Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Andy Niccols made a pretty cool film his first time out as writer/director with the muted, well-played GATTACA, a smart SF fable. He's also made a splash as a screenwriter with THE TRUMAN SHOW and big sales like RIVER ROAD. So far, he seems to carving a niche for himself as a storyteller, much the way M. Night Shyamalan is doing. We broke our first story about this film back in August of last year. At that point, Niccols was playing coy when discussing the film, leading to a lot of fun speculation about what he was up to. Now here we are, it's May, and the big secret is out. Who the hell is SIMONE, and what's this movie about? Hats off to the first online outlet to get a picture of Simone and Pacino together. For now, here's TINO with the word...
Harry,
I've always wanted a chance to submit scoop and finally I have something. I went to a screening tonight in my town. They didn't say what it was for when they handed out tickets but I went and saw the Al Pacino movie "Simone."
They told us that the special effects were still in unfinished form, but in case you don't know the main affect in the film is the title character Simone, a computerized actress who becomes a big star. You could tell she was sort of rough in parts but she's a babe. They also screened the movie on digital video, but it didn't seem like the best quality. It still looks like video and I hope that the new Star Wars doesn't look like that even though they claim that digital video will be better than film.
I don't always like Al Pacino who's the main character in the movie but in "Simone" he's surprisingly good. He plays a director who makes Simone a big star but won't admit that she's fake. He's really good and very funny. I was laughing out loud at parts but at scenes or dialogue that was truly funny (not like "Devils Advocate" which I don't think was meant to be funny).
The story is basically this: Pacino (as Victor) can't finish his latest film because a diva actress played by Winona Ryder walks off the set. A computer genius gives Victor a program which allows him to make the perfect artificial human. Victor finishes his film with Simone (the program is called Simulation One - Sim one for short. Get it?) and instantly people fall in love with her. Victor's ex-wife, Catherine Kener from "Being John Malkovich", is the head of the studio and even she isn't in on the secret. Two reporters (one is the kid from Rushmore) act like there are close to revealing Victor's secret, but really they are in love with Simone as much as everyone else.
After her second movie, Victor makes Simone an even bigger star (and openly takes credit for her success) but it goes out of control. And to give away a major spoiler, Victor "kills" her and gets arrested for doing it. Everyone including the police don't believe him when he says that she never existed.
The movie's a little weird but funny and smart too. It makes fun of Hollywood and movie people and it makes a good point about how far technology can go. Pacino is the best part about it because I've never seen him like this. Simone is HOT too even if she's not real (I guess that's the point). She's got the blonde, perfect 10 thing going and kind of looks like a mix of Claudia Schiffer + Faith Hill + Michelle Pfiffer (just not as old). There's a concert scene where they really show her stuff in a sweet little outfit. I've seen the preview for the "Final Fantasy movie and I'd say that Simone looks about as beleivable but MUCH HOTTER.
They say the movie will probably come out in October, so we'll have to wait a bit.
Hope this is worth posting since I haven't heard much else about this movie.
Tino
