Let’s talk about Rex, baby.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Is it true that Sean Baker just cold-called you about the role?
SIMON REX:Kind of, yeah.
Simon Rex in ‘Red Rocket’.A24
And basically Stephonik had called my friend and was like, “Do you know Simon Rex?
We’re interested in him for this role.
I want you to read it on your phone and send it to me right now.”
Tiffany Rose/Getty Images
So I did, and he said, “Okay, I need you in Texas in three days.
you better drive here immediately.
They rented me a car and I just drove three days straight to Texas.
And you saw the movie, it’s a lot of dialogue.
So I basically just started working on memorizing the material really quickly.
Was it all scripted?
Because it has such a loose feeling, but it’s also so well constructed.
Sean said it’s about 20 percent improv in the movie in the end.
You’re a California kid.
How was it to be so deep in Texas?
Texas is like its own country.
But I think Southern folk are just kind of good nice family-oriented people.
And they opened up their doors to us.
It’s kind of like tropical Texas.
It’s just a trip, but I loved it.
Was there a scene you really struggled to nail down, either emotionally or logistically?
Well, obviously the running nude scene is physically challenging because we were hiding from police officers and neighbors.
We were kind of just shooting guerilla-style, and it would be in the middle of the night.
And I’m sitting there in a robe.
It just looked so shady.
Everyone can relate to that, or trying to get out of a situation.
It was just very real.
But obviously, she’s a first-time actor, and you’ve been doing this for nearly 25 years.
I just really tried to make her feel at ease and comfortable.
And then the cameras would roll, and she would just light up and murder it every single time.
It’s a weird thing he has.
I don’t know how he does it.
Was it hard to get the rights for that?
I can’t imagine NSYNC comes cheap.
[Laughs] Yeah.
But they paid a pretty penny.
And all of the NSYNC members had to watch the scenes that it’s in and approve it.
So they all watched it, they all loved it, they all said okay.
I’m picturing Joey Fatone sitting down with his family to watchRed Rocket, that is a visual.
Alright, so you’ve had a pretty crazy festival ride with this movie.
Was there a moment where you were just like, “Pinch me?”
Then not only that, but we were in the Palme d’Or category.
And then not onlythat, we got a standing ovation for like five minutes.
They’ll boo you, they’ll walk out.
And we got an over-five-minute standing ovation.
That was just, I can’t even explain.
We didn’t win, but I did get to have dinner there with Bill Murray.
I was like, “I can’t be bummed.
We’re in Cannes, we just got really close to winning.
And now I’m having dinner with Bill Murray,” so that was pretty much the highlight.
And I’m wearing Bill Murray socks right now!
I’m looking at them.
They’re not Bill Murray’s personal socks, they’re socks with Bill Murray’s face on them.
So this is landline days, before cell phones.
And he had got my phone number, called my apartment.
And weeks went by, and I looked one day under the TV.
I’m like, “What’s this?”
And he said, “Oh, some dude Gus Van Sant called for you.”
I’m like, “Really?”
Couple of lines only.
This is a bad audition.
You’re not ready for this, but you have something.
I see it in you.
So I want you to go to acting class.
There’s really good ones here in New York, go and study.”
So he kind of sent me on my path, and I went and started studying acting.
I didn’t do that movie, obviously.
But the rest is history.
So we can thank Gus Van Sant forRed Rocket, in a way.
[Laughs]
You have a pretty long resume at this point.
What do people approach you for most, do you find?
UsuallyScary Movie, those are so big.
They still run all the time, and they’re such a part of peoples' childhood.
And usually it’s just this very awkward moment when you start rattling off what you’ve done.
Your IMDb page, basically.
I was never on their radar before.
Does that mean you’re getting more offers now?
Yeah right now I’m having a moment, I guess you could say.
Which a year ago, I would have killed for any of these offers.
Because it’s… that little window of time is really important, to not be tied into anything.
I also have a couple other great movies coming out.
That’s another Filmation movie that I just shot.
I got another movie calledMy Dead Dad, which is an independent film, that’s in some festivals.
And I also have a movie calledMack & Ritawhere I got to improv with Diane Keaton which was amazing.
I’ve got more movies coming out in this window of time than I’ve had in a decade.
So it’s kind of all happening at once, and it’s great.
What about your parents, have they seen you inRed Rocketyet?
There’s a lot to unpack there.
But she’s used to my shenanigans over the years, she’ll just laugh and roll her eyes.
[Laughs]At least I’ll get an award.
A version of this story appears inEntertainment Weekly’s December issue,on newsstands now andavailable to order here.
