I hope you take this as a compliment, but watching 'Dawson's Creek' I never thought you'd have such an interesting career.
I do take it as a compliment.

You're sort of like the female Johnny Depp. He started off on a cheesy show too.
That's a damn fine compliment my friend, wow. I said to a friend [that] being on 'Dawson's Creek' was kind of like being a mobster. You set up a shop selling pizza but in the back you're laundering money. You're doing one thing in plain sight and secretly plotting something else. I was plotting my tastes, my interests, my beliefs and hopes for what I could be.

After the show ended you must have been offered a lot of crap.
Sure, but what's hard is the aim and that you're going to fall short a little. It was never an option to me to make a lot of money or do work I couldn't get behind. That's not my nature. What is hard is living up to your own expectations. Yes, it was hard getting jobs I wanted. I was a pop tart. It took patience and baby steps. I did a play in New York that wasn't about being blonde, which led to a role in an HBO thing to a role in a British drama. As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "Gradually, then suddenly."

http://www.popeater.com/2010/12/15/michelle-williams-blue-valentine-my-week-with-marilyn/