Dawson Leery is in on the joke as James Van Der Beek has no issue poking fun at Dawson’s Creek alongside the fans — especially when there’s fake snow involved.
“Man Dawson’s Creek think we wouldn’t notice,” a now-viral social media caption read, showing a clip from season 6, episode 10 of the series, in which two characters are walking on fabric made to look like snow.
The internet user focused their camera on the bottom of the screen, showing off the faux pax, joking that Dawson’s Creek “really had no budget.”
Van Der Beek, 46 — who played the titular character — shared the video with his own witty retort.
“We must’ve blown the budget on tissues,” he shared via Instagram on Thursday, October 26.
Dawson’s Creek aired on The WB from 1998 to 2003, and is continuously being rediscovered by new generations. (The show is currently streaming on Hulu.)
Fellow Dawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson (who played Pacey Witter) has also poked fun at the show’s production value as clips make waves online decades later.
Jackson, 45, discussed the viral “basketball scene” from the show while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in April.
Host Jimmy Fallon asked the actor why he was “trending on Twitter” at the time. Jackson immediately started to laugh.
“You were trending because of a very specific scene that you shot on Dawson’s Creek many years ago,” Fallon, 49, explained. “Someone tweeted about it and was very confused.”
In the scene from the show’s first season, Jackson’s Pacey and Van Der Beek’s Dawson are in the midst of an argument. Suddenly, Dawson launches a basketball at his best friend’s face. Pacey gets hit and falls to the floor.
“The ball hit the camera after it hit my face, and they loved it so much that they — I think we did two or three more takes, is my recollection,” Jackson shared after watching the clip. “Somebody had some issues they were trying to work out with me.”
The actor clarified that the ball was “never supposed to do that.” After reading the fans’ “forensic analysis of this 25-year-old TV show” on social media, Jackson was happy to explain what really went down.
“This was just a beach ball painted to look like a basketball that got bounced off my face,” he shared. “I mean, it didn’t feel great. Not amazing.”
With the cast continuously commenting on the show, fans have hoped for a Dawson’s Creek reunion. However, Van Der Beek said that it wouldn’t work because the series has a “very specific” tone. That being said, the actor knows his crying face GIF will live on forever.
“You can never predict or control what the internet will make of six years of work,” Van Der Beek told Insider in May. “Six years of work boiled down to three seconds with a clip of me crying. That’s just the way it goes. I do find it hilarious.”
