HOLLYWOOD -- Sean Bateman, James Van Der Beek's character in the new movie The Rules Of Attraction, is little more than an angry, drug-dealing college kid.

That makes him the polar opposite of Van Der Beek's TV persona, Dawson Leery, who is the quintessentially reliable and trustworthy boy-next-door.

If sex-crazed Sean Bateman lived next door, Katie Holmes would have to run for her life: He is the younger brother of Patrick Bateman, the Wall Street serial killer in American Psycho.

"This movie certainly was everything that I wished it would be," Van Der Beek says in an interview to promote Friday's release of The Rules Of Attraction, which was adapted from another novel by American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis.

"Working on it and seeing the finished product -- it's just incredibly rewarding."

The high, says Van Der Beek, was simply a matter of: "Being presented with a challenge, something different, something I had never done before and something that a lot of people thought I couldn't do -- and getting the opportunity to try to prove that I could do it."

'COINCIDENCE'

The timing of the release is also interesting. The Rules Of Attraction is out in theatres just as news of the end of Dawson's Creek is trickling out.

"That was just a coincidence," says Van Der Beek, "but it has worked out quite nicely. I want to keep working. I definitely would like to broaden my horizons and play a variety of characters, just because Dawson's not the only thing I can do."

The TV show is in its sixth and final season, according to Van Der Beek and Holmes, so their movie careers are at a critical juncture. For Holmes it is the forthcoming Abandon.

"I've been told that this is probably the last year," Van Der Beek says. "The WB (Warner Bros Television) has been basically telling us that but they haven't announced anything, so they're leaving it to us to leak it out."

Van Der Beek, the 25-year-old son of former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jim Van Der Beek, is also changing his own life as Dawson's Creek winds down. He is now set to marry his longtime girlfriend, actress Heather McComb (who is also 25 and exactly six days older than Van Der Beek). They are planning a wedding for 2003.

'PRETTY BORING'

"It's pretty boring," he says of his stable personal life.

There is nothing boring about his Sean Bateman character, although some viewers find Bateman, and all the other characters in The Rules Of Attraction, just repulsive.

"It's not my job to judge these people," Van Der Beek says quietly.

He searched for ways to make his own character lovable, at least to him, without excusing his behaviour as a college troublemaker who has sex at random and inspires a suicide. Van Der Beek does see that The Rules Of Attraction is tough:

"I think this movie is for anyone who wants something different from what's out there right now -- anyone who wants to be surprised and challenged, and anyone who has maybe grown tired of the simpler, softer entertainment that has been offered.

"If you're looking for something that you'll be able to argue about with a friend for hours or days or weeks, then this is that movie. But, if you're just looking for fluffy entertainment that you'll just forget about, then ..."

Like the last season of Dawson's Creek? "Yeah," he agrees. "Absolutely -- and enjoy it!"


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