TV Guide, by Simon Houpt
Week of January 30
Heartthrob High
How four young stars have made Dawson's Creek a ratings winner It's late at night and Dawson Leery has just climbed through Jennifer Lindley's bedroom window. As crickets chirp outside, he is whispering to her with a throaty desperation, saying something about love and lust. These are words she has been longing to hear and the two teenagers kiss- tentatively at first, then with a greater intensity and, it seems, a fair amount of tongue action. Jen's teddy bear, which has until now been sitting next to her on the bed, falls silently on the floor. But it's all too much- the obvious contrast between the stuffed toy from her adolescence and the young man now climbing on top of her- and Jen can't control herself. She starts to laugh. "Cut!" says the director.
"Why is it that everyone who kisses James can't help laughing?"
James, of course, is James Van Der Beek, the cuddly actor who plays the lead role on one of TV's newest teen totems, Dawson's Creek. In less than a year, the show has gone from being a midseason replacement with a nameless cast on a marginal U.S. network to an authentic sophomore hit. It has captured the attention and imagination of North American teens like no show since Beverly hills 90210. With its likeable fresh-faced cast, cutting-edge soundtrack, and genuine dialogue that seems to have been penned by high school seniors, Dawson's Creek is leading a teen takeover of the airwaves- and helping to transform its four young principals into bona fide stars.
"It's crazy. It was just this little show we were doing down here in Wilmington, N.C.," says Van Der Beek, who at 21 years old is the eldest of the four main cast members. "We never expected it to be this big We went from this 35-minute presentation, and then it got picked up for production. All of a sudden we were on billboards and it started to dawn on us- 'Wow, I can't believe how many people are watching.'"
In the pilot, Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams), a curvy 15-year-old with a dark past, arrived in the fictional town of Capeside, Mass., next door to Dawson, setting his hormones jumping. After a few heavy kisses, the two broke up and it wasn't long before Dawson found his longtime friendship with tomboyish Joey Potter (Katie Holmes) blossoming into a full-fledged romance. But this season has seen a reversal of fortune: after Joey unexpectedly dumped him, Dawson has once again fallen for Jen's seductive allure.
First-time viewers could be forgiven for thinking Dawson's Creek is merely a teenage Peyton (or Melrose) Place, but the show's charms are indefinitely more sophisticated. Screenwriting phenom Kevin Williamson is the creative force behind the show and one of its executive producers. While writing the screenplays for hit movies like Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Halloween: H20, he developed a TV series loosely based on his own adolescence in the small town of New Bern, N.C. Modeled after Williamson himself, Dawson is an angst-ridden 16-year-old who aspires to be the next Steven Spielberg. Or maybe, to judge from the movie posters in his bedroom, the next Williamson.
The hip media-savvy intelligence that has the fictional Dawson admiring the work of his own real-life creator is one of the things that is bringing the show undying support fron teens across the continent. There's also the fact that Dawson's Creek takes the emotional turmoil of adolescence seriously but always knows when to drop in an entertaining pop-culture reference. (One episode, which had all four of the kids serving time in Saturday detention, was a nod to the Brat Pack flick The Breakfast Club.) Viewers identify with Dawson's awkwardness, a nice contrast to the airbrushed perfections of the 90210 kids. Best of all, the dialogue is sharp and sassy, although some critics have accused it of being too smart.
"There have been shows that have captured exactly the way teens speak, word for word, like My So-Called Life," points out Van Der Beek, taking a break with his co-stars between shooting. "Our characters speak the way everybody feels, the way people would speak if they had a day to go over an arguement in their head, pull out a thesaurus, and then go back and give someone their comeback."
"We are very eloquent teenagers and we have taken a sound beating for that," admits 20-year-old Vancouver, B.C., native Joshua Jackson, who plays Pacey Witter, Dawson's wisecracking best friend. "These kids may speak with the intellect and the language of 30-year-olds, but they still have the emotional core of 15- and 16-year-olds and that's why people who are older than the kids are watching the show. And that's why 15-year-olds watch the show as well, because they can relate on a one-to-one basis with what we're doing."
