By Aristotle’s Sausage
Michael Rosenbaum, who played Lex Luthor on Smallville, has had several of his former fellow castmates on his podcast over the years.
At first, both he and Tom Welling (Clark Kent) claimed the whole Nxivm cult thing came as a total surprise. They didn’t even know Mack that well, etc. When Rosenbaum had Kristin Kreuk on the podcast, he didn’t mention Nxivm or Mack. He avoided the elephant in the room.
.
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luther
Tom Welling and Allison Mack
Since then, Rosenbaum and Welling opened up on the subject. And it came out that Mack had actively tried to recruit other cast members into Raniere’s cult.
Erica Durance reveals how Mack worked it. It seemed to Durance that Mack wanted people to think she wanted to be friends with Durance. It was highly manipulative, very much about presenting a phony persona. And Mack was very good at it. She tried very hard to appear sincere.
It seems very much that Mack was feigning friendship so that Durance would be unable in good grace to turn down the offer to give Nxivm a try.
Mack presented Nxivm as a group of people supporting each other, very much a community. Durance saw through the ruse. It reminded her of her right-wing religious conservative upbringing. The “community” is less supportive than it is judgemental.
Manipulative. Coercive.
Erica Durance
The Durance interview is interesting. And it supports my contention that only fools join cults. Anyone with a bit of self-will and a bit of skepticism steers clear.
Mark Vicente
Mark Vicente was (is) a successful filmmaker and producer in the relatively small world of Canadian film and TV. Hardly surprising that Durance, a professional actress, gave him a follow on Twitter.
A couple of other Smallville cast members were subjected to Nxivm recruitment efforts. I don’t know by whom. Callum Blue took a couple of courses before quitting in disgust. Laura Vandervoort, another guest star, refused to have any part of the cult and was pissed about the recruitment attempt.
So Raniere succeeded only in getting two Vancouver-based show people to join his cult, Kreuk, and Mack. [and Nicki Clyne]
And Nxivm put a LOT of effort into poaching amongst the small, close-knit Vancouver arts community. There aren’t that many people out there foolish enough to join cults. Even among the granola-munching Pacific Northwest artsy set.
I remember that bitter fan feud between the pro-Chloe and pro-Lois set. So who is the “real” Lois? It’s all rather hilarious in retrospect. (Not that it wasn’t hilarious back then.)
Allison Mack from a promotional video for Jness.
Allison Mack’s character on Smallville, Chloe, was pretty much the same character Mack played in previous roles. She was perky, bright, and likable but always somehow eclipsed by a prettier, more popular girl. Mack was quite good at this kind of role and naturally attracted lots of sympathy.
So Smallville Chloe would wear lumpy sweaters and clumsy shoes. The boy she liked, Clark Kent, only had eyes for the doll-like perfection that was petite, glowing Lana (Kreuk), and of course, the fans were all like, “I hate that bitch.”
Kristin Kreuk, Nicki Clyne, and Allison Mack when all three were members of NXIVM.
Kristin Kreuk at Necker Island – 2010 – at a Nxivm retreat.
These fans fantasized that Chloe, a budding journalist who ran the high school newspaper(!), would turn out to be Lois Lane. Who, of course, is the love of Superman’s life in DC Comics “canon.”
That would show that bitch Lana Lang! (Did I mention we all hate her?)
Then round about seasons 4-5, who shows up in the Kent cornfield but Lois Lane (Erica Durance)? WTF!!! This came as a terrible shock to the Chloe-Is-Lois fans. They felt betrayed. They were pissed off.
To make matters worse, Lois (Durance) was “tall, thin, big tits, your basic nightmare” (“When Harry Met Sally” quote). She made Chloe look like a lump of cheese.
The Chloe fans, the Chlois supporters, all hated the bitch. Like present-day commenter Lena, they referred to her as a “drunken bimbo.”
This little drama played out on the discussion boards Television Without Pity (TWoP) and Kryptonsite. But, of course, this was still fairly early in the Internet, and social media wasn’t yet a thing. And Christ on a bike, was it vitriolic!
There was an episode where Lana, who was horsey and entitled just like Clare Bronfman, got trampled by her panicking horse. Broke her leg. From then on, the horse was fondly referred to on the boards as “Stompy.”
It was all pretty funny. Mostly. Some of it got kinda stalker-ish and scary, even to the point of violent threats against the actors and producers. Some of which were let stand by the moderators, who were by no means neutral.
Ah, those were the good old days.
As for Mack, her friend Kevin, some makeup person who worked with Mack 20 years ago, is “suffering terribly” because of “what happened with her?” What bullshit.
And it didn’t happen with her. It didn’t happen to her. She did it to herself. And to others. She’s blameworthy, so she gets blamed. She committed felonies, and now she’s serving time in prison.
She got what she deserved.
Allison Mack was into helping women empower themselves by branding women on their pussies with the initials of a man named Raniere
Allison Mack is a criminal, and anyone under the illusion that she wasn’t now should know better and move on.
So “Kevin,” if you are what you say you are and knew her for close to a decade, maybe you should have tried harder to keep her out of that fucking cult.
Allison Mack
It seems to me you’re the one who failed her.
And you have some goddam nerve faulting people for commenting anonymously, “Kevin.” You must be a real glutton for punishment, coming here of all places, if you’re all that torn up hearing unpleasant things about dear sweet Allison. Did you watch The Vow repeatedly, too, a box of tissues at hand? Buy the DVD?
If you’re bothered hearing your friend disparaged, you ought to choose better friends because Allison Mack is a real piece of work. She’s a racketeer, an extortionist, and a liar. You must be some fine judge of character if you knew her for a decade and remained ignorant of who and what she is. Allison Mack had women branded on their pussies with her lovers’ initials. AND SHE TOOK CREDIT FOR THIS. That’s some seriously fucked up shit, “Kevin.”
And you still think she’s a nice person who shouldn’t have mean things said about her? The woman who ran Keith Rainiere’s sex trafficking operation for him? Who collected slaves-actual slaves- for him? What’s wrong with you?
No seriously. What’s wrong with you, man?
I read your whiny little “I’m offended” article in its entirety and was unimpressed. Hard to believe, I know.
I found your argument ridiculous, which is why I ridiculed it.
You may find this difficult to believe, but not everybody agrees with your opinions. This is not, as you seem to assume, because others are ignorant or lazy. Instead, other people may disagree because – gasp! – YOU are wrong.
Ponder this, and it is you who may learn something.
