S1m0ne (2002)

Director:

Andrew Niccol

Writer (WGA):

Andrew Niccol (written by)

Release Date:

23 August 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A star is... created.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Actress | Fraud | False Accusation | Indestructibility | Hotel

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Simone (USA) (alternative spelling)
Simone (Argentina) (Peru) (Spain) [es]
Симона (Russia) [ru]
S1mØne - Nasce Uma Super Estrela (Brazil) [pt]
S1m0ne (Canada: French title) [fr]
S1m0ne (Germany) [de]
S1m0ne (Finland) [fi]
Simona (Serbia) [sr]
Simone (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Simone (France) [fr]
Simone (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Simone (Italy) [it]
Simone - unelmien nainen (Finland) (TV title) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality.

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:G (Alberta/British Columbia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Brazil:Livre | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:6 | Netherlands:AL | Peru:PT | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

City Hall - 100 N. Garfield Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

The scene in the graveyard features headstones that bear the names of various crewmembers.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the movie (at a supermarket) the camera and string that Victor is holding switch hands between shots.

Quotes:

Simone: What's the matter, Viktor? You look so sad. Don't you love me anymore?

Movie Connections:

References 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Soundtrack:

Patricia

Interesting and Entertaining

Director and writer Andrew Nicol has only a few scripts and movies in his record, but all are memorable. He wrote and directed 'Gattaca', wrote 'The Truman Show' script, and here he is again both writing and directing with 'S1m0ne'. It is seldom that one director chooses his films in such a focused manner, and in his case it certainly pays back.

'S1m0ne' is another story about Hollywood, but a really original one. Since the film was released the first completely virtual film became reality, and some of the best movies of 2002 combine real actors and fantastic computer generated characters. Is this a threat to the big star system? This is the main theme of the movie. The second, and maybe even more important is the cult for icons, the morbid fascination of the public with the life of celebrities. The two themes play well together, combined with the excellent portrait that Al Pacino creates for his Faustian director.

I liked the movie. It has enough interesting material to keep the interest. The weaker points are the length - yet another film which would have benefit if it was 10-15 minutes shorter - and the final which is too conventional relative to the originality of the rest of the script.

8/10 on my personal scale - go and see or rent it, you will not be disappointed.