JAMES VAN DER BEEK ON THE PANEL
March 24, 1999
*The order that they are sitting in (l-r): GLENN Robbins, ROB Sitch, JAMES Van Der Beek, SANTO Cilauro, Editor of COSMO (I can't remember her name) and KATE Langbroek.*
*There may be some errors in this, cause due to the nature of the show, they all tend to talk over each other.*
SANTO: You know you're getting old when you start off an introduction with the words "here's an impressive young man..."
*LAUGHTER*
SANTO: (cont'd) But he is an impressive young man. He's the star of the TV-hit Dawson's Creek and the star of the film Varsity Blues, and he's also one of the few people who didn't crack a mention in Gwyneth Paltrow's acceptance speech.
*LAUGHTER*
SANTO: (cont'd) His name is David Van Der Beek, hello.
*AUDIENCE CHEERS*
(There's a bit of a pause while the other 4 panellists tell Santo that he said the wrong name)
SANTO: (cont'd) Oh sorry, James!
JAMES: Actually Mister, my name is James.
SANTO: Yeah, I know. You know you're getting old when you can't actually remember a word that you saw about 5 seconds ago.
KATE: Cause you're thinking of Dawson's, that's why.
SANTO: Is that it?
KATE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JAMES: My middle name is David, that's what you were thinking of.
GLENN: Well see, he's a psychic.
SANTO: I knew that, I'd done my research a little too well, that was my problem.
GLENN: He's an Italian psychic.
ROB: Did you watch the Academy Awards?
JAMES: I did, yeah.
ROB: Impressed?
JAMES: It was pretty long, wasn't it? Was anybody else bored by the end? Was everybody else groaning by the time they gave away the award for cinematography?
KATE: Oh yeah, but you always are.
ROB: And short film subject documentary. It's like 'hmm...that Japanese girl' (??)
JAMES: And what is the difference between sound and sound editing? I don't even know.
*LAUGHTER*
KATE: How could Saving Private Ryan score an award for editing when no one did any?
*Pause, then laughter as people start to slowly get the joke*
KATE: (cont'd) well that was like the longest film... that's wrong.
ROB: So some of the finer points were lost on you Kate.
GLENN: David... uh, James
*LAUGHTER*
GLENN: (cont'd) I did that on purpose.
ROB: The artist formerly known as James.
GLENN: You've done Broadway, you've done Hollywood, You've done television... you're now doing The Panel
*LAUGHTER*
GLENN: (cont'd) You've done very well for someone who's twenty...two?
JAMES: 22 on March 8th, yeah.
GLENN: That's fantastic.
ROB: How did you start?
JAMES: I've been lucky. I started out doing theatre in New York, I actually started doing theatre locally when I was 15 and my Mother saw my interest in it and decided to give me a chance for the Summer, to go to New York,which was about 3 hours from where I lived.
GLENN: Is a kid in the States saying 'I want to be an actor' sort of taken seriously?
JAMES: Um, I guess. I mean, my Mother took me seriously, I don't know who else did really. But, uh, yeah.
ROB: How did you get the break in Dawson's Creek?
JAMES: I was actually going to college at the time. I was unemployed and it was one of 3 auditions I had that day.
GLENN: Can I ask one thing: You're Dawson, right?
JAMES: Yes.
GLENN + ROB (together): And its your creek?
*LAUGHTER*
JAMES: It's my damn creek, that's right.
GLENN: Is that how it works, or... no? Is that a silly question?
JAMES: I don't know whether the creek was named after Dawson, or Dawson was named after the creek. Its a show that could easily have been called Dawson's World. Instead they decided 'let's make it thematic'.
SANTO: Well James, when I first heard it, it sounds like such an Australian kind of title, like it felt like Dad and Dave, like 'lets go down to Dawson's Creek cause a jumbuck's on the loose', you know? But its the complete opposite. Obviously, most of the people here know you from Dawson's Creek, but maybe Australians don't know, cause its being released tomorrow, that Varsity Blues that you're in was absolutely huge in the United States.
