James Van Der Beek in Fotogramas
Translation provided by Susana.
JAMES VAN DER BEEK
That Perverse and Quiet Kid
Once the North-American media press published false news about James Van Der Beek, 25, losing his Game Boy on the Dawson’s Creek set and binding the whole crew to search for it. “When I didn’t even have a Game Boy”, this dyslexic actor that started his career in the theatres laughs and by now he learns fast: for example, he learned to ride, lassoing and shooting for the western Texas Rangers in just three weeks. But Van Der Beek’s TV fame has caused him other troubles. “When someone suggested his name to play the main character in The Rules of Attraction I thought like everyone else. “Dawson?” director Roger Avary remembers, with a disgusted look, when mentioning the most popular work of this actor. “But when I met him,” he adds with a revelation tone, “I saw in his eyes the talent to be cold, sinister and hollow, something that nobody had seen before and also with that lovely and enigmatic puppy charisma”. In The Rules of Attraction, Van Der Beek plays Sean Bateman, main character of the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho, too. The movie has on it’s menu rape, vomiting, masturbation, violence, drugs and suicide, everything reflecting the college life that some day Van Der Beek lived himself.
JAMES VAN DER BEEK: That’s what made me want to be part of the project. This is the movie I’d liked to watch while I was in College: a true and real story capable of showing all the confusion of that period of your life, the first time you’re out of home and you’re free.
FOTOGRAMAS: It’s also an opportunity to do something different in your career.
J.V.D.B.: It’s something good to recover your mental health.
F.: Perhaps you were tired of being recognised as that adolescent hero from Dawson’s Creek?
J.V.D.B.: I’ve learned a lot doing this TV show and I’ve profited from the experience and meeting certain people. But I’ve been told that we’re probably now shooting the last season of Dawson’s Creek, and it’ll be nice to have my life back.
F.: Are you worried about the future after this TV show?
J.V.D.B.: Now I just think of the freedom I’m gonna have to make something different every time I work. I’ll be able to choose something distinct, working with different directors… It’s been six seasons that I’ve spent nine months of the year in Wilmington, North Carolina, where we shoot. And there’s not where I live. Neither does my fiancée.
F.: Heather McComb, your fiancée, maybe she is worried about some explicit sexual scenes of The Rules of Attraction?
J.V.D.B.: She is very proud of my performance. That’s one the things that we liked of the movie, because it’s not afraid of calling things by their name, you don’t enjoy doing those scenes though. It’s been a long time. I found out that the secret for playing sex scenes is tequila: not much, just the right measure.
F.: How did you meet?
J.V.D.B.: Her older sister had been in the first season of Dawson’s Creek, and we got along pretty well so she invited me to LA. If I hadn’t met Heather I would have ended up doing stupid things. Men, we are assholes. How much trouble would I be in without her?
F.: Didn’t you have problems with the homosexual kiss?
J.V.D.B.: Not at all. Another different thing! I loved the aesthetic [?] treatment it’s been given in the movie. I hope the audience is surprised and excited.
F.: After this film experience, what do you think the rules of attraction are?
J.V.D.B.: I’d rather go with no rules…
F.: Your character in the movie is sort of…
J.V.D.B.: Nobody’s perfect, and I believe everybody, everyone, has felt an anger attack in some moment of his/her life. What I love of this character is that he has that dark side where his demons live. The Rules of Attraction is the antidote for all those TV shows like Dawson’s Creek, that shows a sweet vision of life.
FICTION IMITATES REALITY
F.: In the middle of sex, drugs and violence of The ROA, were there any scenes of the script that you didn’t want to play?
J.V.D.B.: I always thought that, due to all the decisions these characters make, it was important to totally show the consequences of their actions. There was nothing that I considered highly-colored or with a lack of reality. Or that was in the script just to catch the eye.
F.: Was it like that with your own experience in college?
J.V.D.B.: The best I remember is the confusion of those days. I’ve never had the desires of my character, but I did feel that fight for finding out who we are, what and who we’re looking for and what kind of person you are.
F.: What kind of student were you in those days?
J.V.D.B.: Kinda popular. I studied at New Jersey University. Those days I knew I wanted to be an actor, but I was lucky to be able to work in theatre since I was 16, I wanted to study something not involved with drama art.
PERFORMANCE’S WORM
F.: Where did your love of performing come from?
J.V.D.B.: I wanted to be sportsman, football player, something that is in my family. I never thought of being actor until I got injured in gym class when I was 15. Then I had the chance of doing my first theatre play, my friends liked it and I won respect. Something fundamental.
F.: Being popular as student has been good way to deal with you current fame?
J.V.D.B.: No, it’s not the same: you can’t prepare to be famous. The first time I realised it was when I was kicked out from a shop where I was buying my Christmas stuff due to the chaos of my presence.
F.: But fame must have advantages
J.V.D.B.: Yeah, sure, lots of!!! I deal with these problems as a part of my job, of the pleasure of doing what I wanna do. And plus, there is a bonus: concerts or sports games tickets, meeting people you wouldn’t be able to in normal life… But what I miss the most is the fact of not being able to watch people from anonymity.
F.: What do your fans find is the most attractive thing about you?
J.V.D.B.: That’s uneasy to know, since the image they see of me is through my characters, most of all Dawson. They listen to someone else’s words, that have other principles. That’s not me.
F.: Since your career has obviously changed, did you receive the same amount of mail?
J.V.D.B.: It’s amazing this kind of mail. It comes from everywhere: France, Spain, Saudi Arabia… But I don’t have a precise idea of what they appreciate the most from me.
F.: Why do you think your last movie Storytelling, by Todd Solondz, was never released in many European countries?
J.V.D.B.: There’s not much of me in that movie (his part was cut out). I’ve never seen it so I don’t know much about this polemic.
F.: Your role in the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, by Kevin Smith was funnier. In that picture you and Jason Biggs played yourselves playing Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, in a very witty movie game inside movies.
J.V.D.B.: That was pretty cool. It was just a short appearance where I made fun of myself and then back home.
F.: No spoilers of Dawson’s Creek but what is the future of your famous character in this show?
J.V.D.B.: I think all fans will have what they are expecting, and I’ll end up with Joey (Katie Holmes’ character). Dawson’s Creek has given me everything it could give me, so now my priority is to give to the fans something they appreciate and make them feel good.
F.: By the way, Dawson is fascinated by Steven Spielberg. Have you ever met him?
J.V.D.B.: Actually yes. One day I was at a Lakers game and suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and there was Steven. He just came by to say hi.
Finis
Here's a little picture of Roger that appeared in the candid pictures section of the magazine. Hehehe....he doesn't look too happy, does he?
