> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # James Van Der Beek — ‘The Rules of Attraction’ - URL: https://www.smdp.com/james-van-der-beek-the-rules-of-attraction/ - Published: 2002-10-12T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:47:22.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import *By SEAN DALY Special to the Daily Press* When it comes to questions about love and romance, most celebrities prefer to be coy, beat around the bush and keep everybody guessing. But ask James Van Der Beek — star of TV’s hit teen drama “Dawson's Creek” — how he proposed last year to actress Heather McComb, and you can expect a bit of Hollywood humor as well: “I had my publicist contact her people,” he quips. Van Der Beek, 25, is careful not to disclose too many specifics about his upcoming nuptials, but he does seem to be taking a hands-off approach when it comes to the fine details. “I help out with planning when I can, but I try not to get in the way too much,” he reveals with a laugh. “I mean, honestly, do I care what the design is on the napkins? No.” That’s because Van Der Beek, the oldest son of Jim, a former minor league pitcher, and Melinda, a gymnastics instructor, has a full plate of his own to attend to. For starters, there is season number six of the show that teenage girls have built their Wednesday nights around since 1997\. It will probably be the last, he admits: “It’s always nice to excuse yourself before you are asked to leave.” And then there is a blossoming movie career, which he hopes to kick into high gear with “The Rules of Attraction,” opening Friday. Based on a 1988 novel by Brett Easton Ellis, it’s a warts-and-all look at the loves and lives of three students at a fictional New England college. Van Der Beek is drug dealer Sean Bateman, a character he describes as “an emotional vampire.” “He feeds off the emotions of others,” the sandy-haired actor shares. “But at the same time it is also his greatest fear that he will end up like his older brother, Patrick (the central figure in Ellis’s ‘American Psycho’).” “The Rules of Attraction” includes in-your-face scenes of drug use, masturbation, sex and suicide — a far stretch from what Van Der Beek witnessed during his two years as an English major at Drew University in New Jersey — and a stark contrast to the more wholesome content of his hit TV series. But as he relaxes in a second floor suite at the Four Seasons hotel, clean shaven and wearing an un-tucked blue button down shirt, Van Der Beek (his name is Dutch for “By the brook”) admits he is anxious to shed the boy-next-door image. “The bigger risk is just staying the same for the sake of just staying the same,” he explains, in between sips of bottled water. “If you are gonna ask people to pay their $9 to go and see something, you don’t want to give them the same thing they can get for free on TV every week.” One thing “Dawson” fans won’t see in prime time is Van Der Beek’s first same sex kiss (with “Rules” co-star and male model Ian Somerhalder), which recently fueled speculation about the actor’s sexuality. Not that he seems to really care. “Whether Joe Public who lives in wherever, Middle America, believes in their heart of hearts that I’m gay... it’s not that important to me,” he maintains. After all, this would hardly be the first time something untrue was written about him. “I think my favorite story was when some tabloid reported that I lost my Game Boy on the set of ‘Dawson's Creek’ and the whole crew had to stop working to look for it,” he laughs. “My other favorite one was that we had to go back and re-shoot an entire episode because my fly was down!” Maybe that’s why Van Der Beek — who was once known to friends as “Beek” and “Baby James” — goes out of his way to maintain a low-profile public life. “I just keep my private life to myself,” he once said in an interview. “I figure if you talk about it once, it’s an invitation for everyone to dig into your life even further. If people want to write anything about me, they can go ahead and do whatever they want, but they won't get a comment out of me. It’s a free country and I can keep my mouth shut if I want to.” There are a few things Van Der Beek is happy to talk about — like his passion for sports. Despite growing up in Cheshire, Conn., he is an avid fan of the Green Bay Packers and briefly played junior high school football. Van Der Beek is also a huge fan of the Dave Matthews Band and is self taught at playing guitar. He began is acting career by accident — literally. A gym class mishap in the eighth grade left Van Der Beek with a concussion, so under doctor’s orders to sit on the sidelines, he decided to try out for the role of Danny Zuko in the school production of “Grease.” After a brief stint in community theater, Van Der Beek and his mom began commuting to New York City, in search of stardom. “I remember we’d make our sandwiches before we’d go and we’d get on the Metro North train and then just walk around the city instead of taking cabs,” he recalled in 1998\. “We’d be running around in the hot summer, dropping off head shots at agents’ offices. They’d open the door a crack and we’d feel the air conditioning. And they would just grab the head shot and shut the door.” Eventually Van Der Beek landed a television spot for Oxy acne cream. It was his first time on national television. “I was totally broken out,” he remembers. “But I was supposed to be the guy with the clear skin... so they had to totally cover me with makeup!” Soon after, came “Dawson's Creek.” Van Der Beek continued to appear on stage for several years, appearing in at least one play he was too embarrassed for his parents to see. “It was called ‘My Marriage To Ernest Borgnine,’” he remembers. “I played a kid who kills both of his parents, gets thrown in jail and seduces his male psychiatrist. They really wanted to see it, so they snuck in one night. Thank God I didn’t see them in the audience!” Perhaps it will prepare them for “Rules of Attraction.” (Sean Daly is president of Showtime Entertainment and a Santa Monica-based freelance writer.) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 12, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/101202.pdf?ref=smdp.com)