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Williams misses Port City
'Dawson's' actress now a free 'Agent'


By Allison Ballard
Staff Writer
allison.ballard@starnewsonline.com


One of the things Michelle Williams always wanted was to live in New York. Now, the actress and Dawson's Creek veteran is a homeowner there.

Too bad she hasn't had much time to spend there. She's been fortunate enough, she said, to be working steadily since the locally filmed WB teen drama ended.

In fact, while she was wrapping the series last spring, she was simultaneously playing a relatively small part in an independent film that's developed a big reputation.

The Station Agent has racked up awards for its writing, acting and direction. Now, local audiences will have a chance to see it through Thalian Hall's Cinematique series.

Peter Dinklage stars as a man with dwarfism who moves to an abandoned train depot in rural New Jersey. Solitude is his goal, but soon his life becomes entangled with others, such as the artist who is struggling with a personal tragedy (Patricia Clarkson) and an overly friendly Cuban hot dog vendor (Bobby Cannavale).

Ms. Williams plays Emily, a young library assistant who has a crush on the main character.

Her work with him might not be the typical Hollywood love scenes, but they brought on the same anxieties.

"It was the same as always," Ms. Williams said in a telephone interview last week. "It's nerve-wracking. You think 'I can't believe I'm about to kiss this poor stranger.'"

But the work she did on that movie and the friendships she developed were a rare opportunity.

"It's one of the things I always wanted, that sense of community in work, friends who were partners too," she said. "I've been so moved by these people."

She and other cast members traveled to Stockholm (where Station Agent won the Audience Choice Award) and other festivals together.

"At this point I have such an attachment to it," she said of the movie. "It's such a relate-able story. They are all outsiders, but they all find a way to be together."

Ms. Williams recently finished work on the film Imaginary Heroes, with Sigourney Weaver and Jeff Daniels. She's also traveling to Germany next week to see a cut of Land of Plenty, directed by Wim Wenders (Buena Vista Social Club).

"That was really quite a dream come true," Ms. Williams said. "It was a privilege."

In the film, she plays the daughter of a missionary, a woman who has grown up overseas. Her character goes to Los Angeles to find a long-lost uncle who is a Vietnam veteran.

The work has been steady, but Ms. Williams said she anticipates a time when she might not be as busy.

"Then, I'll have more time to reflect," she said. "The seven years I was living in Wilmington, I'm just beginning to make a little bit of sense about the whole experience."

One of the things she's realized is that she misses the town.

"I've yearned to be there," she said. "There are some people I really miss. I'm nostalgic for summer, for Dockside, for the beach, my house.

"I miss Fred at the music store." (That would be Fred Champion, owner of CD Alley.) "And the simple things, like driving down Market Street.

"I know that I'll come back. I'm already fantasizing about that, making the road trip."