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Pacey's Creek

by Michelle Davis
HEAT Magazine, May 2000

Joshua Jackson has emerged as the real star of hangover TV phenomenon, Dawson's Creek.

Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson had a very specific idea about the actor he wanted to play the role of Dawson's best friend, Pacey Witter. An average-looking guy who'd be the foil to the main attraction. Then Joshua Jackson walked into the audition room and the tables swiftly turned.

"I wanted Dawson to have all that babe quality and Pacey to be the nerdy sidekick," explains Williamson. "But when I had Josh read Pacey, I realised that he encompassed all that, plus he had the magnetism and the charisma and the sex appeal. He was perfect."

And so Pacey became the Capeside ladykiller (had sex on a school desk with his English teacher; romanced Andie; formulated a no-strings-sex deal with Jen; is now wooing Joey), Dawson just yakked a lot and the show became a worldwide hit.

The Pacey charisma is very much in evidence today as Joshua greets heat inside London's Met Bar. The sex appeal, however, is a little harder to detect. Smartly dressed in black trousers and a blue shirt, he looks younger than his 21 years. It's hard to imagine this is the boy - sorry, man - who's reported to have had off-set affairs with both Katie Holmes (Joey) and Brittany Daniel (Eve).

Raised by his mum, Canadian-born Joshua has been acting since he was is nappies. His annual hiatus from Dawson's has seen him add Urban Legend, Cruel Intentions and the upcoming Gossip and The Skulls to his list of film credits. The big question, however, is whether that will also soon include Star Wars: Episode II . . .

How has Dawson's Creek changed your life?
Well, it's given me consistent, gainful employment, which was something I didn't have before. It's opened up a world of possibilities; whether I can make good those opportunities remains to be seen. It's also allowed me, as a young actor and not a trained actor, to go to work every day, which is a benefit because, as young actors, there's so much that we have yet to learn. It allows me to work a lot of the kinks out.

Did you have any idea the show would be so successful?
No feeling whatsoever. We shot the pilot, and then it was done, finished and relegated to my past. Then two months later they gave me a call. I was doing up my mum's house [in Vancouver] and they were like, "We want you to come down to Wilmington [small town in North Carolina] for the next six months to do this TV show." We finished the entire first season before it aired for the first time in the States, and because we were in Wilmington we were kind of outside it. The first week it was the highest-rated premiere, by the second week the highest-rated show on the network. It was a bombshell for all of us because we had no idea.

How do you cope with all the attention that surrounds Dawson's?
You get girls who are giggly sometimes, but it usually comes down to people saying, "Hey, I really like your show, my sister likes your show, my girlfriend likes your show," and you sign an autograph, take a picture and then it's done with. [Laughs] It's not like, y'know, Beatlemania, all the screaming and shouting and tearing out hair.

What about fan mail?
It never gets to me! I only get a whittled-down box of stuff. The studio sorts through it because people have been known to send poison and bombs and stuff like that. Not to me personally, though. I did get a cardboard box that a refrigerator comes in. These two girls had cut it open down the middle, and inside was an invitation to their prom. It was really huge.

What's the most extravagant thing you've bought since being on Dawson's?
Um, well, I have a truck now. I was car-less for years. I sold my jet ski because the boat I use on the show [an abandoned wreck called "True Love"] is totally refurbished now and the owner wants to sell it. Now, hopefully, I'll be able to buy it.

You spend most of the year in Wilmington. What does a 21-year old do for kicks there?
Y'know, I'm not too much of a hip and happening guy. I'm not a big dance club sort of person. If I wasn't working there I'd go stir crazy, but when you work a 60-hour week the last thing you want to do is be in LA. It's all clubs and parties and everything and it's all bullshit. The industry out there is built around showbiz so no matter where you go or what you're doing, you can never really get away from it. I'm not missing much by being in a small town.

You once said that because you were brought up surrounded by women, you have a strong affinity with them. . .
[Laughs] An affinity, but not an understanding. I wish I had the brass tacks that Pacey has. At 16, you're fearless because you haven't learnt the sting of rejection yet. I usually find that girls I'm keen on I very rarely end up with.

How's your lovelife these days; are you single?
[Blushes, drops head] Yes, I am.

How else are you like Pacey?
I like to think I have a pretty good sense of humour. I definitely used humour as a defence mechanism in high school because it was easier to deal with some things with laughter than get in an argument. But there are a lot of things that are very different; the way we go about situations, and the fact that he's an East Coast Americans and I'm a West Coast Canadian.

All the Dawson's cast are now forging film careers. Does it ever get competitive?
We don't really worry too much about that. Competition-wise, how do you really judge the success of a film? Some films are geared to be popcorn movies and are judged by the amount of money they make, some are not money makers, but are interesting pictures. I think you should judge them on whether or not the finished project is something you're proud of.

Talking of popcorn movies, is it true you auditioned for Anakin Skywalker?
Yes, I have met the casting director. But I'm not alone in that; every young actor in Hollywood, and not even just in Hollywood, every young actor period, has at some point been in touch with them. I haven't met with George Lucas and I don't think I'm going to either.

Is it a dream role for you?
Of course. You're playing the baddest man in the universe! One, they make an action figure of you, which is the be-all and end-all of a movie career; two, you get to play Darth Vader, which is about the coolest thing I can think of; and three, you get to act opposite Natalie Portman, which has been a dream of mine for years.

Kevin Williamson reckons you're the next Tom Hanks.
[Laughs] Well, it's flattering but I have a lot to learn from where I am now to be performing at the level Tom Hanks is performing.

Whose film career would you like to have?
Paul Newman's. He's done such a huge diversity of work. To be good enough to work that much and take such different directions, that would keep me interested in acting for 40 years.

You're contracted to do three more seasons on Dawson's. What's next for Pacey?
The Joey thing comes to a head at the end of the season. I can't tell you what happens because I don't want to spoil it. I think it's going to be a real shock.

OK, tell us a secret about Dawson's. And not the one about James really being 37.
[Roars with laughter] Now that would be funny! Er. . . actually, Gram's (Jen's grandmother) is a gorgeous knock-out beauty and they have to put make-up on her to make her old. She's like this red-headed fire goddess running around Dawson's Creek.

Another contender for Pacey?
Oh yeah, next up is Grams.