Fairly fresh off a six-year run on the WB teen melodrama
“Dawson’s Creek,” in which her character Jennifer
didn’t quite make it, Michelle Williams has ventured forth
into the world of independent film. With a slew of films scheduled
for release between 2003 and 2004 she is poised to shed her
teeny-bopper roles, and with her current film, “The Station
Agent,” in theaters now she spent time to talk with The
Michigan Daily about her burgeoning career and anything else that
came to mind.
- Mira Levitan
- Santa! Oh my god! I know him! I know him! (Courtesy of Miramax)
Fairly flighty and excited, Williams said while she was unhappy
with the way her character finished out in the series finale, she
was glad that she got some closure from the show so that she could
move on. It still appears that there is some lingering bitterness
in regard to some aspect of the show.
Currently, Williams has no plans to work on another series.
“Never say never but I don’t see myself working in
television again,”she said. “A lot of the wounds are
still fresh, and it’s just hard to say. Working for that long
and being that isolated was very hard.”
She compared the time spent on “Dawson’s
Creek” to that of a six-year high school, and when asked how
her relationship with the cast, she then proceeded to give a long
and detailed list of the contact she has had with each member since
the show’s finale. With the cast of “Dawson’s
Creek” venturing into quirky and daring independent projects
such as James Van Der Beek’s in “The Rules of
Attraction,” Katie Holmes in “Pieces of April”
and her own choices in indie film. “I’m sure a lot of
that is our reaction to being in what is seen as a kiddie type of
show so we take more opposite and different roles to try and break
that mold. With me personally, I take what attracts me as a person,
and films that I would want to see,” Williams said.
As a person who hates watching herself on screen because of the
ease with which she dissects her own work, Williams holds no work
as her favorite. With many films in post-production and awaiting
the releases of “Prozac Nation” and “The United
States of Leland” this is her first period of actual down
time. She did speak positively about “The Station
Agent” and says her experience on the film was enjoyable and
she admires star Peter Dinklage, director Thomas McCarthy and the
work everyone put in the film.
“Please believe that I don’t go home and dream about
Oscars. I don’t have any goals or things that I must do right
away.”
— Michelle Williams can be seen in “The Station
Agent,” currently showing at the Michigan Theater.