THE RISING STAR AND RECENT L.A. TRANSPLANT IS STEERING HIS CAREER IN A NEW DIRECTION WITH ROLES THAT EXPLORE THE DARKER SIDE OF YOUTH
“I started off saying that I wanted my grandmother to be able to see everything I was in,” says Johnny Simmons. That was fine when the 22-year-old Alabama-born actor was playing safe, sweet roles in films like Evan Almighty and Hotel for Dogs. But lately Simmons has been displaying his range, showing a fondness for characters caught up in certain harrowing life situations.
The shift began with Frank Miller’s recent neo-noir adaptation of Will Eisner’s classic comic series The Spirit, in which Simmons, as the younger version of Gabriel Macht’s title character, plays a star-crossed lover in a postapoca-lyptic underworld. But he fully embraced the darker side of teenage identity as a reckless, pill-popper opposite Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon in the upcoming
family drama The Greatest—his toughest role to date, he says. “I’m not a dark person, so I had to compare the character with someone I’ve known to get into that mind-set,” he says. “I wanted to get as close as possible to the destructiveness of his addiction.”
Simmons recently began shooting the action comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, also adapted from a popular comic book series, in which he plays Michael Cera’s evil nemesis, a role he landed after befriending director Edgar Wright on Facebook. It turned out Wright already had Simmons on his radar, and after a quick chat over coffee, Simmons landed the role. “This is the one I’ve wanted for a really long time,” he says. “It’s totally different from anything I’ve ever done, which is exciting and pretty scary at the same time.”
Equally exciting and just as terrifying is the much-antic-ipated fall release of Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody’s Jennifer’s Body, in which Simmons stars as the well-meaning and totally unsuspecting boyfriend of a killer cheerleader played by Megan Fox. Filled with murder,
cannibalism, and lots of projectile vomit, it’s definitely no one for the grandparents, but it guarantees that Simmon will soon gain a bigger share of the spotlight.
While filming, he made friends with L.A. indi band Test Your Reflex, who contributed a song to th soundtrack, and now he lives with three of the band’ members in the Hollywood Hills. Simmons’s career ha taken him far away from his Southern roots, but his passio for dark characters is thriving in the California sunshin
CHRISTOPHER BARTLEY
JoHnn Y SIMMonS In LoS AnGELES, DECEMBER 2008
PHOTOGRAPHY BENJAMIN ALEXANDER HUSEBY
ST YLING JESSICA DE RUITER
CARDIGAn BURBERRY PRORSUM T-SHIRT CALVIN KLEIN
JENNIFER’S BODY IS ou T THIS SEPTEMBER FRoM
TWEn TIETH CEn TuRY Fox
GRooMInG LInA HAnSon uSInG AVEDA (MAGnE T) PHo To ASSISTAn TS BEn FRAnKEn AnD KRIS TInA WEInHoLD RE TouCHInG PRo VISIon SPECIAL THAnKS AnD PRoDuCTIon
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