James Van Der Beek has his say on his 'awkward' on-screen kiss with Melissa Joan Hart after the 'Clarissa' star mentioned it was 'uncomfortable' and he or she didn't discover him 'cute'

• James Van Der Beek shared his ideas on his “Clarissa Explains It All” kiss with Melissa Joan Hart.
• Hart beforehand mentioned she did not need him to seem within the ’90s sitcom as she did not discover him “cute.”
• “All on-screen kisses are awkward,” the actor Insider whereas selling his Quaker Chewy partnership.

James Van Der Beek is sharing his aspect of the story about filming Melissa Joan Hart’s first on-screen kiss in “Clarissa Explains It All.”

Hart has beforehand described the kiss as “uncomfortable” and even instructed Meredith Vieira in 2015 that she did not discover the actor enticing.

Van Der Beek, 46, spoke to Insider on Thursday to advertise his new partnership with Quaker Chewy on their Take Your Little one to Play marketing campaign.

The “Dawson’s Creek” star mentioned that whereas he does not keep in mind a lot of his expertise guest-starring on the teenager sitcom, he thought the entire expertise was “awkward,” however he is not as hung up about it as his costar is.

“All on-screen kisses are awkward, particularly at that age,” he mentioned.

“My gosh, how outdated have been we? We have been youngsters. I used to be 16 at that time, however yeah.”

Within the fifth and closing season of the Nickelodeon present, which ran between 1991 and 1994, Van Der Beek performed a drummer named Paulie, who Hart’s character meets whereas dressed as her punk alter-ego, Jade. 

After Clarissa reveals her actual identification and tells him she understands if he does not need to communicate to her anymore, the 2 share a kiss.

On the time, each actors have been a number of years away from touchdown the roles that may cement them as Nineties icons.

Van Der Beek rose to prominence taking part in Dawson Leery within the seminal teen drama “Dawson’s Creek,” which started in 1998. 

In the meantime, two years after “Clarissa Explains It All” ended, Hart landed the lead function on “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” on ABC.

In her 2013 memoir, “Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Regular Life,” Hart recounted her model of how the kiss went down and why it led to her dubbing the actor “Van Der Blah.”

Hart wrote that the present’s producers gave her the headshots of three actors who they have been contemplating for the a part of Clarissa’s love curiosity and he or she expressed that she could be pleased with anybody however Van Der Beek as a result of she didn’t discover him enticing.

“Oh, come on. I do know folks suppose he is dreamy, however I by no means bought the attraction,” she wrote. “This was 5 years earlier than he started getting bare with a lot of the solid on ‘Dawson’s Creek.'”

Hart mentioned that proper earlier than capturing the scene, which was the primary time she had kissed on display, Van Der Beek “blurted out” that his girlfriend wasn’t going to love them kissing, which made the already “uncomfortable” scene worse. 

Hart wrote that she responded in “a snotty-teen-girl-rolling-her-eyes approach” that her boyfriend would not be completely happy about it both.

“To today, I nonetheless have a small panic assault — name it PTSKD, post-traumatic screen-kiss dysfunction — after I learn a kissing scene in a script,” she joked.

Hart additionally mentioned the expertise whereas making an look on “The Meredith Vieira Present” in 2015, by which she reiterated that she wasn’t eager on Van Der Beek’s casting.

“I do not suppose he is that cute. I feel he is so candy and so pretty, he is simply not my sort. I do not know, does anybody else really feel that? Am I loopy?” she mentioned.

Van Der Beek, who’s a father of six, additionally spoke to Insider about why he has partnered up with Quaker Chewy to place a twist on the concept of “Take Your Little one to Work Day” by encouraging dad and mom and guardians to take a break from their on a regular basis routines and make time to “Take Your Little one to Play.”

“You by no means know what experiences are going to stay with a child of their reminiscence, however spending time, taking part in with them, placing down your telephone, and connecting with them, it is simply so vital,” he mentioned.