‘We did 10 takes of it!’ Kerr Smith on Dawson’s Creek and filming US TV’s first gay kiss
As he releases a memoir, the actor opens up about the late James Van Der Beek, the magic of the Creek, and facing homophobia for playing gay in the 90s There are worse things to spend a couple of decades chasing than the feeling of being young, successful and surrounded by people who love you. For Kerr Smith, though, the particular magic of Dawson’s Creek has proved just about impossible to replicate. “I’ve spent…
Key points
- Kerr Smith played Jack McPhee on Dawson's Creek and filmed US network TV's first kiss between two men.
- Smith says the scene with Adam Kaufman took ten takes because both actors were nervous.
- Smith writes in a new memoir about homophobic graffiti found on his car around 2001.
Kerr Smith, who played Jack McPhee on Dawson's Creek, has spoken about filming what the article describes as the first kiss between two men on primetime network television in the United States. The scene, in the third season finale, paired Jack with college prep student Ethan, played by Adam Kaufman. Smith discusses it in a new memoir, I Don't Want to Wait: My Life on Dawson's Creek, which is out on 10 November in the US and Australia and on 26 November in the UK.
Smith was introduced in the show's second season as a character meant to cause trouble between Dawson Leery and Joey Potter. About eight episodes into his run, creator Kevin Williamson asked him to coffee and told him the show wanted to take Jack in a different direction, according to Smith.
Filming the kiss
Smith said he was very nervous before the scene with Kaufman, and that they did ten takes. He recalled a director's advice that if two characters were attracted to each other and loved each other, they should simply kiss. "He was right," Smith said, adding that he concluded it really was that simple.
We did ten takes of it. Ethan was nervous too, no matter what he says now.
— Kerr Smith
Protests and harassment
The show faced protests outside its Wilmington studio, and Smith remembers driving through crowds of demonstrators to get to work. He said he was frightened but took some reassurance that the anger seemed aimed at the storyline rather than at him personally.
While filming the horror film The Forsaken in Yuma, Arizona, around 2001, Smith returned to his car to find it covered in red graffiti, including homophobic slurs. He never learned who did it, and says the memoir is the first time he has written about the incident.
