MISS AUGUST 2008

SCOUT TAYLOR-COMPTON

There’s no hiding the fact that PollyStaffle.com was not a fan of Rob Zombie’s “Halloween.” Despite being a huge fan of Zombie’s “House of 1,000 Corpses” and on the fence with his “Devil’s Rejects,” his take on John Carpenter’s classic really bummed us out. We loved the relationship between Debbie Myers (Sherri Moon Zombie) and Michael (Daeg Faerch), and felt that it could have been made into a stand alone film. But once Debbie was removed from the picture, we felt “Halloween” turned into an “ugly and mean out-of-control downward spiral.”

That being said, we also realize “Halloween” was probably not the best film for us to get acquainted with the actress Scout Taylor-Compton. At the time here is what we had to say in our review: “And don’t even get me started on Scout Taylor-Compton as the Jamie Lee Curtis character Laurie Strode. Instead of getting a solid actress that could go toe-to-toe with Myers, we get somebody that is best known for the real life news headlines she made a few years back. Scout Taylor-Compton came up missing for several weeks and it later came out that she ran away from home after a fight with her father and stepmother.”

Of course, since “Halloween,” Scout has had an impressive run in other horror and thriller films - “Wicked Little Things,” “An American Crime” with Ellen Page, “April Fool’s Day,” the upcoming projects “Pearblossom” and “Obsessed” with Beyoncé Knowles and Ali Larter.

Scout Taylor-Compton, now 19, was just 16 at the time of the runaway incident and 17 during the filmming of “Halloween.” When making the press rounds promoting Rob Zombie’s film she said the following: “The past is the past. Who the hell knew who I was at that time anyway?” To which we say, who the hell knew who Scout Taylor-Compton was at the time that butchering of “Halloween” was released.

So putting the past in the past, PollyStaffle.com names this cutie its Miss August 2008. We recently caught up with the busy young actress and got the scoop on her new role opposite Joe Pesci. Scout plays a prostitute and shares a number of love scenes with the “Goodfellas,” “Casino” and “My Cousin Vinny” star. Scout also talks about trying to fill the shoes of Laurie Stroud and some of the adversity she faced in this apologetic edition of Polly’s Pinups.

WICKED LITTLE THING

CCF: You’re kind of building this nice Scream Queen career.

STC: Aren’t I?

CCF: Yeah. Tell me about that. Is that on purpose?

STC: No, I guess I am just a good screamer and I scream all the same in every horror movie. No, not really. I choose what I like and I make my choices based on the characters rather than it being a horror movie, comedy or anything like that. I just liked “April Fool’s Day,” and loved “Wicked Little Things” and “Halloween.” I actually just got done doing “Love Ranch,” which is totally different than anything I have ever done. So that should be a new twist for everybody out there.

CCF: What kind of movie is that?

STC: It’s actually about the first Mustang Ranch.

CCF: Hmm…

STC: You know what that is?

CCF: Yes. (LOL)

STC: Yeah. So you can imagine. I did that with Joe Pesci and Helen Mirren. It was directed by Taylor Hackford, who directed “Ray.” That should be a big movie next year.

CCF: And what’s the role you play in that?

STC: I play Christina. She is one of the girls that works at the ranch. She’s Charlie’s little thing. Charlie is played by Joe Pesci. Christina is his girl that he plays around with a lot and whatnot. So I had a lot of scenes with Joe. (LOL) A lot of them were intimate scenes.

CCF: How was that, working with Joe Pesci?

STC: He’s great. He’s actually kind of like my dad now. I wasn’t so sure at the beginning, but then two or three months of working together, we kind of bonded.

CCF: I guess its good you’re not shooting this now since he’s sort of a father figure. (LOL)

STC: (LOL) Exactly. Yeah, it was after that. After the scenes, he would comfort me and say, “Are you okay?” “Are you comfortable with this?” I’d be all, “Yeah sure.”

CCF: You said you basically choose your roles based on the characters, so what was it about that character that drew you to the film?

STC: It was something I hadn’t done and I was tired of playing the book worm. In “Halloween” I played the book worm, in “April Fool’s Day” I was the independent, book worm girl and in “Wicked Little Things” I was kind of a brat and I thought this was a way I could stretch it. Nobody has seen me this way. I decided to do something new. I’m tired of doing the same things over and over again.

CCF: You were also in “An American Crime,” which I recently saw.

STC: Yeah, is it good?

CCF: Yeah. It’s good.

STC: I haven’t seen it.

CCF: I didn’t like the other movie based on the same story, “The Girl Next Door.” But I liked this one.

STC: That’s good. Is it intense? I heard it was intense.

CCF: It is. And even though it’s not a horror movie per say, it is in the realm, so playing a prostitute in “Love Ranch” is definitely a change for you. How did you gear up for that role?

STC: I watched a lot of documentaries about the old Mustang Ranch and how girls were back then. It’s based in the 1970’s. They’re a lot different in the way they dress and act. They have a lot poofier hair and the way they treat their men is a lot different. So I watched a lot of documentaries that Taylor had given all the girls that are in the film.

CCF: So you are all decked out, totally retro in this?

STC: Totally. (LOL). Totally.

CCF: And is this based on anything factual as far as Nevada brothels are concerned?

STC: Yeah. I guess it’s based on the actual owner of the Mustang Ranch. It’s based on the true story, I had never heard of it, about the Madame, who is played by Helen Mirren that falls in love with a wrestler who comes to train at the Mustang Ranch.

CCF: Right.

STC: So it’s like a love story in a very unusual atmosphere. And it’s Helen Mirren with a young hunky wrestler man. (LOL)

CCF: Now, switching back to horror. As far as “Halloween,” what was that like for you taking that role? Stepping into those shoes, it would seem like most people would be very hesitant about doing that. What was that like?

STC: I had no idea, honestly. Reading the script, knowing that it was directed by Rob Zombie, knowing that it was “Halloween,” I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal until I got cast and I found out there were all of these horror fanatics out there. I had no idea there were actually horror fans, horror conventions and whatnot. Then I got into it, but that’s another story. I remember going to my mom and my dad and saying, “I don’t know if I can do this.” My name was plastered and they’re all “Scout who? Who? Scout’s doing it. Why? This little girl can’t do this. There’s no way this little girl can conquer this.” I had to deal with that and Rob just told me, “You’re going to face that in this business. Just get used to it.” It was definitely hard. I didn’t know what to expect from the beginning and I had no idea it would be like it is. But I can’t back out of it now.

CCF: (LOL)

STC: (LOL)

CCF: You said you’ve gotten into the whole horror thing since then?

STC: Yeah, that’s like my scene. If you go to my room, you’d see I have so much horror memorabilia in my room. I had no idea people were into this stuff. It’s great.

CCF: Like I was saying earlier, it’s kind of like over night, bing, bing, bing, here you are.

STC: Exactly. I love it. It’s great. And when I’m at the conventions, everybody is so sweet. Who would have thought?

CCF: And what about all the people you’ve worked with in the horror genre?

STC: Oh yeah. Everybody is really sweet. Especially like Rob. You wouldn’t think it. He’s a sweetheart though

CCF: Oh yeah, any other projects with him in the works?

STC: Who knows? I’ll leave that to everybody’s imagination.

CCF: But you’d like to definitely?

STC: I would love to. If Rob ever calls, I’ll be like, “Yeah. When? Where? Let’s do it.”

CCF: Cool. Thanks for talking with me.

STC: Thank you so much.

- CCF, August 2008