Michelle Williams says 'Dawson's Creek' soured her to TV for a long time: It was 'like a factory job'
Michelle Williams wasn’t creatively fulfilled during her years on Dawson’s Creek.
While playing Jen Lindley on The Creek from 1998 to 2003 put her on the map professionally — and helped her find BFF Busy Philipps — the actress said in an interview with Patricia Clarkson for Variety that the grueling schedule, eleventh hour script changes and lack of input she had in her character’s storyline were huge minuses. The experience kept her away from TV for a long time.
“Doing Dawson’s Creek for six-and-a-half years, while it was an incredible learning experience — we did 22 episodes a year, and you’d be getting scripts at the last minute and you had zero input,” Williams said.
She said it was “a little like a factory job.”
Agreeing with the assessment that the show, also starring James Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes was “formulaic,” Williams continued, “Try as I might. I don’t think I’ve done television in between then and now because of a fear of loss of input.”
Williams — whose FX mini-series Fosse/Verdon, in which she played actress and dancer Gwen Verdon opposite Sam Rockwell, recently aired and was well-received — added, “When this came around, people had been saying for a long time, ‘Television is different now.’ And I could see that that was true and that it was something that I should open myself up to.”
Williams has done some impressive work since her days as a broody TV teen. She’s been nominated for four Academy Awards, and in 2012, she won a Golden Globe for her performance in My Week With Marilyn.
She’s expected to receive an Emmy nomination for Fosse/Verdon when they are announced next month. It would be her first.
The Dawson’s Creek cast is constantly asked about a reunion due to the initial popularity of the show as well as the success they’ve continued to have professionally. The closest thing fans have gotten so far is the crew reuniting for an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year to discuss the lasting legacy of the WB show 20 years after it debuted.
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