The Machine sends us to August 23, 2002 to cover Hollywood-satire-science-fiction-dramedy S1M0NE starring Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Rachel Roberts, and Evan Rachel Wood.

Fledgling art film director Viktor Taransky (played by Al Pacino) gets into a fight with entitled movie star Nicola Anders (played by Winona Ryder) that leads her to walk off the set of his latest film. The movie studio, run by his ex-wife Elaine (played by Catherine Keener), opts to pull the plug on his film rather than recast the role, and his Hollywood career looks like it’s over. Until a dying tech whiz gives Taransky a hard drive containing the prototype for an entirely virtual actress (played by Rachel Roberts) who is endlessly deferential and accommodating to the director’s vision. Taransky dubs the CGI actress Simone and uses her to complete his film while keeping her virtual identity a secret. The finished film is a hit and Simone becomes an overnight global superstar. As Taransky and Simone’s Hollywood fortunes rise, he struggles to manage her newfound fame while going to greater and greater lengths to keep Simone’s adoring fans from finding out that Simone doesn’t even exist.

Written and directed by Andrew Niccol

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Movie Memory Machine is part of the Grunt Work Podcasts network. For more information on today’s episode, visit moviememorymachine.com.

Theme song by Porky’s Groove Machine.

Special thanks to Nate DuFort.

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