US actor SIMON REX speaks to Glass Man about how he started out as a reluctant child model, became a TV host and rapper before landing his career-defining role in the film Red Rocket.
It’s a late morning somewhere in California when Simon Rex picks up my call from his car. “I’m actually driving, which makes my interviews better because I’m in a flow state,”says the sun-bronzed 47-year-old actor on his way to the gym. Although his life has taken a 180-degree J-turn since the release of his latest film, Red Rocket, the San Francisco native lets me into the secret that his 25-year career, spanning hosting, rapping and acting was a complete accident. “I think it’s pretty narcissistic to think that somehow the universe is designed for us, but I think sometimes it is just luck,” he begins. “In my case, I think it was really a lot of right place right time.”
Simon Rex. Photographer: Michael Schwartz
The lucky streak began at the age of 10 in the Bay Area when he was approached by a commercial model talent scout who signed him up to audition for various gigs. “I remember going to one or two castings and I looked at my mum saying [to her] ‘I don’t want to do this’,” he recalls. However, he ended up going to Milan, where his modelling career really took off. “I was modelling in New York and there was a male model named Marcus Schenkenberg – at the time he was the biggest male model in the world,” continues Rex as he sets the scene for his next stroke of luck.
“I was at the same agency that he was at, and he was supposed to be interviewed for MTV but he couldn’t do the rehearsal. So, my agent sent me to fill in for him for the rehearsal of a talk show. They loved me and they were, like, ‘Hey Simon, you’re funny, you want to be a VJ?’ And they just gave me a job. So again, I didn’t want it, it just kind of came to me.”
The nonchalance of his words does not reflect the outward appreciation in his tone. What followed was a stint at MTV during the late ‘90s and early noughties where he helped define an era of pop culture. From interviewing Jackie Chan, Tupac and Madonna to becoming a part of the Scary Movie franchise and adopting rapper alter ego Dirt Nasty, it would be difficult to reference this time without mentioning his name.
Simon Rex. Photographer: Michael Schwartz
Simon Rex. Photographer: Michael Schwartz
“I kind of miss those days when we didn’t have technology,” he reflects when I ask what being part of that scene was like. “I would carry Mark Ronson’s records to a nightclub, and he would DJ some cool party with a bunch of beautiful people. It was just this magical time. I look back on the New York mid-’90s MTV era [and] for me it was the most kind of fun, wild time that I had.
But like all of Rex’s anecdotes, the tale is about to get another twist. Struck by his exuberant persona, US film director Gus Van Sant asked him to audition for his 1997 film, Good Will Hunting. “I did really bad in the audition and he said ‘Simon you’re not ready to do this movie, but you should go to acting class’. So, I started studying acting”. It would be safe to say this was good advice.
Fast forward to February 2020 when Rex moved two hours from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree, a dull time where he admits he was beginning to lose hope. “My career was kind of slowly dying. I wasn’t completely done but the phone wasn’t ringing a lot.”
Simon Rex. Photographer: Michael Schwartz
In hindsight, it was the quiet before the storm. One day, he got a phone call from a friend who told him director Sean Baker wanted him to audition for his latest film. “So, [Sean] sends me a paragraph from the opening scene of the movie and I send him the audition on my phone. He calls me right back and says: ‘Ok, you got the job. I need you to be in Texas in three days’.” It was the beginning of lockdown and Rex drove across states learning his lines for the part of protagonist Mikey Saber in the comedy drama Red Rocket.
Transforming on screen into a washed-up porn star who returns to his hometown to start over again, Rex’s performance as an inveterate hustler was one of those thoroughbred acting moments. Mikey’s Peter Pan Syndrome was something he resonated with, he says. “I think you can still be a child at heart, but as long as you’re responsible and you’re an adult, you can be both. I always like to hold on to my boyish ways and I think Mikey’s the same in that he never really grew up,” However, he is keen to point out the differences between them.
Simon Rex. Photographer: Michael Schwartz
Simon Rex. Photographer: Michael Schwartz
“I’m extremely self-aware and think of what I’m saying or doing. I don’t want to offend anybody, and Mikey is the total opposite. Just blasting through, talking over people, not listening, and hurting people. That’s not me.” Taking inspiration from “delusional, narcissistic dreamers who sometimes you’re around and you can’t believe what they’re saying”, the actor understood that this role required a certain tempo. “This guy is going 100 miles an hour … Let’s make him exhausting but also funny and likeable.”
We have spoken about luck, but Rex’s straightforward approach to this part was the apex of his career, resulting in an hour and a half of sheer brilliance. “For years I had imposter syndrome. I felt like I was bullshitting when I said I was an actor,” he tells me earnestly. “But after this movie, I don’t feel that way because I am so proud of how good this film is. For the first time in my life, I think I showed range that I never got to show before. Sean gave me that opportunity when not a lot of filmmakers did.”
A five-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival, a text from Gus Van Sant and an independent Spirit award nomination, there is pressure on what Rex does next but he grins at the thought of continuing to alter this outdated perception of him.
Although Rex is not allowed to discuss what happens next in his game of luck, as he pulls into the carpark, I ask him what the theme of the issue, “renew”, means to him.“The last two years has forced a lot of people to re-evaluate,” he reflects.“The last couple of years have been really seeing who my real friends are, you know? That’s been my renew thing, eliminating the people that are toxic around you.”
by Imogen Clark
Red Rocket is available on demand
Photographer: Michael Schwartz
Stylists: Jeanne Yang & Dolly Pratt
Groomer: Sussy Campos for Art Department using R+CO and Tom Ford Beauty
Photography Assistant: Danya Morrison
Digital tech: Amanda Yanez
Shot at Dust Studios LA
Talent: Simon Rex
All clothing and accessories FENDI SS22 Men’s Collection