This interview is part of a series of interviews from the red carpet of Warner Bros.’ “Television Out Of The Box” exhibit at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills, CA. To read all of KSiteTV’s “Out Of The Box” coverage so far go here.
Last week when we spoke with Hart Of Dixie creator Leila Gerstein and actors Wilson Bethel and Cress Williams, Williams mentioned that he was a fan of Hart guest Justin Hartley’s series Smallville. We didn’t get to follow up with him about that, but we did talk to Mr. Williams at the “Television Out Of The Box” red carpet. And why would we follow up on that? Because early in his career, Cress Williams faced Superman himself in the Lois & Clark episode “Never On Sunday.”
“I did! It was awesome,” Williams said when this possibly-obscure piece of trivia came out. “First of all, it was one of those jobs that I didn’t expect to get. I am a superhero fanatic, so to play a villain… next I want to play a hero, but to play a villain and the magic that was involved… I went to the Magic Castle and got a little magic tutelage. I had these cool cat-like contact lenses. It was like being a kid! One of the reasons we get into acting in the first place.”
Now, nearly twenty years after that Lois & Clark guest shot, Williams plays Mayor Lavon Hayes on The CW’s Hart Of Dixie. Last week, his affair with Jaime King’s character Lemon Breeland came out, but the more important question than “why were they cheating” might be “why does Lavon put up with Lemon in the first place?”
“I think the Lemon that the world sees is not the Lemon that I see. When we’re alone, that prissy Southern Belle facade goes away. We’re honest, and it’s that honest Lemon that I fall in love with,” he explains. If they’re that compatible, is there a chance they could get back together? “You know what? Anything’s possible. What’s great about our show is that just about anything’s possible. There’s no door that is closed forever.”
Last week’s Hart Of Dixie also gave Williams the chance to play hung over. How fun was that? “It was much more fun to play drunk, but it was still fun to play hung over, too,” he explains.
Williams says that going through the Warner Bros. “Television Out Of The Box” exhibit would be “like a walk down memory lane.” As for what Hart Of Dixie item he’d like to see in a museum someday? “Probably the Rammer Jammer sign,” he says.
Come back tomorrow for another “Television Out Of The Box” interview with a TV favorite! A new episode of Hart Of Dixie airs tonight at 9PM (ET) on The CW. You can see some images below: