In Showtime's buzzy new series, The Affair, Joshua Jackson plays a Montauk rancher named Cole, whose wife is involved in the titular indiscretion. If Jackson looks right at home in the small beach community, that's because this isn't his first rodeo. In fact, Montauk is a lot like Capeside, the fictional seaside town in Dawson's Creek, the late '90s teen drama that made Jackson a star.
But, in a new interview with Elle, Jackson admitted that his stint as the hopeless romantic Pacey Witter almost made him quit acting.
"At that time in my life what I wanted to do was not be an actor," Jackson told the magazine. "I was quite burnt out. It’s a lot of work. And, on that show we were doing 22 episodes a year. It’s a grind. Truthfully, the process of making 22 episode of television a year is not very pleasant. I just wanted to stop. It wasn’t until the following year when I went and did a play in London that I actually enjoyed being an actor again."
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The 36-year-old actor seems to have gotten over his fear of television. Last year, his five-season run as Peter Bishop in Fox's Fringe came to an end, and now it looks like he has another hit on his hands with The Affair.
As for his film career, which has been a bit stop-and-go since Dawson's Creek, Jackson is still waiting for the right project to come along. "I’m more picky. There hasn’t been anything that’s crossed my desk or that’s been offered to me that I’ve been dying to do," he said. "I finished Fringe, I took six months off on purpose and then we shot The Affair. And, now I have some down time before we find out if The Affair’s going to come back. At this point, it would have to be something good. I want to enjoy the process as much as just go to work."
Dawson's Creek reunion, anyone? (Elle)