Nicholas Hoult’s journey to becoming the iconic Lex Luthor in the upcoming Superman movie was far from the norm. Specifically, because the respected actor was initially auditioning to play the lead role in the highly anticipated film.

Lex Luthor is a maniacal villain, but he comes with layers. There are different ways that an actor can get into the character’s head space. So I asked Nicholas Hoult on the Superman set where his Lex draws his power, and the X-Men: First Class actor told CinemaBend:

One of the first Lex Luthors that Nicholas Hoult remembers seeing as a kid is the one played by Michael Rosenbaum on Smallville, the CW series featuring Tom Welling as Clark Kent/Kal-El in a high-school coming-of-age setting.