Disclaimer: I do not intend for anyone to mistake this as being true and real. It is a fictional story involving fake versions of celebrities all over the age of 18.
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Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings
November 2012
I think I would have just turned twenty-two, I was fresh out of college after all. I was barely a couple weeks into my job at 'The Lowdown' magazine before they promoted me to featured writer. I just had a talent for it I guess. Honestly I thought it would be difficult, I was a Brit coming to America to work for an American magazine, but they welcomed me with open arms.
'Destination on the right,' a robotic voice called out from the GPS on my dashboard.
'I don't think I'll ever get used to these roads,' I said to myself as I looked out at the hotel where I was supposed to be going.
Trepidations aside, I managed to drive cleanly into hotel driveway where an awaiting valet took it off my hands. 'I'm not going to be long,' I called out.
I turned and entered the hotel lobby, approaching the front desk where a friendly looking woman was waiting. 'I'm here to meet Ms. Lawrence,' I said, hoping it would be that easy.
'I'm sorry? I don't know what you're talking about,' the woman said, I thought this might happen. Since the beginning of the year when 'The Hunger Games' released, Jennifer Lawrence has been a hot property, it's no surprise that the hotel was being tight lipped about her presence there.
'I'm press,' I said, pulling out some paperwork from my satchel. "I'm with The Lowdown, I actually have an appointment... Desmond Drake,' I said.
'Oh, well in that case, she's up in room eight-oh-four, which is level eight, should I call her and tell her you're heading up?' The woman said.
'I guess,' I said. 'Why not...'
I left the front desk and headed toward the elevators. As I waited in the elevator I had a look through my notes, inside there were questions I wanted to ask; about her breakout role in 'Winters Bone', what is was like working with David O. Russell on her new film 'Silver Linings Playbook', and how it felt to have gotten so famous with the release of 'The Hunger Games'.
There were also questions that the editor wanted me to ask, mostly tongue in cheek questions about her life, interests and hobbies and most notably and crucially, what it was like researching for the role of a sex addict. Honestly I felt like that last one was a bit crass. 'The Lowdown' is known for its deeply personal and invasive interviews, so I doubt Jennifer would have taken the interview if she wasn't prepared to answer such an obvious question.
'Come in, doors open!' Jennifer called out almost immediately after I started knocking.
I followed her suggestion, opening the door and walking into what was actually a surprisingly small hotel room. 'Hi Jennifer, I'm Desmond,' I said as I approached the kitchen Jennifer was standing in.
'Hello Desmond, I'm sorry for not opening the door but as you can see I'm a little busy,' Jennifer said, I looked and true to her word her hands were occupied with what appeared to be various ingredients for cocktails.
'It's fine,' I said. 'Bit nervous are you?'
She looked slightly sheepish as she put the finishing touches on her cocktails. 'Yeah, I've heard you guys dig really deep, so I thought I should have a drink to loosen up and well now hearing that accent I think I might need to have both,' she joked, passing me one of the drinks.
I laughed. 'Don't sweat the accent,' I said. 'If it makes you feel any better this is my first real interview in the States so... I think I just might need this drink,' I joked, taking a sip of her drink.
'So what do we do from here?' Jennifer asked, as she placed the straw in between her supple lips.
'Well we can chat for a bit, or if you'd like we can get right into it, where should I set up?' I asked, unable to move my eyes away from her beautiful facial features.
'Let's get comfortable on the couches first and see where we go from there,' Jennifer suggested, pointing toward a small living area with two couches and a coffee table.
'Lead the way,' I said, ushering her ahead of me as we made our way to the living area.
'I mean, I've done interviews before,' she said, as I took in her sexy young shapely body. 'But I recently read the interview you guys did with Scarlett and wow, she really talked a lot about her sex life!'
She was wearing a tight, navy blue dress that happened to reach just below knee level. 'Again, this is my first real interview with this magazine and it's possible I'll have a different approach,' I said.
'I don't want you to be too different, I did set this up for a reason you know!' Jennifer said as we sat down.
I nodded and watched her remove the long dark hair from her eyes as she made to consume even more of her surprisingly alcoholic cocktail. 'What do you call this drink anyway?' I asked as I set up my Dictaphone.
'I call it the Everdeen,' she said, smirking. 'Cheesy, I know.'
I laughed. 'One second, I kind of want to get that into the interview, do you mind if we start and you answer that again?'
'Go right ahead,' she said, smiling as she took another sip.
'Wonderful,' I said, quickly turning my Dictaphone on. 'Testing, testing, one, two, three,' I said, making sure the levels were correct.
'That thing hard to use?' Jennifer asked.
'Not really,' I said. 'I just try to make it look like it is, as soon as the world knows how easy it is to use a Dictaphone, interviewers will be out of a job,' I joked.
Jennifer laughed. 'I'll keep it a secret,' she said.
