View Full Version : James Van Der Beek Reflects Back on his Popular Movies


JamesG
08-08-2017, 02:15 AM
Angus (1995)


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Angus was my first role in a feature film. This was a big studio movie and I was a bully, I think I was #3 on the call sheet and I had never been on a film set before.

People tole me, "Be prepared. Your life is going to change when this comes out," and I was like, "Great, I'm ready for it." So it comes out and does no business and nothing changed (laughs). I'm still going on the same auditions and knocking on the same doors.









Varsity Blues (1999)


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Varsity Blues was such a crazy time in my life. It was my first big lead in a studio movie. Jon Voight is missing that chip in his brain that the rest of us have that makes us think "I wonder what other people are going to think about this."

The scene where they're putting the needle in Wendell's knee and I'm in the doorway talking to him making a speech and it's starting to sound a little bit like a speech. Jon walks up and shuts the door on me right in the middle of it so I bang through the door with my arm and go on with the rest of my speech. When it was over he said, "That was good, do that."

Not only could Jon do what he does and accomplish what he needs to do on set, but he's also looking out for everybody and assisting everybody. He's setting it up so we can spike it back down. I remember thinking he's the kind of actor I want to be one day.









The Rules of Attraction (2002)


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The Rules of Attraction was a wild set. I remember that on the 2nd or 3rd day of shooting was when we did that split-screen shot with me on one side and Shannyn Sossamon on the other.

In order to get the two shots to blend together we had a camera that was on a motion track that was timed for a minute and 34 seconds after action. We had to time the whole scene and it was a really ballsy move to have that whole relationship depending on that shot and it totally worked.

http://ew.com/tv/2017/08/07/james-van-der-beek-looks-back/