Actor Chris Noth is known for his roles on crime and sex soaps like Law & Order and Sex & The City. But with the release of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths in early 2010, he steps into the power boots of comic book uber-villain Lex Luthor. Except that now Lex Luthor — “the ultimate villain from my youth,” Noth said in a press release — is a good guy trying to save reality from annihilation.
“I remember how Gene Hackman portayed Lex Luthor with such great delight in the films, and I thought I’d be getting that Lex,” Noth said. “So I was surprised to see that in this script, Lex is actually on the right side of the law. He’s trying to save reality from being destroyed. So I took that adjustment and said, ‘Wow, I need to get up-to-date on my superheroes.'”
Crisis on Two Earths, DC Comics and Warner Bros.’ seventh straight-to-disc animated film, features Noth’s heroic parallel Lex Luthor asking the Justice League’s crime-fighters for help combating their evil doppelgangers in the Crime Syndicate.
It’s an alternative-universe storyline that was somewhat explored on television in the stellar Justice League series episode “A Better World,” written by Stan Berkowitz. That time-fry featured the fascist parallel Justice Lords assassinating President Lex Luthor in retaliation for the death of their world’s Flash.
The dimensional conceit has gone widescreen now in the hands of Justice League writer Dwayne McDuffie, executive brainiac Bruce Timm and co-directors Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight) and Sam Liu (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies). Further deviations occur in the cast, which does not feature the usual Superman and Batman voices (Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy, respectively). Instead, Crisis on Two Earths wrangles a cast of animation noobs.
“I think I did about three lines of Mike Logan on Family Guy,” Noth said. That was a quick little gig. The character Stewie carries a picture of Mike Logan in his wallet, so I was very flattered by that. But that was just a few lines, so Lex is pretty much my first real animated role.”
Noth’s animation baptism places him inside the circle of actors, from Clancy Brown to Hackman, who have capably tackled Lex Luthor. While Noth says he’s honored to be part of the crew, he’s aware of the relative singularity of his turn as the lauded Luthor.
“This is a complete departure from those performances,” he said.