JAMES: Yeah, it did really well. To everyone's shock, including mine.
SANTO: It was number one for a couple of weeks...
JAMES: Yeah.
ROB: How does that happen? You're doing Dawson's Creek and in the Summer break or something they say 'come and make a movie'?
JAMES: Yeah, pretty much. We had about 6 months off between season 1 and season 2.
ROB: Had you read heaps and heaps of scripts, and then you thought...?
JAMES: Yeah, I read a lot of scripts. And I'd been offered a bunch of horror movies which I didn't necesarily want to do. And then I read the script Varsity Blues and I wanted to play Mox and they said... no. (James laughs)
*LAUGHTER*
KATE: Oh, really?
JAMES: So I begged and fought and then auditioned.
KATE: Why did they say no? Because...
JAMES: Well if you look at Dawson's Creek you see this shy sensitive kid with really big hair.
*LAUGHTER*
COSMO: Do you have a say in your hair? Can you cut your hair if you want to, or you have to ask?
JAMES: Not the first season. Season 2 I did, I just wanted short hair.
SANTO: Yeah, that's the hair clause.
COSMO: It was a bit of a JFK Jr.
KATE: That was that Billy from Melrose hair, that they were still doing, 'well that worked for that show, we'll do it on you'.
JAMES: That's it. It's so funny, though. You watch a lot of American shows and in the first season everyone has really long, really big hair. Season 2, the actors get a little bit more power and it all gets shorter.
KATE: Well guess what season this is! (she had her hair crimped and in two pigtails).
COSMO: Quite a lot's been made of the writing on Dawson's Creek. I think you said that it was quite sophisticated dialogue. It's the type of thing you would say if you had a couple of days to think about it and come back with the smartest response. I certainly know that none of the guys when I was growing up were as sensitive or as articulate as you are.
GLENN: Yeah, well you didn't hang around me, did you?
*LAUGHTER*
GLENN: (cont'd) Cause I was like that. I'd write poetry and stuff, I would.
*More really LOUD laughter*
COSMO: Has that made Dawson's Creek different from some of the other shows?
*Glenn gives the audience this look which makes them all start laughing again*
COSMO: (To Glenn) Did I not take that seriously enough?
GLENN: No, but I think you took me... yes. Sorry James, carry on.
COSMO: A lot's been made of that, hasn't it?
JAMES: Yeah, definitely. I mean, these characters kind of speak the way everyone wishes they could, I think. Which is why its different to a lot of other shows on television.
COSMO: And how do you handle teenage girls thinking that you actually are Dawson and wanting you to be all deep and connected with them?
JAMES: It's ah... I don't know, its crazy. That's why I'm kind of laughing that season 1 of Dawson's Creek and Varsity Blues are coming out at the same time. Its actually going to be even funnier when you guys run season 1 into season 2.
COSMO: What are you up to now?
JAMES: We just finished Season 2.
ROB: In Australia we start from the end and go backwards.
*LAUGHTER*
ROB: Have we got a clip here?
SANTO: From Varsity Blues?
ROB: No, Dawson's Creek, I reckon.
*CLIP: from Escape From New York where Joey kisses Dawson while she's drunk. They talk over the clip.*
KATE: This is what we're up to.
COSMO: (referring to Katie Holmes) she's pretty.
ROB: She is pretty.
KATE: But she was drunk when she did this.
JAMES: Yeah, she was quite loaded. See, she just passed out.
*CLIP ENDS*
ROB: So you're an official heartthrob?
JAMES Yeah, with drunk girls. (??)
GLENN: how do you... I mean, I remember my first kissing scene, who was it with?... Bud Tingwell (really old Australian actor). There's a scene actually in Varsity Blues where you go back to the cheerleader's place. I won't say what happens but she does a terrific thing with some... with some... ah...
KATE: Whipped cream!
ROB: Young people are very talented, aren't they?
