Tonight, fans of “Smallville” actress, Allison Mack, pay tribute to her and her character Chloe Sullivan in a special sixty-second commercial they’ve put together in her honor. This fan-made production, entitled “Legendary”, is a tribute piece to Chloe as an inspirational and positive role model to young women.
Appearing on “Smallville” since the show started in 2001, Chloe Sullivan has evolved from a determined high school reporter with her “wall of weird” to working for the Daily Planet to becoming the wizard of knowledge behind Watch Tower and confidant to Clark Kent. Though her character was created especially for this television adaptation of the Superman origin story, the character of Chloe has attracted a large and devoted fan base. What is remarkable about the character of Chloe is that fans of the show have been able to watch her grow and become the woman that she is over the show’s nine seasons.
[Above: Behind-the-scenes still of “Legendary”]
“Legendary”, written by fan Megan Butler, is entirely funded by fans to celebrate Mack and her television persona, Chloe. It was shot in Los Angeles under the direction of Jon Michael Kondrath. I had the opportunity to interview two of the instrumental fans behind this project, Maggie Bridger and executive producer Liz De Razzo.
SFM: Could you give me more of a better idea of how the group of fans came together?
LegendaryChloe: We already had a community established of artists, writers, and people who edited together brilliant Youtube videos. We were inspired by Ms. Mack’s performance and by Chloe Sullivan to embrace our creativity. Then, Chloe’s spirit encouraged us to take action for what we believed in with “Legendary.”
SFM: This commercial, it looks like fans explaining how Chloe/Allison has impacted their lives. Is that what’s going on?
LC: It is a mix of both. We relate to Chloe Sullivan as a strong career woman, as a capable person whose heroic and driven. Most of us started watching the show back in 2001 and we grew up with Chloe. As she grew up to be a young professional, so did many of us. I’m not saying we did it because of Chloe, but she did serve as a positive role model in the media at the time.
This is also a commercial about Chloe’s relationship and importance to the series. She’s become integral to Clark Kent’s journey in Smallville as the series has progressed. She’s been his confidante and best friend for so long. It was in this season when she became more peripheral compared to latter years/seasons and the Clark-Chloe relationship began to disintegrate that we wanted to create this commercial, as a reminder that a part—not the biggest, that’s Clark—but a big part of Smallville just felt gone.
I think Ms. Mack is inspirational to us in a lot of ways. I, personally, admire anyone who can navigate the world of child stardom to teen actor to adult in such a difficult industry and do it with class and with exemplary behavior. You hear too much about the wild starlets out there and Ms. Mack has always been more about embracing creativity, questioning yourself via her blog, and philanthropy. Additionally, we’ve watched her branch out and become a producer and director. I’m sure it was intimidating for her at first with the episode “Power” on Smallville and with her first production, Alice and Huck, but she still went out and did it. We felt if she could, we could too.
SFM: Does “Legendary” benefit a charitable cause?
LC: No, but there are several Smallville related charities that people should know about. The executive producer, Kelly Souders, has a charity called Heshima Kenya (http://heshimakenya.org/), which strives to help children refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. Similarly, one of the directors, Mairzee Almas, will participate in a bicycle race, called “The Ride to Conquer Cancer” (conquercancer.ca) with proceeds that go to benefit the BC Cancer Foundation.
[Above: Behind-the-scenes still of “Legendary”]
“Legendary” has inspired Bridger to form a non-profit called Legendary Women, dedicated to the fostering of positive females in the media. This is the official launching project for Legendary Women.
The sixty-second “Legendary” commercial will air twice between 6 and 7pm PT, today, Friday May 14th on CW affiliate, KTLA in Los Angeles. The exact times of air are: 6:17:32 PM and 6:48:30 PM PT. Do not fret if you do not live in the Los Angeles area, SciFi Mafia is happy to bring you this tribute to “Smallville”’s Chloe soon after it airs!
Earlier in the year, “Smallville” fans had participated in “Operation: Truth & Justice” where fans honored Mack by donating $3000 in her name to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and gave the actress gifts of appreciation of her role on “Smallville”.
Keep your eyes peeled – SciFi Mafia will have another exclusive interview with the fans behind “Legendary” and how they worked with Warner Bros. to pursue this project with their blessing.
For more information on “Legendary” and how you can help this fan-made tribute commercial air in your area, visit the LegendaryChloe website.
The ninth season of “Smallville” concludes tonight, Friday May 14th, with the finale episode on the CW at 8/7 C.
