B.L. Boy were you ever Creepy McCreep in Rules of Attraction!
J.V.D.B. Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment.

B.L. What was your very first reaction when you read this script?
J.V.D.B. I loved it. I wanted to be a part of it and I thought that it was just so great. It was the kind of movie that I wish people would have made when I was in college.

B.L. Really?
J.V.D.B. Yeah.

B.L. Well I certainly hope you weren’t reliving your "real" college years.
J.V.D.B. No, and actually that’s the thing. When I was in college it seemed like most people who made movies about college wanted to relive their college years so all of these college movies were kind of nostalgic and looking back at this great time. To me, college was really confusing and kind of crazy. You’re faced with all of these choices and you don’t always make the right ones and this movie really reflected that. I just thought it was so kind of right on and honest. When I met with director Roger Avary I thought that this was exactly the right guy to pull this off. I just got really excited about it.

B.L. Of course the character you play, Sean, is SO unlike your TV persona Dawson Leery on Dawson’s Creek. Was that one of the major appeals for you, to finally do something that wasn’t so goody two shoes and break away from this guy?
J.V.D.B. Well, you know I play Dawson nine months out of the year so if I’m going to do something else I’m going to try something completely different and challenge myself. I also want to let people know that I am willing and able to do something completely different. The character in Rules of Attraction was the most complex guy I’d really ever come across. I couldn’t wait to start playing him.

B.L. You get this script and it's obviously so well written, but how much did you bring to Sean?
J.V.D.B. As much as I possibly could. I put everything that I had into him.

B.L. Where was this anger coming from within you?
J.V.D.B. Well, you know.

B.L. I guess we could talk about that for hours.
J.V.D.B. Yeah, really.

B.L. But this guy was really angry!
J.V.D.B. Yeah, he’s a pretty damaged guy. Look, you start with the back-story of the character who is Patrick Bateman — the American Psycho’s younger brother. Hey, you thought your brother picked on you! So you kind of make that your base and this guy is fighting and struggling he’s really unhappy. He’s got insecurities and he’s really a very desperate human being.

B.L. Do you find as an actor when you play a role like this, especially because he is so different than what you are used to playing, that in the back of your mind it is more of a challenge because let's face it, this is not a group of likeable college students.
J.V.D.B. Yah, I hear you.

B.L. Is it a challenge to try and make him even just a little bit appealing?
J.V.D.B. It’s not so much that I am trying to make him appealing. Really what you have to do is say, okay, this guy isn’t really a psycho he’s a bad guy and nobody likes him and you just leave it at that. You have to get beneath all of that and figure out why is he like this because he is actually trying to do something. He’s not just trying to be a terrible person; he’s trying to make himself better. He goes about it the wrong way but you have to try and figure out the reasons for that.

B.L. You have quite the co-stars in Rules of Attraction. What was it like working on set with all of these great young actors?
J.V.D.B. It was a dream. It was the kind of set where you don’t want to go home at the end of the day. It was really great.

B.L. How different is it for you to work on a TV series and then make the transition to a film set?
J.V.D.B. It is completely different. For TV you have to be a real well oiled machine where you have to learn about eight pages of dialogue a day and doing an episode every seven days. In film you can afford to take a bit more time and just the way the story is told through the lens you are afforded a lot more freedom to experiment.

B.L. There is so much talk that this is going to be Dawson’s Creek’s last year and you know you’ve had a great run…
J.V.D.B. I ain’t greedy… I’ll take six years and run. I think that’s great.

B.L. It is, but I was wondering if you are starting to spend a lot of time thinking about what’s next?
J.V.D.B Well first off, I am going to get married. I recently got engaged to actress Heather McComb so we are planning that.

B.L. Congratulations!
J.V.D.B. Thank you. After that, hopefully I will do some more film work.

B.L. Is there anything particular that you would really like to focus on?
J.V.D.B. I just really want to work with good directors and good older actors who you can just learn from. It makes lunchtime fun.

B.L. OK, offbeat question of the day. Halloween is coming up, so James Van Der Beek, what scares you?
J.V.D.B. I really hate being scared. Anything that jumps out of the blue gives me the creeps. Surprises like that don’t sit well with me.