GLENN: It's fantastic. Go see it to see it. But... how do you handle those... intimate scenes?
JAMES: Everybody always talks about how horrible they are, but honestly, I'm not gonna lie, I had fun.
*LAUGHTER*
COSMO: But James, how do you stop from like, giving a REALLY convincing performance, if you know what I mean?
JAMES: Well you know, that's actually a really big issue, because when you're doing a sex scene, its like, you know, if you give a very convincing performance are they gonna be insulted? But then by the same token, they're gonna be more insulted if you don't.
GLENN: Even worse than that, you might get an erection! (Glenn likes to play 'state the obvious' when people try to dance around a topic)
*LOTS OF LAUGHTER*
GLENN (playing dumb): (to Rob) I don't know whether you were thinking that...you obviously weren't.
*Rob is leaning back in his chair, and laughing so hard that he has tears in his eyes.*
GLENN: (cont'd) Because... I've got one now.
ROB: (recovering from his laughing fit) Oh, man. We're a little slow down here.
GLENN: Sorry, James.
ROB: Do they actually shut the set?
GLENN: What, like Look out! Close the set! Whoa!
ROB: James is being convincing!!
GLENN: James! James! Whoa, down boy!!
*LAUGHTER*
ROB: Do they actually haul people out of the set and let you...
SANTO: Cool down.
JAMES: No, not the ones that I've done. I guess the actors would have to insist on it and it didn't really bother me.
ROB: Season 3.
JAMES: Season 3, that's right.
KATE: But you didn't even get naked... Are you gonna get naked in Dawson's Creek?
JAMES: I haven't yet.
KATE: Oh, ok, because the other thing I wanted to ask was....
ROB: ...What do you look for in a woman, James?
*LAUGHTER*
KATE: No, the other thing I wanted to ask you about was, I remember reading this book about Hollywood a year ago called 'Adventures in the screen trade'
ROB: By William Goldburn (??)
KATE: Yeah, its a great book. And he was talking about how when you become a star they start moulding you so that even your choices of character are really limited so that you always play the good guy. And last week I think Joey said to you on the show, you wouldn't remember this cause this was like a year ago for you
JAMES: A long time ago, yeah.
KATE: But she said 'Oh, they don't make many like you Dawson, you're a good guy', right? and the week before the girls were saying that about you behind your back as well. And in Varsity BLues you play a good guy as well.
JAMES: ...Fairly good, yeah.
*LAUGHTER*
KATE: But you are good, so....
ROB: But Clint Eastwood's played good guys for 30 years.
KATE: Yeah, but he sort of played good bad guys.
ROB: He'll get a gun! His life's in front of him!
*LAUGHTER*
KATE: That's what I want to know, will you?
JAMES: I'll have a gun in my next movie.
SANTO: Yeah, exactly, I was about to say. We have to go, but James, some big news has actually broken.
JAMES: Yes, I found out what I'm doing next actually, I get to do a western.
*AUDIENCE CHEERS*
JAMES: (cont'd) Its called Texas Rangers.
SANTO: Now is that the film that Sam Peckinpale (?) was going to do before he died in 84?
JAMES: I don't know.
SANTO: I think you'll find it is
JAMES: That's rather morbid (starts laughing)
SANTO: Anyway, go see Varsity Blues
GLENN: Yeah, its a great film.
ROB: We're gonna shut the set and get naked, so...
*AUDIENCE CHEERS*
SANTO: Thank you very much to James Van Der Beek and all the very best.
From The Panel website:
The Panel was joined by James Van Der Beek, to chat about his upcoming film 'Varsity Blues' and tv series Dawson's Creek. It seems that his role as Dawson was a hindrance when going for the role of Johnny Mox in Varsity Blues. The big hair had to go!
Audio 1Glenn and James Van Der Beek traded kissing scene stories. James hasn't managed to get a closed set for such scenes as yet, but he's working on it. Ever helpful, Rob and Glenn had a few suggestions to offer.
Audio 2
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