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End of An Era?

Live 'n Kicking Magazine, Jan 2001

Rumours are flying- and we need answer! So L&K got Josh Jackson on the phone to find out- is he in love at the end? Is this the end of the Creek? And is James Van Der Beek’s forehead as big in real life as it looks on TV? Read on - Josh ain’t holding anything back!

Do you reckon you’re as cheerful as Pacey?
Yeah, I’m a pretty happy guy! The truth is, there’s not really too much in my life to be upset about right now. There’s no point doing something unless you enjoy it, and that’d how I like to live – to take everything I can out of every experience – good or bad.

Do you get much time to just enjoy yourself then?
My life is busy at the moment, but I have the weekends off, so there’s plenty of time to just sit back and twiddle my thumbs!

How did Joey and Pacey get on over the summer?
I think they got on pretty well really. They just sailed off into the sunset, two young kids in love... (Aaah, bless!)

But she didn’t have a change of clothes or any spare knickers!
Ha! Ha! Ha! She did get very dirty, but she did go for a fairly long swim every morning, so that’s ok!

Can you sail?
I can now, a little bit, but not nearly as well as I would like to be able to now.

If you had your own boat, what would you call it?
A friend of mine owns a boat called Know Regrets. I think that’s a great name so I might steal that from him.

Would you have been as patient waiting for a girl as Pacey was with Joey?
I don’t know. I’m 22 years old, I don’t really have that much patience. At 22 everything feels as if it should happen right now!

When you first get your script for Dawson’s Creek do you read it with a dictionary close to hand?
Absolutely, it drives me crazy! Sometimes I get the script and I think, ‘How the hell am I going to be able to say all that?’ Poor Katie was doing this scene the other day and she had a page-long speech with hundreds of unbelievable words. Sometimes you have to say, ‘Sorry there’s no way these words are ever going to come out of my mouth. Break it over a couple of days, then maybe!’

Is it weird filming those romantic scenes with Katie after having dated her?
No, not at all. We’ve been filming Dawson’s Creek for four year and it was a long time ago that we dated. Who knows what she feels but there’s no tension on set!

Do you find you fall in love quite easily?
No, it’s the opposite in fact. I’m not really the type to wear my heart on my sleeve. I would let someone know if I liked them, but it takes a while for me to fall in love.

Does being famous make it easier to get girlfriends?
I think being famous actually makes it much harder for me to get a girlfriend, but I guess it depends on the type of girl that you are talking about. Because of the reputation that we actors have, a lot of people you meet are like, ‘I know your type’, so you’re already prejudged from the off, but that’s probably no less than I deserve!

Were you aware of just how popular Dawson’s Creek was before you came to the UK?
No! People told me it was really popular over here and it aired on Sunday mornings. But I had no idea until I first came over here and people turned up at my hotel, or I went on talk shows on TV and people were screaming their heads off at me!

Do you get the same reaction in America?
Yes, to a certain extent. But when I’m in America and I do talk shows, I expect it, ‘cause I know Dawson’s is shown on American TV. But when you go overseas it’s a different culture you’re stepping into so you don’t expect something that’s as popular in America to be popular over there. It was very strange when I was in Europe travelling around on the train for five weeks. I’d get to Paris and there were posters of Dawson’s Creek there, and then I’d get to Italy and it was the same there. That’s weird!

What was your first impression on London?
I was amazed at the scope of it and how big it was. It was all very intimidating, that was my first impression of it. I was just like a little kid! Coming through the gates at Heathrow Airport was weird...because my mum has an Irish passport so they checked all out bags.

Where did you stay?
My mother just happens to be friends with Lady Guiness (posh old bint) so we got to stay in her flat. (Ooh! Get you!)

What was your favourite part of Europe?
Florence in Italy. It’s beautiful and it feels like you’re stepping back in time. There’s a church, and when you hike to the top of it, you can see all around the city, and nothing has changed. Apart from the station, nothing has been built there for years.

A good place to do a period drama maybe?
It would be good, I’d love to try costume drama. I’d wear my tights with pride!

If you were in a band, which band would you like to be in?
I would love to be in a blues band. That would be cool. I would have to be playing an instrumental though. I’ve got a horrible singing voice, believe me! No one would want to hear me sing. I would play the slide guitar instead. I can play it a little bit already – but not very well. In fact I’d say my guitar playing was about as good as my signing!

Is there going to be anymore Dawson’s Creek after this series?
Nobody really knows to tell you the truth, ‘cause this is our last year in high school. Then they get to make the choice. They don’t know whether to end it at high school or take it onto college.

Are you given scripts for the entire series so you know what happens by the end?
Oh no, we get the scripts one week in advance, so we only know what’s going on six weeks ahead of everybody else. So sometimes we read the scripts and go ‘what’s going on here? What are you guys doing?’ and we look forward to getting the next script to find out what’s going to happen next.

The story about Eve being Jen’s half-sister didn’t really come to anything did it?
Yeah, that kind of thing does happen now and then. Sometimes I think the scriptwriters get scared and they don’t really fight for the things they should fight for. The Eve story didn’t really come to fruition and then last year they had Pacey and Jen getting together at the beginning of the series and that didn’t come to anything either. There are a few storylines that kind of get a bit lost by the wayside.

So, what sort of things put you in a bad mood?
I hate people saying anything stupid. I don’t really suffer fools very well at all. When people are acting like idiots, not that I’m not guilty of doing the odd idiotic thing myself from time to time, but when people say stupid things, it stresses me out. I have a pretty thick skin about people coming up to me and saying things to me when I’m out, I don’t really mind that too much. but when people are just loud and annoying, it drives me crazy. Is James Van Der Beek as aloof in real-life as he appears in interviews?
Yeah, I guess he is a bit like that. He’s not really much of a ‘Join you down the pub for a pint’ type of guy. He prefers to do his own thing.

And finally, I gotta ask, is his forehead really as big as it looks on TV?
Mum’s the word!