Joshua Jackson looks tired. Sitting at the head of a table full of press, his pale skin and weary eyes show that he isn’t getting used to these roundtable interviews that have eaten up most of his weekend.

Jackson, who came into the national spotlight playing Pacey on Dawson’s Creek, is awaiting the release of The Skulls. It is his first leading role in a film. And, like Pacey, he’s not letting the pressure get to him.

The pressure is over for me, he says. Maybe I’m being naive, but there’s really nothing I can do. When the movie comes out, it will be judged on its own merits, good or bad.

I don’t know that you could have a bad time in the place I’m in my life. I’m 21 years old, I’m in a place where my day job makes the reality, and given that, any job I take I will enjoy.

He did the movie for several reasons. First, he liked the script.

I thought the script was entertaining, Jackson says. And when I looked at the role personally, it was a role I hadn’t been given the opportunity to do before.

I was also hoping last year that I would be able to take a lead in a movie because there are challenges inherent in that that hadn’t been part of my previous roles.

The character of Luke, who Jackson portrays in The Skulls, also caught Jackson’s attention.

He’s not a very dynamic character because he is so focused, Jackson says. The morality tale that plays underneath is gripping. It’s hard to be the guy that stands up and says `That’s wrong,’ and it’s a hard choice to make.

Paul Edwards, Jackson’s co-star, points out that Jackson’s work ethic is incredible.

He was working 20 hours a day at times, Edwards says.

In fact, none of the cast seems to be able to say a bad thing about Jackson. Neal Moritz, the producer, says that Jackson is star quality and an extremely hard worker.

Leslie Bibb, who plays Luke’s girlfriend in the movie, says that Jackson was like a brother to her on set. She says Jackson was easy to work with, even during the couple’s love scene in the movie.

I was a bit nervous, because it was my first on-screen kiss in a movie, she says. We started to go at it, and I bit him. Josh started to pretend like I was the Cookie Monster.

Jackson got his start in acting in his hometown, Vancouver, British Columbia. His mother is a casting director there and started Jackson out in commercials. From there, he went to Los Angeles and had his first major breakthrough in Disney’s The Mighty Ducks.

I’m a victim of extremely good timing, Jackson says. The point at which I was forced to make a decision between acting and a non-acting reality, fate came in, and I landed the role of Pacey.

Jackson notes that when his contract with Dawson’s Creek is up in three years, he will most likely move on.

You put yourself through the wringer sometimes, Jackson says. But it’s all part of the enjoyment.