An Interview with Scarlett Keene

One of the more dangerous aspects of being a reporter in the entertainment industry is dealing with celebrities who have a slight temper. Whether it is someone abruptly leaving an interview or someone shoving your microphone in a less than pleasant place, it is always a dangerous prospect to go up to someone with a negative reputation and ask for an interview. This in particular is why I had a feeling of trepidation when approaching a house in Newcrest last week.

Of all the hotheaded celebrities I had interviewed in my career, Scarlett Keene was one of the more, shall we say, "disreputable" in terms of anger. According to those close to her, she'd had a history of anger issues ever since she was a child, which only seemed to exacerbate during her adolescent years. I was worried about one wrong question getting me kicked out of the house or, alternatively, never being seen outside said house again.

Despite my worries, I walked up to the door and knocked on it. After a few moments, one of Scarlett's roommates by the name of Annie opened the door and invited me inside. Weirdly enough, Annie was dressed up as an alien with prominent green skin and pointed ears, but I did not say anything about it. I made the assumption of her being a fellow actress getting ready for a role.

Annie led me upstairs to a living area with a table, and Scarlett herself was sitting at said table near the far door. I nodded my head and sat down across from her, taking out a notepad so I could write down her responses to my interview.

Vocal Media: "Hello Ms. Keene, my name is James from Vocal Media's Entertainment Division. How are you doing this morning?"

Scarlett Keene: "I am doing very well! Thank you! And you?"

VM: "I'm doing great. So I got a list of questions here, hopefully they aren't too invasive or personal. If they are you have every right not to answer. Okay, so the first one is: Why did you choose to become an actress?"

SK: "Well, my boyfriend's grandparents are very well-known in the industry and his mother was part of that celebrity royalty that you usually get from that kind of thing. She asked if I wanted to tag along with her when she visited Del Sol Valley to meet her parents and they gave me a few good tips to become an actress."

VM: "Do you think you'd be in this career if you hadn't joined your boyfriend's mother on that trip to Del Sol? What do you think you'd be doing right now if you weren't an actress?"

SK: "I don't quite know! I grew up watching old movies from the Golden Age of Cinema so it is quite possible I would have sought it out eventually. If I wasn't an actress I probably would have tried my hand at modeling. My uncle and aunt always say I would probably get in one of those careers because I just have that 'aura'." [laughs]

VM: "You never mention your own family in your other interviews. Would it be okay for you to talk about your parents?"

SK: [takes a deep breath] "My parents? I never bring them up in interviews because I honestly didn't know them too much. They died in a car accident when I was three years old so I was raised by my aunt and uncle. I live with my cousins. Kelly is my aunt and uncle's only daughter, and Tom is my other cousin on my mom's side. His parents vanished into the ocean off of Willow Creek when he was a toddler as well. I've always thought my family was cursed" [chuckles] "But I realize maybe we just have awful luck!"

VM: "I understand why you would think that. So what is your favorite role you've been in?"

SK: "Oh my favorite? Probably a stage musical rendition of Mamma Mia when I was in high school. I played Sophie. I like to listen to music when I get ready for my roles so that meshed well with my preparation. As for movie roles? Not sure. Probably Captain Jetpack-Table Saves The World, a B-movie I did when I first got into acting on the silver screen. It was my first major speaking role in a movie and the movie itself was so weird and funny and it was just fun. A fun time!"

VM: "So you said you listen to music while getting ready for roles, what is your least favorite music group or band?"

SK: "I guess Eiffel 65. I know they are a one hit wonder, but something about their song 'Blue' just rubs me the wrong way. My cousin Kelly seems to love that song though!" [laughs]

VM: "Do you have a favorite song?"

SK: "Yes, it's called 'Lady in Red'. I'll give you ten guesses as to why I like it so much!" [laughs]

VM: "Okay so are you ready to talk about your, um, reputation around Tinsel Town? You do seem to be prone to, and this is a quote from one of your fellow actors, 'a few angry outbursts on the occasional every five minutes'."

SC: [nervously chuckles] "I do seem to have a few minor moments of an attitude problem but it's not that bad."

VM: "You shoved a camera down a paparazzo's throat."

SC: "Well that's a paparazzo, that doesn't count! For the other stuff... it's the rudeness of others that gets to me. I am not 'attuned' to rude people. That's why I don't actually live in Del Sol Valley, where all those entitled celebrities live. I do not like when people act harshly or rudely to other people for no reason. If I see that happening to others or, especially if it happens to me, I'm going to react."

VM: "Your assistants do say you are the nicest celebrity they've ever worked with. There was this one rumored instance where you actually did get involved between an actor and their assistant after the former was rude."

SC: "Yeah I was taking a trip to a museum in Del Sol while preparing for a role. This actor threw a drink in his assistant's face. I reacted accordingly, and he was apologetic afterwards. I wonder whatever happened to him."

VM: "According to the tabloids? The assistant quit a few weeks later-"

SC: "Oh."

VM: "-so she could date him."

SC: "OH! I like that happy ending!" [claps enthusiastically]

VM: Speaking of endings, it looks like we are getting close to our interview's final questions. I know you're a very busy woman so I won't take up too much more of your time. Ummm... so who is your boyfriend, and what does he do?"

SC: "Uh, his name is John. That lady who led you up here? He's her brother. He works as a scientist, and while at home spends a lot of time tinkering with different gadgets. We have mostly automated cleaning robots going around the house that he built. He wants to go fully AI and build a humanoid robot but he's not sure of his own skills at this point." [laughs]

VM: "And how did you two meet?"

SC: "His mom and sister moved into my aunt and uncle's house when he was a toddler. I can't go into too much detail for privacy reasons but at that moment I was already living with my aunt and uncle, as was my aforementioned cousin Tom and my aunt was pregnant with Kelly. So Maria, John's mom, she needed help raising two kids and my aunt and uncle needed help raising three, so they pooled their resources and all moved in together."

SC: [continues] "I didn't think much of John in a romantic sense until I was a teenager and, despite growing up in the same house I never saw him as a brother. If I did, our current relationship would have been waaayy too weird."

VM: "That is certainly good you didn't see him as a brother then! Unfortunately we are out of time. It was very nice meeting you and this interview was quite the experience."

SC: "It was very nice meeting you too, James! Thanks for not asking any rude questions. This one person asked me my bra size once and I just... don't... understand... whyyyyyy."

I laughed as I stood up and walked back down the stairs. I wasn't entirely sure what I was expecting from someone with her reputation, but it was far more pleasant than I was used to. I just hope the next interview I have with a celebrity is just as nice, if not even better.

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Thank you for reading! This is a lead-in to a story I'm planning on writing with images from The Sims 4 as illustrations. If you like it, please think about following me on Vocal!

Images of Scarlett taken from The Sims 4.