Dawson’s Creek actor Joshua Jackson has praised his co-star and director Katie Holmes in a heartfelt “appreciation post” celebrating the “generosity of her spirit”.
The pair, who starred opposite one another in the US teen drama series, reunited after more than two decades in the romantic comedy, Happy Hours.
Directed by Holmes, the film follows former sweethearts as they reconnect as adults and navigate through their relationship, careers and family lives.
In a post shared on Instagram on Tuesday following the film’s world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, Jackson said: “It takes many hands to make a movie. And I am thankful to every hand that touched this one. But… this is a Katie appreciation post.
“It is because of her light that all those hands were brought together. Because of the generosity of her spirit that she wanted to bring this wonderful, loving, hopeful story into the world.
“Because of her tenacity that she shepherded it from the blank page through the editing room and onto that screen last Saturday night.
“Because she is such an incredible friend that she made the space for us to be able to play together again after all these years.”
The pair starred alongside Michelle Williams and the late James Van Der Beek, who died in February aged 48 after suffering from bowel cancer, in the teen drama.
The series ran for six seasons from 1998 until 2003 and followed the lives and complex romantic entanglements of the four high school friends.
One of the prominent storylines centred around Joey Potter (Holmes) and Pacey Witter’s (Jackson’s) longstanding friendship and on-off relationship.
Jackson continued: “I was amazed when we were kids and she was the bravest most raw of us telling the truth in every moment. And I am amazed now to watch her as a leader, with the same commitment to kindness, strength through compassion, to truth and the essential hopefulness of existence.
“I hope you all enjoy this movie as much as I did. And you can be amazed by her too.”
Happy Hours is the first instalment in Holmes’ romcom trilogy.
Holmes is also known for starring in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005, playing Rachel Dawes alongside Christian Bale’s Batman, while Jackson appeared in 2020’s Little Fires Everywhere.
