Simone (2002) - 28 mistakes

Factual error: In the scene of the concert, Simone is a hologram but the microphone is real, as it is set up in the previous scene with Viktor and crew going over details, but one shot shows Simone holding and singing into the microphone, which is impossible for a hologram to pick up.

Visible crew/equipment: When Viktor knocks on the car window and says to the driver "To hell please", a boom mic is perfectly reflected on the front windshield.

Continuity: When Viktor is talking to Simone, sipping his Jack Daniels he sets it down and the label is pointing away from him - the next shot the label is pointing towards him.

Other: The fraudulent article, "Simone: The Lost Years", published in a major magazine called Echo, contains multiple text and layout mistakes. This is best seen by single-stepping through the frames of the DVD. This is not supposed to be a rough test to plan the page layout; this is a final copy of this major magazine, as published, being read by Viktor. There are about 12 mistakes in 4 paragraphs.

Continuity: When Viktor has been arrested for "murdering" Simone, he is in a room with a man who walks between two peg-lines, with magazines and posters featuring Simone on them, pegged up. Between shots the magazines pegged up change, ie. When the man walks along in a closeup saying "This is fake, fake, fake, fake, fake..", he walks past a big poster of Simone standing, posing in a leather suit, and to the viewers right of this poster, a magazine called "Variety" and then next to that a magazine called "Simone" are pegged up. Then when it cuts to a wideshot, these two magazines are totally different ones, as you can tell by the front cover picture / layout / text etc. Other magazines change and move around too.

Continuity: Viktor puts the virus disk, a 5-1/4" floppy disk, into a 5-1/4" floppy disk drive; but when Lainey ejects that same disk, the disk is ejected from a completely different computer, one that doesn't even HAVE a 5-1/4" floppy disk drive. The disk ejects through the millimeter-sized crack between the blank filler plate for a drive bay and the edge of the computer case; it could not possibly have been read in that position, and no motor can exist there to eject it in that way.

Continuity: When we first see Simone on the computer, Viktor has a glass of Jack Daniels, he drinks it, and there is then a small amount left. Then in one shot the glass is empty, then it cuts back and there is a small amount still left.

Revealing: When Simone is performing in concert, the auditorium is supposed to be packed full. But when the camera flies over the audience, in the background you can see empty space because only about 100 extras were recruited for the audience.

Continuity: When Viktor stands in his studio and replays the message Simone was supposed to say at the oscars (in which she thanks him), but didn't, the position of the papers, CD discs and other items scattered all over the floor, differs between shots.

Revealing: When Hank shows Viktor the newspaper article "Taransky's future in doubt", the article to the left of it "Anders Exit Sets Sun", has repeated paragraphs in it, beginning "Working with nearly every one of Hollywood's leading men..."

Continuity: When Viktor is setting up the hotel room to make it look as if Simone has spent the night there, in one shot we see him writing "I Love you Vic" in lipstick on the bathroom mirror. However later, when reporter Max is inspecting the hotel room, the same mirror with the writing is seen; however the characteristics of the writing on the mirror are completely different.

Continuity: When Viktor is setting up the television interview with Simone on the show 'sunrise sunset' the items around him on the table continue to either disappear and reappear, or change position. For example the glass ashtray in front of him and the large black telephone to the left of him continue to vanish then reappear throughout the scene.

Continuity: When Viktor is sitting at the computer system in the studio warehouse, he had poured himself a Jack Daniels and the glass is sitting on the table. It is clearly sitting on the wooden table and there is nothing beside the glass. But when Viktor mentions Hank's death, there is a closeup of the newspaper (obituaries) which is sitting on the table with the glass of Jack Daniels on top of it.

Continuity: When Viktor is in the car with Jane (the Simone lookalike) they begin to talk about some things and then Viktor tells her that she will have to come back to his place with him. Then when Jane confesses that she finds Viktor strangely attractive, in the wideshot the leather jacket that she has with her is off of her shoulders, so that they are both bare. But in the next closeup the leather jacket is back up and on both of her shoulders, covering them up.

Continuity: When Viktor is sitting at the computer system in the studio warehouse, he pours himself out a glass of Jack Daniels and places his eyeglasses down on the table. In the shot when he says "I'm so relaxed around you," he puts his hand down in front of the glasses, flat against the table. In the next shot his hand is behind the glasses and is now clenched into a fist.

Continuity: After Viktor has read out the 'statement' from Simone at the press conference, and then runs off leaving, all of the other journalists that were seated jump up from their chairs and run after him - apart from Max and Milton who are sitting at the back. But in the following closeup of them you can see the shoulder of somebody sitting down in front of them, even though in the previous shot everybody else got up and ran after Viktor.

Continuity: When Viktor and Elaine are talking to each other in the studio warehouse, after all of the other studio executives leave, Viktor hands over a framed photo that has her and Simone in it. In the closeup as we see the picture frame with Elaine's hands holding it either side, both of her hands are empty. But in the next wideshot we see Elaine holding a pair of glasses in her left hand which was previously empty.

Continuity: When Viktor is in his beachouse with Jane (the woman who looks similar to Simone), they are fooling around and kissing. During the scene while Jane askes Viktor to call her Simone as they kiss, Viktor's left hand can be seen on Jane's right shoulder in some shots, but in other shots is is gone, then on her shoulder, then gone, etc.

Continuity: In the beachouse we see Lainey using her laptop in a closeup and she is researching a website that has a bright white layout. However in the next shot as we see her using the laptop from behind, her laptop screen is completely blacked out and dark and there appears to be nothing on the screen at all, even though she still pretends to type. In addition the pile of dinner napkins, knives and forks, on the counter to the left of Lainey changes from being almost beside her, to suddenly being almost on the other end of the counter.

Continuity: When Viktor is pacing back and forth in front of the large computer screen in the warehouse, talking to the studio executives about Simone being agoraphobic, he then comes to a stop and agrees that maybe she would do a television interview. As the shot switches back and forth, Viktor jumps from standing in front of the centre of the screen, to at the side of it and back again instantly.