"I hate you and I think you're a bitch, but can I have your autograph anyway?" Michelle Williams sighs, shrugs. "Sure, why not?" she says and signs her name. She's used to being approached by "fans" like these. It happens all the time in real life-and virtual life too. The actress who plays the girl you love to hate on Dawson's Creek knows of at least one Web site devoted to despising all things Jen. Michelle is good natured about the whole thing. After all, the world can't go on confusing her with her TV character much longer-she's been logging too many different kinds of roles on the big screen lately for that. Like the upcoming Dick. Not only is it a comedy (a full 180 from her horror-flick fling in Halloween H2O), it requires Michelle to go retro, way back to the 1970s. Plus, it's a "buddy movie," pairing her with Kirsten Dunst. The two girls play high school students who wander off during a class trip to the White House and bump into then-president Richard Nixon. The pair become the official dog walkers of the "first pet" and unofficial advisors to the prez as the Watergate scandal erupts. Buzz is, the film's hilarious-and marks just the start of Michelle's funny muscle-flexing. Her next movie is another side-splitter, But I Am a Cheerleader, costarring Natasha Lyonne. What's so cool about Michelle's ascent up the Hollywood A-list ladder is that she's doing it all on her own terms, as she has throughout her career. "I had a real need for independence. I wanted to make it and prove myself on my own," says Michelle, who set off to conquer Tinsel Town and became emancipated at 15. "I was living alone in a huge city and didn't really have a strong sense of myself. I just knew that I wanted to act." She didn't waste any time, quickly landing small parts in shows like Baywatch and Home Improvement. Then Dawson's called, and Michelle was a bona fide star overnight. Still all the attention came with a price, and Michelle had to dig in her heels and deal. Worst were all the cheap shots from the press and fans alike about her weight. "I'm 5 feet 4 inches tall and 110 pounds," she says with exasperation. "What's the problem? I love food. I love to eat. I'm not going to give up eating to fit somebody else's conception of what beauty is." Besides, beauty is just one side of Michelle. Brains are another. In fact, between Dawson's and her movies, the former advanced placement student somehow managed to write a screenplay with two friends. "It was great being hooked to my computer with my two best friends, Amy and Megan," says Michelle. "It's been far and away the most amazing thing I've ever participated in. I don't know if I have the words to describe the experience, but to have something that just moves you and drives you and keeps you awake at night because your mind is constantly on is awesome." The plot of her as-yet-untitled script is decidedly dangerous, even by Dawson's standards: It's about three girls who live in a brothel. There was even real-life research involved, since Michelle and her friends actually visited a woman who worked in such a place. "The screenplay would have been so false and so contrived if we hadn't," she explains. All her professional projects don't leave much time for romance, but at least Michelle's got some semblance of a personal life. She's psyched about sprucing up the small house she and her screenwriting partner/pal Amy moved into recently. And then there's Grace, the huge English mastiff who's the girl's best friend. When living in North Carolina, where Dawson's is shot, she hangs with her costars. She's especially tight with Joshua Jackson, but Michelle reveals big-brother ways can bug big time: "If he pats me on the head again, I'll kick his butt!" Gotta love a girl like that! More About Michelle love status: single beauty byte: "At the end of the day, the makeup comes off and you become who you really are. You might as well wear less and be comfortable with who you are." stress rx: "Scream! You'll feel so much better. It's invigorating." fave food: "Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The jelly isn't the important part. You want just a hint of jelly, so it doesn't get soggy."