JOHNNY SIMMONS

“Scott Pilgrim, for me, was more of a learning experience than any other film I’ve done,” says Johnny Simmons of his experience playing Young Neil in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. “There’s a lot of comedic elements and I was working with Jason Schwartzman, Michael Cera and Edgar Wright – all these big influences in comedy – so I was trying to understand how ‘funny’ works. It was great to sit and learn for a while.” 
    ‘Funny’, in a sense, is the way Simmons discovered he landed the part in the film, as he was notified via Facebook. “Six months went by and all of a sudden I got a message on Facebook from Edgar saying, ‘I’d love to meet for a coffee. By the way, I’d love to offer you the role’. I called my manager and said, ‘Is this for real?’ and it wasn’t some poser or faker and I got the movie.” Another upcoming project includes playing historic character John Surratt in Robert Redford’s Lincoln assassination drama The Conspirator – and similar to his notification to winning the role in Scott Pilgrim, Simmons thought he could have been victim of a prank. “This is the first film I didn’t audition for. I was completely shocked when I got the call. Working with a legend like Robert Redford was like... I need to find a new word for incredible.”

[Originally published in Wonderland Magazine Issue 22, April 2010. Photography Kenneth Cappello]