Kerr Smith recounts Dawson’s Creek cast love triangle tensions

Kerr Smith’s memoir, published on November 10, recounts how a real-life romantic entanglement among Dawson’s Creek stars James Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes contributed to tension on set. Smith, who joined the series in its second season as Jack McPhee, said Van Der Beek and Jackson had once been roommates but were no longer living together by then.

Smith wrote that the two actors rarely spoke away from filming and that the strain was apparent to others, though he said it did not disrupt their work. Their characters, Dawson and Pacey, were also rivals for Joey, played by Holmes. Holmes and Jackson dated for about a year; she and Van Der Beek never publicly confirmed a relationship.

Smith described Mary-Margaret Humes, who played Dawson’s mother, intervening when Van Der Beek planned to skip a private screening of Jackson’s 2000 film The Skulls. Humes drove him to the event and urged him to attend. Afterward, crew members welcomed Van Der Beek, and Jackson thanked him for coming. Smith said the encounter helped begin a thaw between the actors. Van Der Beek later told Humes he was glad she had persuaded him to go.