Cool Intentions.

An updating of Dangerous Liaisons adds gay teenagers to the mix--including Dawson's Creek star Joshua Jackson

Kerr Smith, who plays newly questioning teen Jack on Dawson's Creek, isn't the only straight Creek actor undertaking a gay role. But Joshua Jackson's turn as Blaine in the theatrical release Cruel Intentions--an updated Dangerous Liaisons set among overprivileged Manhattan teens, due out from Columbia Pictures March 5--is far from the model of homosexual youth. "He's such a bad guy," says the 20-year-old Canadian actor. "His homosexuality doesn't have a lot to do with it. He would be bad if he was straight."

For the audition, director Roger Kumble took Jackson to the extreme. "It was the most offensive two-snaps-up flaming queen you could imagine," Jackson says with a laugh. "I think Roger was just trying to push me to see how far I would go. And I'll just go and go and go and go! The only concern I had about the character was not making it a stereo-type--something that, to my taste, is a little boring."

Jackson's school days gave him a little background for the supporting role. "For my first couple years of high school, it was really cool to be bisexual," he says. "I was the outsider. I don't know how much actual exploration there was going on, but there was an awful lot of talking going on. I felt so out of the loop: `I haven't even kissed a girl yet, let alone a guy!'"

While Jackson doesn't lock lips with a guy in Cruel Intentions, he does end up in bed with the studly Eric Mabius (Welcome to the Dollhouse). "It was like lying in bed with a girl," he jokes, "but she was really buffed."

So is Jackson afraid of shocking any of his young female fans? "I'm in bed with Eric Mabius, this good-looking, buffed guy, and I do a scene with Ryan Phillippe, who's one of the biggest heartthrobs in America right now," he muses. "I'll probably be the envy of more girls rather than a disappointment to them. `You are so lucky! You got to be naked in front of Ryan Phillippe!'"