"I think it's just 'cause we're talking about sex," says Michelle Williams, cracking up her co-stars. Then Katie Holmes chimes in, "I just think everyone can relate to first kisses and the confusion of being a teenager."
The characters they play might spend their time alternating somewhere between love and resentful disdain of each other, but when the cameras stop rolling the actors are best of friends. that's why Williams can't stop blushing when he talks about that kissing scene. "Hey, I'm in the position that half the teenage girls in all of America would envy," she proclaims happily. So what's with the laughter? "Well, it's a strange situation, to be in front of a large crew and kissing somebody you're intimate with on a friend-to-friend basis. And all of a sudden- oh, your tongue in my mouth is kind of strange!"
The group dynamic is so strong that Jackson actually refers to Williamson as "the fifth Beatle," emphasizing how close they all are.
During a conversation, Jackson and Holmes giggle and whisper conspiratorially to each other while Van Der Beek is talking, then Williams deflects a question put to her by telling Holmes she should answer it instead. It's obvious none of them wants to hog the spotlight. Maybe that's because there's more than enough public attention to go around.
Although all of the actors had done film work before landing on Dawson's Creek, the show has launched them on a very fast track to stardom. With more than a dozen movies under his belt, including all three Mighty Ducks films and the recent Apt Pupil, Jackson is clearly the most experienced. He sees Dawson's Creek as an opportunity to continue his professional education. "This is my college experience," he says. "If I was in a dorm right now I figure it would be the same thing except I might be having to study courses I didn't like."
Michelle Williams hasbeen in films like A Thousand Acres and Halloween: H20, but she isn't as comfortable yet with the public ateention. She's also worried about having a role model for young fans of the show. "I'm only 18 and I'm still making mistakes and still learning," she insists. "So to be put into that position, it's kind of precarious because my choices aren't necessarily right for everyone else out there."
Still, the kids manage to avoid distractions like TV industry parties and constand requests for interviews because they spend most of their time away from the bright lights of Los Angeles. They shoot the show in quaint Wilmington, N.C., which isn't even big enough to have direct flights to L.a. The town was the only Confederate port to remain open through the entire U.S. Civil War, and the spirits of proper southern belles still float through the cobblestone streets.
It's a setting that helps Van er Beek get in touch with his character. Like Dawson, Van Der Beek grew up in a small town: Cheshire, Conn. After a junior high school football injury sidelined his athletic aspirations, he discovered acting. It wasn't an instant ticket to popularity. "I've often wondered why so many girls are attracted to Dawson, because I was that big of a dork in high school and nobody had a crush on me," he admits. at 17, Van Der Beek appeared off-Broadway in the Edward Albee play Finding the Sun, then landed a part in the small feature film Angus. Deciding to continue his education instead of dedicating himself fulltime to acting, Van Der beek went to Drew University in Madison, N.J., to study English and Sociology. he made the 20-mile trek into New York for auditions a few times a week, but his career seemed stuck in neutral. Then, at the beginning of his second year in college, it got a huge jump-start when he was called in to audition for Dawson's Creek.
Things certainly have changed since that day two and a half years ago. "As far as meeting people now, it's different, it's an adjustment," he says pensively, a little like Dawson. "It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just a matter of getting comfortable with the social role of being someone of whom an autograph is requested. Frequently. It's kind of strange. You haven't changed at all, it's just that everyone around you treats you differently."
Despite the changes in his own life, though, Van Der Beek still has no trouble tapping into the very different set of changes Dawson is going through. "I think everyone remembers these miserable school dances where you're just walking around trying to look like you had somebody to be with," he says quietly. "Memories like that... getting a tray in the cafeteria and having no one to sit with... I'm sure you remember the first girlfriend who dumpted you, the one who broke your heart. Those are things that stay with you. No matter what you've experienced or how much you've grown.
