Simon Rex plays a washed-up porn star in Sean Baker's new feature Red Rocket

The trailer for the A24 film features a thrilling use of *NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye"

By Gabrielle Sanchez  |  October 5, 2021 | 6:55pm
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Simon Rex plays a washed-up porn star in Sean Baker's new feature Red Rocket
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Simon Rex in Red Rocket Screenshot: A24/Youtube

From the studio behind Uncut Gems, Good Time, and Zola, comes another heart-pounding tale about nothing going as it should. A24's next production from critically acclaimed writer/director Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine), follows a washed up middle-aged porn star in the run-down town of Texas City, Texas. Despite some critic’s claims, Texas City is a real town outside the coastal city of Galveston.

Baker’s built a reputation crafting stories representing those typically cast to the fringes of society, and Red Rocket is no different. Simon Rex stars in Red Rocket as Mikey, who returns to Texas City after spending the last 17 years recording adult films in Los Angeles.

As he tries to get back on his feet and start another job, he has a lot of explaining to do when it comes to the gap on his resume. Then there’s his volatile ex-wife who wants nothing to do with him, and a 17-year-old named Strawberry who’s caught his affections. Despite all of this, he’s got a hell of a lot of belief in himself, even if his neighbors consider him a “persona non grata.”

From the trailer alone it looks like Baker quintessentially captured the look and feel of East Texas, from the looming oil refineries, to the faded signs on the donut shop, to the silty, gray water on the beaches.

In addition to Rex, Red Rocket co-stars Bree Elrod and Suzanna Son. Rex’s face may seem vaguely familiar from his career as an MTV VJ, film and television actor (most notably the Scary Movie franchise), or even as a pornographic actor, like his character Mikey. As usual in Baker’s canon, everyone else in the film are newcomers with very little acting experience.

Red Rocket hits theaters on December 3.

 
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