Van Der Beek Taking Cues From NPH To Break ‘Dawson’ Spell


James Van Der Beek is still trying to break the hold Dawson’s Creek has on his career and admitted in a recent interview that he has been taking cues from another once-typecast actor, Neil Patrick Harris.

Though he has appeared in anti-Dawson roles for some time (2002’s Rules of Attraction comes to mind), he still hasn’t really entered the “next stage” of his career yet, a la Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie to Barney).

His last series Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt. 23 was pulled by ABC in January with the final eight episodes only just now showing up on Hulu.

He has a new CBS show called Friends with Better Lives coming up on CBS, but it’s benched for midseason.

Still, he said that his experience on B—- was a positive one. He played a fictionalized version of himself and said that he took cues from Harris in how to pull it off effectively.

Harris played a fictionalized version of himself in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, which helped revive his career.

“It’s funny, I remember the first time I did an episode of How I Met Your Mother,” Van Der Beek tells Vulture.

“I was talking with Neil Patrick Harris. And Neil said something about, ‘Have you learned how to have fun with the whole image, really lampoon it?’ At the time I said, ‘Oh, yeah, I was doing that even while I was on the show.’ And he kind of said, ‘Okay,’ and nodded.

“And cut to [laughs] me on the FOX lot really lampooning the image. It’s just fun to stay in the game. And I think that’s probably the most important thing for an actor, especially one with some success in the past. Just stay in the game. And that’s what Apartment 23 allowed me to do.”

Are you a fan of James Van Der Beek? Did you like Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt. 23? Are you looking forward to Friends with Better Lives? Sound off!

[Image via: Featureflash / Shutterstock]

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