot of times it’s the opposite but we did get to fire some rounds and get comfortable with the weapons. I think we all enjoyed that part just because it’s a big part of our characters’ lives is just be comfortable in that world.”
Now that he’s played both Clark Kent and Vincent Corbo, Wellings has been living his childhood dreams.
“Even growing up, I think the man of action was always something that interested me, whether it was Top Gun or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” Welling said. “It’s guys doing guy things, but what I like with this is it sure seems like that, but the undercurrent of comedy and interpersonal relationships sort of crack that up a little bit which I think is more humanizing.”
