A Star Is Digitized

First off, I have to hand it to writer-director Andrew Niccol. It's not easy to come up with a new spin on Hollywood satire, 'cause it's all been done, supposedly. But "S1M0NE" is worthy of a look esp. for those who get a perverse kick out of this business that generates our cherished illusions. It was a weird deja-vu for me, since I recognized the Warner Bros. lot in the movie -- I recently worked next door to Stage 25, where the ultra-reclusive starlet Simone (Rachel Roberts) "virtually acted" for director Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino). As a matter of fact Rachel's footage was shot long before the rest of the cast was even chosen; as in the movie, none of them actually performed alongside "the real Simone".

While S1M0NE works dandy just for laughs -- these days I'm delighted when a comedy succeeds at that -- it also does a fine job skewering the cult of celebrity and the Hollywood machine that cranks out our celluloid idols. Catherine Keener is spot-on as Elaine, Viktor's producer and ex-wife, whose pragmatism conflicts with Viktor's artistic ideals. He got into the Biz hoping "to shine a ray of truth into the darkness". Any studio exec hearing that kind of talk nowadays would peg him as the "non-commercially viable" type, i.e., loser.

Ironically, when Viktor's current film project is jeopardized by a temperamental star's last-minute walkout (Winona Ryder), he resorts to digitally replacing her with a startlingly lifelike computer simulation bequeathed to him by Hank (Elias Koteas), an ardent fan with one memorably kooky scene. Viktor figures movies are all about illusion and fakery anyway, so why not? At least this way, the star once again serves the director, not the other way around. Even more, Viktor can tweak Simone's looks and performance, drawing upon a database of past film stars.

This possibility is actually not far off, given the current rate of progress in computing power. Still, this digital puppet requires a true artist to bring her to life, and Viktor succeeds beyond his wildest dreams. This is the classic "Be careful what you wish for" scenario.

Simone becomes a new megastar, Viktor's career is back on the fast track, and now he feels compelled to maintain the illusion of Simone's existence -- the film's best gags are his elaborate stunts to both satisfy the media's ravenous hunger to meet Simone and yet "protect her privacy" -- which eventually consumes his life and fatigues him as much as catering to the whims of any spoiled real actress.

Elaine worries about Viktor -- though she's a fan of Simone, she fears that Simone is using Viktor and will ultimately destroy him, as stars so often do to their "creators". Indeed, the strain begins to show -- eventually Viktor realizes that he's become a slave to his creation, and he has to pull the plug somehow and get his life back.

Obviously there are a few highly implausible bits that smart viewers will have to overlook, but since this is an entertaining satire, it's easy to be charitable. My primary requirement of a film is that it must keep me interested in seeing how it turns out. And if it's a comedy, it should make me laugh. "S1M0NE" did both, and as a bonus I even got something to think about later.

Viktor says, "Our ability to manufacture fraud has exceeded our ability to detect it." Could we see the day when entire movies are cast with CGI actors that are indistinguishable from real ones? We're halfway there already in terms of spectacle. New graphics programs can now merge photo-realistic faces onto digital bodies seamlessly. The actors unions may slow down the "progress" but in the long run, real thespians may have to co-exist with digital ones, much the way musicians still play classical instruments while others do it all with synthesizers. Whatever happens, we better have real artists at the helm, because it's "Garbage In, Garbage Out," regardless of whether it's live or digital.