JOSH ON REGIS AND KATHY LEE

REGIS: He's one of the hot new stars of the very popular WB series called Dawson's Creek. There's two little girls over here who are going absolutely crazy right now with anticipation. I'm not going to keep them waiting any longer. Here he is, Joshua Jackson. Joshua.

JOSH: How you doing?

REGIS: How you doing?

JOSH: Very well.

REGIS: Look over there. (while pointing to the girls in the front row)

JOSH: Thanks for having me out.

REGIS: Joshua, you're the heartthrob of every 12-year-old in America.

JOSH: Excellent.

REGIS: And you're blonde today too.

JOSH: Just for another couple hours, yeah. This is for work, a job I've been doing up in Toronto called Urban Legend.

REGIS: You're on hiatus now from Dawson's?

JOSH: Yeah.

REGIS: This is a movie you're working on?

JOSH: Yeah, well they decided, you know, I can't act so, ya know, so better do something with the hair instead.

REGIS: Actually your mom worked in the business, that's how you got started?

JOSH: Yeah. My mom did everything in the business. My mother was a casting director, which is a good little bit of nepotism, so she brought me in and said, "I really like this kid. I think you should give him a job."

REGIS: Casting director for what show?

JOSH: She cast MacGyver for a while, which is actually where I got my first job and then she did a lot of movies.

REGIS: Did you beg her for the opportunity to work on MacGyver? 'Mummy, please. Mummy, please?'

JOSH: It was, yeah ok. I wouldn't have quite put it like that, but yeah, I did.

REGIS: So who did you play on MacGyver?

JOSH: On MacGyver I was like extra kid number eight cause my mother wanted to make sure I had a healthy respect for the work because, as you know, you do this every day.

REGIS: Absolutely.

JOSH: So she made me do a lot of extra work and stand-ins before I was ever allowed to audition for any substantial parts.

REGIS: Well that's great. Well that's great. Got good experience, great insight to what the whole business is about.

JOSH: Absolutely. On the weekends I would go and do an extra gig. I would work for eight hours, and she thought this would kind of dissuade me, and I was like, this is great. I go, and I hang out with kids.

REGIS: Yeah, sure.

JOSH: Play with toys and they pay me. This is great.

REGIS: And the big break was the Mighty Ducks film?

(Regis holds up a pic of the Mighty Ducks cast)

JOSH: That's me.

REGIS: Which one? You're right over here?

JOSH: I'm, this one.

REGIS: You're a red-head in this one, sandy haired?

JOSH: Nope, I was, that's pre-pubescent.

REGIS: But you could skate?

JOSH: I could skate. Yeah, actually for the first one they had to polish up my skills, but yeah, this was great times.

REGIS: Yeah.

JOSH: Emilio. This was Ducks two.

REGIS: Ducks two?

JOSH: Yeah, ya know, it's like I grew up every two years we did one of these Ducks movies, and I'd go back and I'd see these guys, and I'm like, "hey, hey, it's like a reunion. How you guys doing?"

REGIS: So life is like a big ball for you, isn't it?

JOSH: Yeah, pretty much.

REGIS: How old are you?

JOSH: I just turned 20.

REGIS: 20?

JOSH: Yeah?

REGIS: Single?

JOSH: Yes.

REGIS: Girlfriend?

JOSH: No. That would be the non-single

(Regis points to the girls in the front row)

REGIS: I'm telling you, I feel something. So tell me about your life now. You're on top of the heap. You got this hot show, Dawson's Creek.

JOSH: Yeah, it's doing really well.

REGIS: Critics love it, the audience, love it.

JOSH: Yeah, and I love being on it. Yeah, let me tell you, it's been great. We finished work in December, and the show didn't come out for another month after that, and the hype machine was just going gang-busters.

REGIS: Went crazy, yeah.

JOSH: And we were all worried, ya know. What if this comes out and everybody sees the show and says what is this all about? So we spent a month kinda, you know, biting the nails and then the show came out and it exploded. We were on the cover of TV Guide, collector's edition, after six weeks on the air.

REGIS: I know, that's great.

JOSH: So, ya know, we're, I'm intensely happy with how well the season's gone so now the challenge is to go back, ya know, we had strong points and weak points in the show this year, so now we get to go back and try to make it a better show.

REGIS: Absolutely.

JOSH: For next year.

REGIS: And you play a character named Pacey?

JOSH: Pacey, yes.

REGIS: What's Pacey like?

JOSH: Well, he's, well, it depends on who you ask really. Some would say he's the charming guy next door, and some would say he's the obnoxious guy down the creek.

REGIS: And who, and down the creek (he laughs as he says this), and who do you think he is?

JOSH: I'll go with charming guy next door.

REGIS: You're no fool, why not? All right well let's take a look at Pacey in action now. In this part, scene from Dawson's Creek he's talking about an incident with his dad. Does he get along with his dad?

JOSH: No, he has a very tough relationship with his entire family. This is the side of Pacey that's the nice guy and then there's the more irreverent side, but this is where he's trying to, Joey is having family troubles, played by Katie Holmes, and he's trying to convince her to reconcile with her father.

REGIS: All right, fine. Let's take a look at Joshua Jackson, Dawson's Creek.

*Scene from Breaking Away with Pacey and Joey in the Icehouse*

Joey: . . .visiting my dad.

Pacey: How'd it go? Fathers are weird creatures, you know that? When I was eight years old, I used to play Pee Wee baseball. We had this huge game at the end of the season. It was two outs, bottom of the ninth, and I was up to bat. I struck out. Anyway, we get home and my dad just proceeds to ream me. Tell me what a loser I am and what a disgrace I am to the whole family and town for losing the game. Next morning I go down to breakfast, and I overhear my dad relaying the events of the game to my brother. I heard him say to him, "At least I have you."

REGIS: Ok.

(The audience applauds.)

JOSH: Thank you.

REGIS: You know the scripts are uncommonly good, ya know, that's what I'm saying.

JOSH: Yeah, absolutely.

REGIS: And I think the teenage audience appreciates it.

JOSH: Ya know, well, it was something that drove me crazy when I was a teenager last week, um was the fact that I always felt I was being condescended to.

REGIS: Um hm.

JOSH: And Kevin Williamson, the guy who wrote both Scream movies and I Know What You Did Last Summer, assumes that the teen audience is able to comprehend, ya know, more eloquent speech and can stand provocative thought and that's what we do on Dawson's Creek.. is try to provoke our audience.

REGIS: Exactly right.

JOSH: That's great, and it's the fun part for me, is that I get to do some of the light comedy stuff, especially in my character, then we turn around and do stuff like this.

REGIS: It's terrific. You're off to a great start on your career. Thanks very much.

JOSH: Thank you, sir.

REGIS: Wednesday nights at eight over there on the WB. Joshua Jackson everybody.

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