Kevin Williamson: Fear and Trembling

Now that he's made a movie about getting even with "Mrs. Tingle," does he feel he's laid to rest the trauma of having been so emotionally thrashed by her? "The real-life 'Mrs. Tingle' is dead," he says. "I tracked her over the years. She's gone. And though I know she may have had her own demons, the movie doesn't let her off the hook. She may have just been pure evil."

So, when are we going to get Scream 3? "The whole horror movie thing is over," Williamson asserts. "The best we can hope is that this present cycle will run its course. Let them all die out and, a year from now, let's hope the curiosity factor about seeing the third part of the Scream trilogy will let it make some money. It's a departure from the first two. Yes, it's a horror movie, yes, people will die, but there's a whole new angle, which I can't reveal because Bob Weinstein would have a fit."

Considering the time Williamson invests in his movie career, how involved does he continue to be in Dawson's Creek? "I write and write and write on it," he says, with a hand-wringing anxiety in his voice. "Yesterday, I watched episode one of the new season. Today, I have to read episode five and they're expecting my notes by this afternoon. Tomorrow I'll edit the director's cut of the second episode. I should look tonight at episode three. Then, this weekend or early next week, I have to fly back down to North Carolina to have serious discussions with a certain actor on the show."

Since Williamson's projects feature many of Hollywood's most beautiful kids, does he care to comment on the off camera goings-on he must be privy to? Williamson lets loose with a hearty, funky laugh and then, with tongue sort of in cheek, says, "Everything you hear is true. On Dawson's Creek, we have behind-the-scenes musical sleeping bags, intrigue, all of it. But I will definitely be hanged if I go any further. Let me put it this way: When we finished Killing Mrs. Tingle, we made a gag reel, basically a fake porno movie called Drilling Mrs. Tingle, in which the main question to everyone on the shoot was: 'Who were you having sex with on this movie?' On that project, though, nothing was going on! If we'd done the same thing on Dawson's Creek or Scream or Scream 2? There might even have been a crew guy involved here and there. But I'd better stop."

Well, if he must. Since Williamson has been so instrumental in making stars out of Hollywood's Neves, Loves and Sarah Michelles, how would he handicap their chances for success? Let's start with Jennifer Love Hewitt, whose movie career took off with_ I Know What You Did Last Summer_. "The first thing that came to mind when I met her was Sally Field--great actress, bubbling charm. Almost too charming, so that you forget she's a very clever actress. Love can do whatever she wants because she's got the head for it, the management and a fabulous, cool mother."

Neve Campbell, heroine of both _Scream_s? "There's something very 'Old Hollywood' about her. Out of all these kids, she has a maturity about her so that she'll move with ease into adult roles."

I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2's Sarah Michelle Gellar? "A live wire who's very savvy about the business, who knows when to and when not to smile, and who's got the talent to back that up. And, like Love, she can nail it in one take."

James Van Der Beek, his Dawson's Creek alter ego? "After 20 seasons on Dawson's, after having a huge acting career, he'll be a director. I see it coming already."

The same show's Joshua Jackson? "He'll be a huge little deal in movies, then he'll come and go, then reemerge and be Tom Hanks. He's talented, smart. I love him."

Williamson saves his biggest raves for Dawson's Creek beauty Katie Holmes--whom he chose to star in Killing Mrs. Tingle despite pressure from the studio to hire someone more along the lines of, say, Alicia Silverstone--and with whom he has a dose relationship. "She's like my kid sister--we're so close, she went with me when I was house shopping." About her career, he says without hesitation, "There's an Oscar in Katie's future. She's going to become Michelle Pfeiffer. Like Pfeiffer or Jodie Foster, she's an incredible beauty the camera just eats up. But beyond that, she has amazing raw talent that's growing by leaps and bounds. A very smart, very practical girl from Ohio who watches the dock tick and thinks, 'I'd better learn how to act real quick.'"

So what's next for Williamson after Tingle? He'll produce and perhaps direct the romantic comedy Her Leading Man for Universal Pictures, which writer Greg Berlanti will pen. "It's a very self-referential deconstruction of the romantic comedy," says Williamson. "It's about a guy hired by Disney to write the first original live-action musical since Newsies and make it a romantic comedy. The guy is like, 'How, in our cynical times, can I revive two dead genres?'

"This project is a departure from anything I've done before," adds Williamson. "And not one character in it is under 30."

Williamson is also preparing another TV series, wasteLAnd, which is scheduled to debut in 1999 on ABC. Like Dawson's Creek, it's an edgy ensemble about everyday people, but it focuses on twentysomethings, not teens, and they live in L.A. Can he throw us a few details about the show? "Not really," he says flatly. "We're casting it now and we're going to shoot the pilot in November. That's all I can say."

With all the projects Williamson has done and is doing, surely there are material gains to be enjoyed? Indeed. He recently moved into a spacious vintage home in one of L.A.'s most venerable neighborhoods. "The best thing about all the work is it allows you to realize some dreams," says Williamson. "I had custom-built for my father the exact truck he loves in his favorite TV show, Walker, Texas Ranger, and, since my parents won't move here, I want to build them a great house so they can get out of the trailer they live in."

Then again, with writing, directing and consulting on movies, on top of writing, producing and developing for TV, does Williamson ever feel his plate is too full and that he may burn out? He nods and says, "I can only take so much before I flip out and just go off somewhere in a corner, collapse, cry, then come back all happy. Totally manic. I can't tell you how pressurized I feel all the time. I probably had the closest thing I've had to a breakdown two weeks ago. I called my mom, sobbing and said, 'I can't do this anymore.' Talking to her made me feel much better. She has this theory that Bob and Harvey Weinstein are going to kill me." He breaks up laughing. "But I'll kill them first. I love Harvey and Bob. I am so dysfunctional that I'm just attracted to people like them."

Still, I point out, there's no sense exaggerating one's insecurities. After all, he's not only dealt with his "Mrs. Tingle" fears, he's also in a position now to work on just about anything he wants. Williamson won't have it. He gives me a look and asks, "Even if it's over in two years, you'll still talk to me won't you? Maybe smoke a cigar with me and reminisce?"

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Stephen Rebello wrote about actresses getting ugly for the November 98 issue of Movieline.

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