James Van Der Beek Talks "Apartment 23"

[JamesG]

James Van Der Beek on "Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23"
04/10/2012


So how did this role come about for you?

I got a phone call during pilot season last year that Nahnatchka Khan, who had done "American Dad", with Jeff Morton, who produced "Modern Family" and Jason Winer, who directed the "Modern Family" pilot, were working on this show called "Don't Trust The Bitch In Apartment 23". [Laughs] I thought, "I'm in! What could you do to make me say no to this?"

And they said, "Well, they want you to play a version of yourself a la what you did in the Funny Or Die videos." I thought, "OK."



So I went in and met them and laughed for 45 minutes. They said, "We've written scripts with you in mind. Would you take a look at it?" I walked out the door, read it immediately and it was hands down the funniest pilot script that I'd read in years.

So it was a no-brainer to do it. I realized this was the comedy dream team I'd been waiting my whole career to work with.







Did it take you a while to get to that point where you were comfortable making fun of yourself?

Yeah. It did. But it's so much more fun to not take yourself so seriously. This is the kind of sense of humor I've always had, but then, I think once you get lucky enough to have the kind of success that I stepped into, you feel like you have something to protect or something to lose.

So then you take yourself a little bit more seriously for a bit and then, you take a look around and you realize it's a lot more fun to have a laugh. [Laughs]







Absolutely. Was there anything you weren't willing to poke fun at about yourself?

No. One of the things I said right from the start was, I told the writers: "Don't ever be afraid of offending me. Always go for what's funniest and if there's anything that's really offensive, I'll tell you to scale back, but don't ever self-edit. Let's just have it." And they did. [Laughs]

We didn't find anything that offended me to the point where I said, "We can't do that."







Speaking as a "Dawson's Creek" fan for a second, is there any chance we'll see former cast members on "Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23"?

I would love that. There aren't any in Season 1 so it would have to be Season 2. Knock wood.

If we get picked up for Season 2, I would love that. I think it'd be great.



Have you talked to anyone about it?

No. I'll wait till we get picked up. I'll wait till the ratings come in. [Laughs]

I'll make sure we'll get to make more of these and then I'll make some phone calls.







In the show, your character is going on "Dancing with the Stars". Is that anything you would ever do or have you ever been approached?

I have been asked in the past to do it. I thought it would be more fun to do it this way -- have the fake me go on the fake "Dancing with the Stars" and have all the fun, but not have to do that schedule. [Laughs]



Although I have to say, your spin move in Episode 4 is pretty impressive.

Well, thank you. I worked at it. It did not come easily. [Laughs]

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