'Thanks,' I said. 'We're on by the way.'
'Oh, it's not live is it?' Jennifer said.
'This is being broadcast on every iPhone in the world right now,' I joked. 'Anyway,' I continued. 'What do you call this drink anyway?'
'I call it the Everdeen,' she said, batting her eyes at me. 'Do you like it?'
'I think it's quite nice actually,' I said. 'What's in it?'
'That's a family secret,' Jennifer said slyly, now having engulfed half of the drink.
'Alright, I'm going to get right into it now,' I said. 'First I'd like to start with talking about what many would consider to be your breakout role, in Winter's Bone.'
'I love that movie,' she mused.
'I think it's absolutely fantastic,' I said. 'I just wanted to ask, a lot of people at the time thought one of two things; this is either the start of a wonderful career from a wonderful actress or she's peaked too young. Did you ever fear that you may have gone right out of the gate with your best work?'
'I did a little bit,' she laughed. 'But to be honest, I knew at least I would still be famous for a while, I had X-Men and I knew that Hunger Games would be huge.'
'But critically...' I said.
Jennifer paused for a moment to take a sip from her near empty drink. 'Have you seen Silver Linings Playbook?'
'Why yes I have, I caught it in Toronto,' I said, attempting to keep up with her drinking.
'And what did you think of it?' She asked, still half-jokingly, but also with a hint of legitimacy, as if she valued my opinion.
'I loved it,' I said. 'And I especially loved you in it, such an easy aura of sexiness but sadness, it's a hard combination to get right.'
'Thank you,' she said, smiling as she finished her drink. 'I guess I knew Winters Bone wouldn't be my ceiling because I knew I had better performances in me.'
'While we're on the subject of Silver Linings, I wanted to ask, is there any truth to the rumours that Russell thought you were too young and too skinny for the role?' I asked, now half into my own drink.
'There's a little bit of truth to that, at first he thought I was too young but... as soon as we did the audition he was cool with my age,' she said.
'And about the weight?' I asked.
'I think David envisioned the character to be a bit more... bustier, so I put on a little weight for the role and well I actually quite liked it so I kept it on,' Jennifer laughed joking grabbing her breasts through her dress. 'I will have to lose it again for Hunger Games,' she added sadly.
'Just letting the record show that you grabbed your own breasts,' I said as I wrote that down on my pad, sipping my drink through the straw like a madman.
Jennifer laughed. 'We can get a photo if you want proof!' Jennifer exclaimed.
I stopped writing and looked up. 'Really?' I asked, I did have my camera with me, I was expected to take a couple of photos to use in the magazine and something like that would be a dream come true for the promotional team.
'On second thought, that would be a bit much,' she said, standing up. 'Wouldn't want readers getting the wrong idea, do you want another Everdeen?'
'Ahh... yes please,' I said, finishing off the drink and picking up my Dictaphone to follow Jennifer into the kitchen, not wanting to lose the momentum we had.
'I might get a couple photos of you making the drinks if that's alright?' I said, fishing the camera out of my satchel.
'It's a good idea of the tone of the interview I suppose,' she smirked, readying her ingredients as I took a couple of photos.
'Speaking of Everdeen,' I started, as I lined up the shot. 'The Hunger Games was a pretty huge hit, especially amongst teens, how does it feel to be teen idol of sorts.'
'It feels pretty weird to be honest,' she said, simultaneously answering the questions, squeezing fruit and still looking incredibly sexy for the camera. 'Especially because the character is so empowering to young women, it feels weird to be a role model.'
'It must be strange to be going from a role like Katniss to a role like Tiffany, where you're essentially playing a sex addict, do you ever worry that some younger more impressionable fans will go from Hunger Games to Silver Linings?' I asked, as Jennifer playfully stirred the drinks, managing to make something so mundane look so damn sexy.
'It's a bit worrying, but Tiffany's a fairly empowering character herself and I think we're a little bit trying to get some of the teenage male fans to cross over. You know like 'Katniss Everdeen playing a sex addict? This I gotta see!' She joked as I started to pack the camera up.
'That's true,' I said, grabbing an Everdeen from Jennifer as we headed back toward the couches. 'You are becoming a bit of a sex symbol, what's that like? And being so young?'
I placed my drink and Dictaphone on the coffee table as we both sat down again, this time sharing the same couch. 'Young? We're basically the same age!' Jennifer laughed.
'We actually are the same age, twenty-two, it's not like I'm saying I'm old or anything, I know I'd feel weird if I knew a lot teenagers were looking at me like they look at you,' I said, quickly putting the drink back in my mouth.
'It's actually kind of nice knowing a lot of people look at me that way, and especially because it's all my choice, they're looking at me because I want them to,' Jennifer said seriously, before brushing her hair out of her eyes and smiling at me.
