Busy Philipps opened up about her time on Dawson’s Creek, including both good and bad experiences in her new book, This Will Only Hurt a Little. Us Weekly has gathered all of the comments she made about The WB series, in which she starred in for two seasons from 2001 to 2003.
Credit: The WB
Busy Philipps opened up about her time on Dawson’s Creek, including both good and bad experiences in her new book, This Will Only Hurt a Little. Us Weekly has gathered all of the comments she made about The WB series, in which she starred in for two seasons from 2001 to 2003.
Credit: The WB
Upon meeting with hair, makeup and wardrobe, Philipps says she was body-shamed. “Wardrobe was really disheartening. The woman looked at my body skeptically. ‘Hmmm. I think the trick with you will be to just accentuate your chest and push up your boobs and maybe show your legs, and then just try to hide from here’ — she pointed to right under my boobs — ‘to here’ — She pointed to right above my knees,” she wrote. “I was confused. There needed to be a trick? My body was a problem? … The makeup department was no better. “So, I guess we have to cover all these moles? What have people done in the past about it?’ ... ‘I guess the network and producers don't like all these moles on you, so we're supposed to cover them up.’”
She also says she was compared frequently to her costar Katie Holmes. “I settled into the weekly wardrobe humiliations, where I was tucked and pulled and my body looked at with such disdain by the woman doing the costumes, all while she would talk about how Katie can just WEAR ANYTHING, you know? Because she just WORKS SO HARD at it. She LOVES running and SPIN CLASS! I knew it was pointed. I'm not an idiot, lady,” she wrote. “But guess what? I'm depressed and away from my friends and boyfriend and living in a city where I'm basically friends with two people, so forgive me that I want to eat turkey burgers and fries and drink vodka cranberries on the regular.”
Credit: The WB
The actress said she realized immediately that the Dawson’s Creek cast was very different from the cast she worked with on Freaks and Geeks, as they were all friends. “Maybe that was how it had been when the show first started, but by the fifth season, when I showed up, the main cast didn't really hang out together that much and they obviously had some fairly intense dynamics going on,” she wrote. “It was clear that Joshua Jackson and James [Van Der Beek] didn't really like each other, and while Katie and Michelle [Williams] were friendly, it didn't seem like they were very close. Kerr Smith was sort of friendly with everyone.”
Credit: The WB
The former Cougar Town star reveled that it cost her to take the part of Audrey Liddell. “I was responsible for paying my rent in Wilmington since I had been given a ‘relocation fee,’ which means they pay you a lump sum and then production is off the hook for your rent and plane tickets,” she wrote. “As a rule, relocation fees are never advantageous to the person relocating. I also had to buy a car in Wilmington. So this job was costing me money.”
Credit: The WB
According to Philipps, Jackson was very confident on set. “Josh really fancied himself ‘one of the guys’ with the crew. The Creek's very own mini George Clooney,” she wrote. “He's a good guy and just wanted to be well-liked but I wish I'd known the term 'mansplaining' when I met Josh. His ability to turn a conversation into a dissertation was incredible.”
Credit: The WB
Speaking of Jackson, Philipps spent a great deal of time with the actor as their characters were in a relationship. However, it got awkward when his real-life girlfriend came to set. “I wasn't ever really conformable with the make-out and sex scenes, partially because I had been made to feel so bad about my body, but also because it's just a really awkward thing to do,” she wrote. “But having the other actor's girlfriend there, watching me and making weird comments after each take, like how she was going to need him to Listerine his mouth before she kissed him again, was just too humiliating. I felt like shit. What the f—k was this job? This was the thing that was going to change my career? This was it?”
Credit: The WB
Following the make-out scene with Jackson, she went to a bar with some people from the show — including Chad Michael Murray, who briefly appeared on the drama — and fell and dislocated her knee. “Chad Michael Murray sat with me while I laughed about what a f—king dumb idiot I was. I tried calling Michelle, but she didn't answer,” she wrote. “And Chad Michael Murray, who you judged as a douchebag, will stay the whole time and hold your f—king hand.”
Credit: The WB
While Philipps said Holmes was very “sweet,” the two didn’t hang out much on set. “While I knew she'd sneak a cigarette every once in a while, she wasn't really like a hang-out-and-smoke kind of girl. I went over to her house a few times and she showed me some artwork and arts and crafts she was working on, since she knew I did that kind of stuff too, but I had a hard time really connecting with her,” she wrote, adding that by the time she joined the show, Holmes was dating Chris Klein. However, regardless of Holmes keeping to herself, it was “clear that Katie was the star.”
“One day I was having an issue getting a fairly long speech out ‘word perfectly’ and the director came over to me. ‘Listen, yeah, that was terrible but don't worry if you can't get it. We'll just cut to Katie. That's what we mostly do anyway, because … I mean. Look at that face,’” she recalled. “He laughed and walked back to the monitors. Katie looked at me sympathetically and reached out to hand me the script.”
Credit: The WB
Philipps also revealed she was very surprised by a comment made by Van Der Beek about the show. “One day, the whole cast was sitting around a table filming the Thanksgiving episode, and James looked at me and said, ‘See? You got lucky. Your show was canceled after the first season,’” she recalled. “I was so shocked by his complete lack of perspective, I was speechless. I mean. YOU ALL are the lucky ones, here on SEASON FIVE of your HIT TV SHOW. Your LIVES were changed.”
Credit: The WB
Philips added that she wasn’t happy with the arc her character was given during the final season — or the fact that they didn’t use her in the finale, but instead just briefly mentioned her character. “And when the writers turn your character into an alcoholic for your second season, it will hurt your feelings, but you'll get over it,” she wrote, “And when they don't write you into the finale, it will hurt your feelings, but you'll get over that too. Because you understand they probably would have just cut to Katie anyway.”
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