After a temperamental A-list actress (Winona Ryder, in
a delicious cameo role) walks off of his latest project, less - than - successful director Viktor Taransky (Pacino) replaces her with a digitally - created starlet, Simone (played by, as the credits jokingly state, «herself» — though she's largely embodied by model Rachel Roberts).
Writing in The Telegraph, the 70 - year - old actress said: «Our director is trying to lock down the casting of
cameo roles between takes and sometimes I have to sit with her in a nice chair, eating a
delicious Brie baguette, and throwing out names like «Benedict Cumberbatch».