For many reasons, Rex was the only man in Hollywood who could have played the part, so it’s appropriate that Red Rocket has given him a reset button too. It was the story of an aging porn star in search of a fresh start. The man on the other end, director Sean Baker, was offering him a starring role in a movie called Red Rocket. Every single night, you’re in a different Salvador Dalí painting. When I’m up here, I immediately - whoosh. “Any time I go to L.A., I start feeling my shoulders tense up. He’s dressed in the local style in a weathered white T-shirt and fancy Crocs. “Like, this is my commute,” he says on the drive up, gesturing to the prehistoric landscape. He had only two goals each day: Stay warm and eat. He was suddenly roughing it in the high desert with no heat and no AC. The two of them did tactical training like a real-life Call of Duty. On the advice of a buddy, he buried 30 days’ worth of food and bought a gun. Did he really want to be that washed-up middle-aged guy, forever convinced that this pilot season would be his big comeback? Instead, he would move to the middle of nowhere and see what came next. Of taking whatever gig came up, even if he hated it, then hating himself for hating it because how many people would kill to be in his place? He had hit a rough patch, but he’d had a good run, reinvented himself several times over. Of sitting around hung-over, doing the math on how long he could get by until the next paycheck. Of calling his agent, wondering if there was anything out there. It wasn’t just the pandemic that sent Rex into the desert. He had planned to rent the place out as an Airbnb but has since decided against it: “I didn’t want strangers having sex in my bed.” The vibes got bad in Los Angeles, so Rex sold most of his belongings and moved in full time. It was supposed to be just a weekend getaway, but, well, you know what happened. I just feel things too much.” He bought the property in February 2020. “I’m not trying to be a recluse,” he says. Having lived in cities his entire life, he felt exhausted by humanity. Rex lives off the grid in Joshua Tree now, in a studio made from two shipping containers on a five-acre slice of the Mojave Desert. “ That’s a good pie.” Not to get all “Tears of a Clown” on you, but he has tasted a lot of pies. ![]() “When you get a pie in the face, enjoy it. Looking back on this period, he thinks of a lesson a meditation instructor once taught him. ![]() As you might guess, this was not the world’s most sustainable career path. He partied with Paris Hilton when she was the most famous person in America and Charlie Sheen when he was. Here, you will find the man who made “My Dick.”įor two decades, Simon Rex had been on a Gump-like tour of the least prestigious jobs in Hollywood: male model, MTV VJ, sitcom actor, Scary Movie doofus, white rapper, and Vine star. Past the point where the pavement stops and the road turns to sand. Past the hippie chicken farms, the ammo shops, the CBD emporiums. Past the looming peaks of the San Bernardinos and the windmills that shine like sci-fi sentinels. Past the rock gardens and the suntanned retirees.
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