James Van Der Beek has been in the acting world for long enough that he has plenty of memorable roles attached to his name. However, despite his appearance in the recent Power/Rangers short, he’s probably still most known for starring in the WB drama Dawson’s Creek, where he played Dawson Leery. The show was so popular, it even got a porn parody, and James Van Der Beek recently told the story of how he was caught red-handed with a copy of the porno.
I remember when I was doing Rules of Attraction, and the hair and makeup department got me a copy of the Dawson's Crack porn movie as a gag gift. It was on VHS, that's how long ago that was, and I thought it was hilarious. I couldn't wait to bring it back and show everybody in North Carolina and say, “We've made it! Look at us. They've made a porno out of us.” This was right after 9/11, and I get flagged by security, and somebody opened up the suitcase, and there’s a gay porno right on top. Not just any gay porno, but one based on the show that I was on. Which is kind of excellent.
Van Der Beek was recently speaking out about the Power/Rangers short and how incredibly different it was from the original Power Rangers material, which led him to reminisce with Vulture about the differences in Dawson’s Creek and Dawson’s Crack. I’m sure that airport security has seen its fair share of wild stuff in suitcases before, but to see the star of Dawson’s Creek nonchalantly carrying around the porn parody of his own TV series must have been a particularly amusing moment in that airport security team’s life.
The good news is that VHS tapes of porn are hardly contraband, and Van Der Beek seems to have gotten out of the situation with his dignity intact. It’s just too bad that in the early 2000s Woodrockets wasn’t around to create a porn parody of the then-hit TV drama. We’ve seen what they’ve done with the likes of Parks and Rec and Bob’s Burgers. No doubt they would crushed this one.
The actor has moved on since the days on Dawson’s Creek. As a young man, he landed roles in flicks like Varsity Blues, and more recently here’s starred in shows like Don’t Trust The B---- and the upcoming CSI: Cyber. In short, he’s an on-demand actor, but it’s nice to see he’s willing to joke around and reminisce about his glorious history as a melodramatic teen icon.
