Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is taking her unique blend of acting talent, charisma and good looks to Melrose Place this fall. If only she had any of the above.
Not to give any Melrose Place spoilers away here, but she is not good. We have seen the pilot. Nevertheless, she sat down with People recently to talk about her offbeat character on the CW’s revival of the primetime soap.
“She is a little weird,” Ashlee said. “I have a so-called innocent side, but I think it’s just the persona that I’m giving to people. I’m only setting people up.”
Describing her character, Simpson-Wentz says that, “Her name is Violet and she’s new to Melrose Place, new to L.A., looking for a family member – looking for any kind of family, looking for love. She’s really not accepted – not just yet.”
“I think that’s something interesting, to play the outsider.”
Some of Violet’s downfalls? “Obsessing over things and people,” says the 24-year-old, even-less-talented sister of Jessica Simpson. “Anyone that’s willing to be like, ‘I’ll help you out,’ she ends up finding an obsession with them.”
Unlike Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, who has a strong bond with her own family in real life, the character is “desperate for family, desperate for love, to connect.”
“She looks up to Ella, who’s played by Katie Cassidy, because she’s got it together from the outside. She’s like ‘How am I ever going to fit in this town?’”
Simpson says she’s glad to be part of the series’ tradition of shocking plot twists – but won’t give up an specifics … yet. “There’s a lot of jaw-droppers on the show that we obviously can’t give away but it does get crazy.”
Although she was too young to catch the original Melrose Place, the lip-syncher hopes to “bring the old audience back and also start a new one, one that’s for our generation because we just missed the boat on Melrose Place.”