Taking chances

Magnet #1052 - Michelle Williams, Dawson's Creek

I've been holding on to this magnet for a while, because along with me, a certain demographic will always remember Michelle Williams as the bad girl next door, Jen Lindley.

So of course, I had to use it for today's Blue Valentine Q&A session with Michelle and @ditzkoff for the NYTs Arts & Leisure Weekend.

Funny how my first impression of her was that she was so tall! Then I saw her four-inch Louboutins. But, goodness, I've always thought they looked alike, but she and Carey Mulligan really must do a movie as sisters, because they're practically twins with the same pixie cut that I heart so very much.

But what followed was a good conversation between the two of them, about

• Blue Valentine (and how she and Ryan Gosling lived together for a month to have that couply background together- "except for the nighttime stuff")
• about her latest project (just got finished shooting the Marilyn Monroe bio...let's take a moment to smile about how Jen Lindley ended up playing Marilyn Monroe, while Joey Potter ended up playing Jackie O.)
• about her career (how she doesn't really map it according to what people expect her to do), and
• about her choices (that she's learned that whenever she's been torn about doing something - making lists and asking people for advice on what to do, deliberating hard, that it usually wasn't the right decision for her).

Itzkoff even asked her about her Creek days (bless), and she was totally open to talking about it. Apparently, James Van Der Beek once told her she was lucky, because she wasn't part of "such a strong triangle" that of all of the Creekers, she'd get away from Dawson's scott-free.

And, she has, for the most part. George Clooney once said that once you've been nominated for an Academy Award, whether you win it, or not, you'll always have Academy Award-Nominee in front of your name. And that's what comes before Michelle Williams' name now.

I've never understood why anyone was surprised when she was nominated - it was always obvious from any one of Jen's downward spirals that Michelle Williams was the actor who wasn't afraid to take chances in her work. She was just good. Like others have said, their time on the show was like six and a half years of acting class, a place to get rid of bad habits, and try out new things, and figure out what works for her and what doesn't.

Dudes, she even mentioned the funny walk Jen started doing! So funny, because just last night I was like, what is up with Jen and this funny walk? (No, seriously. To the point where I was totes surprised when Michelle walked so gracefully across the stage in her four-inch killer heels.)

And, yeah. You read right. Just last night. I'm totally in the midst of a Creekathon. For a couple of reasons, really. First, because I have the complete series box set that I never really cracked open. Second, because almost every day, @Creek_Quotes Tweets a DC quote, and I can pretty much pinpoint every episode it comes from. Third, because I was looking forward to seeing today's session with Michelle, and wanted to see her very early work.

But, the real impetus for my Creekathon is because of James Van Der Beek's Jamesvandermemes Funny or Die site, part of Van Der Week, where there's four videos to watch. And, if you haven't seen the Vandermemes vid:

Vandermemes from James Van Der Beek