Simon Rex Is Still Living His Own Sean Baker Cinderella Story — Even After ‘Anora’

IndieWire Honors: The "Red Rocket" star hosts the event, taking place on December 5 in Los Angeles.

On December 5, the IndieWire Honors Winter 2024 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for crafting some of the year’s best films. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the filmmakers, artisans, and performers behind films well worth toasting. We’re showcasing their work with new interviews leading up to the Los Angeles event.

Sean Baker is famous for his modern fairy tales, from “Tangerine” and “The Florida Project” to his recent Palme d’Or winner, “Anora.” In his latest and greatest film, the writer/director conjures up a vibrant romance between a witty New York stripper (Mikey Madison) and a Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn). The critical darling has since become an awards frontrunner with significant Oscar buzz.

That atypical Cinderella story could earn Baker some long overdue credit with the Academy, but the industry has recognized the power of his movies in other ways for years. Simon Rex said he still feels the “life-changing” impact of his magical experience starring in Baker’s “Red Rocket” from 2021. The actor will host our upcoming IndieWire Honors ceremony on December 5 in Los Angeles.

“It’s been this unbelievably tough time in the industry lately and I’m grateful that I’ve been working a lot,” said Rex, citing several upcoming projects. “I attribute it all to ‘Red Rocket,’ really. With that movie, it felt like everybody in the industry saw me suddenly doing a Sean Baker project and started arriving with direct offers. It’s been really nice.”

Rex said Baker reignited his potential as a Hollywood actor after the multi-hyphenate talent steered too far into music and his rapper persona, Dirt Nasty. Having missed scads of auditions in Los Angeles while opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Europe, the former MTV host felt resigned to his acting career having stalled.

“I would’ve been fine if it ended there,” said Rex. “I would’ve been like, ‘Hey, I did better than 99 percent of people that come to Hollywood.’ But then, after ‘Red Rocket,’ people for the first time in my life saw me in a different light and they respected me. I’ve never had that before. It was always, ‘Oh, he’s funny and can slip on a banana peel — but is he a real actor?’”

In “Red Rocket,” Rex plays Mikey Saber: a retired porn actor who returns to his Texas hometown with an inescapable tendency toward havoc. Mike has a charm that’s lovable and likely rooted in Rex’s jack-of-all-trades background. As an actor, he rose to fame on a steady stream of sitcoms and “Scary Movie” sequels. And 15 years ago, he even sat driver’s side in the viral music video for Kesha’s “TiK ToK.”

“America loves a comeback,” Rex said. “We love to see people blow up, disappear, and come back — almost like it’s the hero’s journey or something.”

When casting “Red Rocket,” Baker was unconventional in every sense. The filmmaker had Rex (then living full-time in the remote desert of Joshua Tree) self-tape out of the blue, he said, and then asked the actor not to tell his management when shooting started. The fairy godfather act gave Rex not just an opportunity to prove himself in a drama, but the confidence to return to the craft. That moment might not have come had Rex’s other acting work been steadier — or his impulse to self-promote stronger.

“The whole thing was a happy accident, one of those rare, unicorn, once-in-a-lifetime things just happens,” said Rex. “If I had not disappeared and not worked for so long, Sean never would’ve hired me. There were a lot of big actors that wanted to be in ‘Red Rocket,’ but Sean likes out-of-the-box casting. So it worked out for me, just not by design.”

Noting that Baker’s primary goal was always to win the Palme d’Or (which, again, he now has), Rex is still rooting for the director to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Rex and “Anora” star Mikey Madison only met briefly during the film’s premiere in Los Angeles, he said, but he’s following the press campaign closely. Rex won Best Male Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards in 2022 and recalled Baker telling him then that the Academy wasn’t likely to acknowledge “Red Rocket” because it included male nudity.

“He said, ‘The festivals and the Indie Spirits are going to love ‘Red Rocket’ and then the Academy Awards are going to run the other way,’” Rex said. “And they did. Now, I think they’ll embrace ‘Anora’ more than ‘Red Rocket,’ but it’ll be interesting to see. I’m just hoping Sean gets some nominations and some wins because the movie deserves it.”

Rex continued, “I’ve already seen it three times. It’s my favorite movie of the year. Maybe I’m being biased, but it’s just so good and every time — every time he makes a movie — Sean keeps getting better. And now, people are talking about him not just in Hollywood but everywhere. It feels like it’s just his time.”

This summer, Rex appeared in theaters for Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut “Blink Twice.” He has a slate of upcoming film and TV projects scheduled for 2025, including gigs that see him co-starring with Bryan Cranston, Allison Janney, Kate Mara, Vince Vaughn, Al Pacino, and more. Looking ahead to the upcoming awards season, Rex spoke highly of “The Substance” and “Emilia Pérez.” At IndieWire Honors, Rex will help celebrate the latter by presenting the Spotlight Award to actress and musician Selena Gomez.

“There are only so many seats at the Hollywood table that you could sit at,” said Rex. “I’m just happy to have mine back.” Only next week, of course, he’ll be standing at a podium.