S1m0ne (2002)

A producer's film is endangered when his star walks off, so he decides to digitally create an actress to substitute for the star, becoming an overnight sensation that everyone thinks is a real person.

Director:

Andrew Niccol

Writer:

Andrew Niccol

Stars:

Al Pacino, Benjamin Salisbury, Catherine Keener

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Al Pacino	...	Viktor Taransky
Benjamin Salisbury	...	Production Assistant
Winona Ryder	...	Nicola Anders
Darnell Williams	...	Studio Executive #1
Jim Rash	...	Studio Executive #2
Ron Perkins	...	Studio Executive #3
Jay Mohr	...	Hal Sinclair
Catherine Keener	...	Elaine Christian
Evan Rachel Wood	...	Lainey Christian Taransky
Jeffrey Pierce	...	Kent
Jeff Williams	...	Man in Suit
Rachel Roberts	...	Simone (as Simone)
Mitzi Martin	...	Premiere Audience Member
Carole Androsky	...	Premiere Audience Member (as Carol Androsky)
Christopher Neiman	...	Premiere Audience Member

Storyline

The career of a disillusioned producer, who is desperate for a hit, is endangered when his star walks off the film set. Forced to think fast, the producer decides to digitally create an actress "Simone" to sub for the star--the first totally believable synthetic actress. The "actress" becomes an overnight sensation, with a major singing career as well, and everyone thinks she's a real person. However, as Simone's fame skyrockets, he cannot bear to admit his fraud to himself or the world.

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Plot Keywords:

actress | fraud | film set | creditor | men's bathroom | 

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Taglines:

A star is... created.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality

Details

Official Sites:

"Amalgamated Films" (New Line [us]) "Eternity Forever - Amalgamated Films" (New Line [us])

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 August 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Simone

Filming Locations:

Greystone Park & Mansion - 905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$222,276 (Japan) (12 September 2003)

Gross:

$1,155,054 (Japan) (26 September 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Niccol Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Al Pacino's character, Viktor Taransky, is based on Raymond Kurzweil and his female alter ego Ramona.

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Goofs

Viktor writes "I love you Vic" on the hotel mirror. This should be "Vik".

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Quotes

[first lines]
Production Assistant: Uh, Mr. Taransky, she's...
Viktor: She's walking? Don't tell me she's walking. She can't walk!
[heads off running]
Viktor: Nicola!

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Crazy Credits

Despite the fact he has an important role in the film, the actor who plays Hank is not credited.

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Connections

References Repo Man (1984)

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Soundtracks

"Requiem - in Paradisum"
Written by Gabriel Fauré
Performed by La Chapelle Royale, Ensemble Musique Oblique with Philippe Herreweghe
Courtesy of Harmonia Mundi USA

User Reviews

Darn funny

Very good satire on the cult of celebrity, in which the whole world falls all over itself in praise of a non-existent actress. The movie also deals, to a much lesser extent, with the conflict between wanting to create a perfect artistic vision and wanting to create art that is in the world. It's not the most pointed or savage of satires, but it is quite a funny one. Some people here have criticized it for being predictable, which really misses the point of satire. Satire is based to a great extent on the frightening predictability of people, and it must follow a logical train of escalating events or what's the point. The biggest failing in the movie is near the end where it jumps track from a logical train of events to a dumb plot device, which while not a fatal error is lazy and takes away from the overall effect of the film.

But mainly it's just funny. Consistently so from beginning to end. And also notable as about the only good performance I've seen from Winona Ryder since Mermaids.