Simon Rex Male Porn Star Movie ‘Red Rocket’ Premieres in Cannes to Ecstatic Standing Ovation and Awards Buzz

Ramin Setoodeh
·3 min read
16

Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday afternoon to another standing ovation, as one of the stronger U.S. films to debut in the South of France.

The drama, which will be distributed in the United States by A24, received five minutes of sustained applause inside the Palais.

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“It’s amazing to be here at the Cannes Film Festival, especially this year, in which we’re seeing cinema come back,” Baker said in brief remarks to the crowd. “It feels so great to be back in a movie theater.”

“Red Rocket” follows a washed-up male porn star, Mikey Saber (played by Simon Rex), who moves back home to Texas City, Texas, crashing on his mother-in-law’s couch and trying to patch things up with his estranged wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) during the summer before the 2016 presidential election. As Mikey looks to make a comeback, he starts to court Strawberry (Suzanna Son), a 17-year-old teenager who works at a local donut shop.

So far, the reviews for “Red Rocket” have called it one of the best films at Cannes.

Baker’s last movie, 2018’s “The Florida Project,” nabbed a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for Willem Dafoe and earned a spot on many critics’ top 10 lists, and “Tangerine” was a darling out of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

With the right release strategy from A24, “Red Rocket” seems like it could be Baker’s most mainstream movie yet, with its setting in Trump’s America and winks at ’00s culture (the film opens with the *NSYNC hit “Bye Bye Bye”).

The Indie Spirits Awards should already reserve a table for Baker and his cast, including newcomer Son — who received the loudest applause in Cannes.

Even this far out before the 2022 Oscars, the movie looks like it could be a contender in the best original screenplay category, as Baker is overdue for his first Oscar nomination (he co-wrote the script with Chris Bergoch). Baker also edited “Red Rocket,” in addition to directing the film.

It would be hard to imagine A24 not launching a best actor campaign for Rex, who delivers a real, charismatic, gritty performance — which includes a scene where he runs, a la Forrest Gump, through the street, only he’s completely nude. Before gaining notoriety as an MTV VJ and actor (“Scary Movie”), Rex appeared in a solo male pornographic film, giving a meta-layer quality to his work in “Red Rocket.”

As the crowd in France clapped for Rex, he smiled and nervously played with his bowtie. He should get used to the spotlight. This is going to be a big year for him.

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