van der speak

If you're anything like us, growing up in the '90s meant listening to Alanis Morissette on repeat, wearing more butterfly clips than one should ever wear, and not missing an episode of Dawson's Creek…like, ever. So it should make a whole lot of sense why we literally freaked out last week when asking if we'd like to have a one-on-one breakfast with James Van Der Beek. Um… DUH.   

After a long week of waiting (and listening to Paula Cole's "I Don't Want To Wait" on repeat), our date with Dawson (err, James) finally arrived. Clad in a blue button-down and a pair of fitted jeans, our immediate impression of the Beek (aside from noting the multiple banana peels in front of him…not joking) is how surprisingly "pretty" he is in an almost airbrushed, fresh-from-a-summer-of-sailing way. He's nice, composed, and clearly comfortable with talking to a total stranger. For the first 10 minutes or so, we discuss  Backwards, a film about a competitive female rower out this Friday, in which he plays the boss/ex-boyfriend role.  "I played like a steady stream of serial killers and kidnappers leading up to it," says Van Der Beek with a half-smile. "I was ready for something sweet." He's definitely proud of the flick, which is a nice change from the typical inhibition that clouds most actors when talking about their recent work.

But our meeting wouldn't have felt nearly satisfactory without taking some time to talk about the Creek, childhood TV crushes, and his most recent small screen role on Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. Without further ado, we present you with James Van Der Beek's Five Truths of Television. 

1. Courtney Cox was a babe on Family Ties.

When I was a kid, I had a thing for Courtney Cox on Family Ties. And then when she was on Friends,  I was like, 'Oh, I know her she was the girl I had a crush on when I was like 9!'

2. Don't watch your own show… If that show is Dawson's Creek.

I didn't watch it when I was doing it. By the time we got to season 3 it became healthier for me to just commit fully on the day and then walk away and then not watch it. I felt a real responsibility to the fans of the show. It felt like it was more their show then our show.  If I just did it on the day and didn't watch it, I was just doing my part on it.

3. First season of Damages ruled.

I love the structure of the first season of Damages. Glenn Close is such a force of nature in that.

4. Louie is #1. So is The Wire. So is football.

Oh I love Louie! Louie is amazing. Oh he's great! That's probably my favorite show on TV currently. But I think my favorite TV show of all time is probably The Wire. I'm a huge fan of the NFL too- football is pretty much my guilty pleasure.  I try to just choose which games I'm going to watch ahead of time, but the Red Zone channel where you can watch all of them is very dangerous. And Breaking Bad is amazing!. 

5. Playing yourself doesn't really mean your playing yourself. 

I play like a demented bastardization of actors in general (on Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) What feels weird now is when people are like, 'oh, you're playing yourself!' But people mostly get it.  It's a pleasure to be on something that Krysten and Dreama just anchor so well. It gives me like a long leash to be completely insane. It's so much fun. It's ridiculous.  I love to laugh, so it's fun!