You could go down the microcontroller route, but it's not much difference complexity wise. You still need a 5V regulator, a couple of decoupling capacitors, the MCU and a MOSFET.
R1 needs a diode across it. When the power is removed, the power on pins 6 & 7 will exceed the power supply voltage, which isn't good for the 555 timer.
Have you tested the MOSFET in isolation?
Have you tried building the first circuit posted in this thread? It should work, whatever the simulator says and is the most reliable, since it doesn't rely on the power supply voltage being applied quickly to trigger it. I have had a quick play with Proteus simulation and the 555 timer and I also couldn't get it to work. The output voltage just went up to 1V. It must be a problem with the model, since it works in real life and LTSpice.