Mia Goth, Brittany Snow, and Jenna Ortega have all had a good deal of experience working on genre films, but each faced their own unique challenges tackling Ti West’s latest, X.

Their characters are all part of a group of young filmmakers who head off to a remote farm in rural Texas in 1979 to shoot an adult film. Snow’s Bobby-Lynne is the seasoned pro brimming with confidence. Goth plays Maxine, an up-and-comer with big dreams. And then there’s Ortega’s Lorraine who reluctantly tags along because her boyfriend, RJ (Owen Campbell), is eager to put his film studies to use by directing the movie. Soon after arriving on location, the group’s elderly hosts discover what they’re really up to on their property, forcing their guests to fight for their lives.

Owen Campbell, Brittany Snow, Mia goth, Scott Mescudi, and Jenna Ortega in X
Image via A24

With X now playing in theaters nationwide, I got the chance to chat with Goth, Snow, and Ortega about their experience making the film. In Goth’s case, X marks a major first. Even though she’s been making a huge impression on screen for years now in films like A Cure for Wellness, Suspiria, and more, Maxine is actually her very first lead role. Goth revisited what it was like to book the part:

“I was really excited to find out that I had booked this role, but that excitement doesn’t last very long and that’s quickly replaced by just a lot of anticipation and anxiety to hope that I’m able to do Ti and the film and the rest of my cast justice because it was a lot to take on with Maxine … and playing a girl from the south. It’s just very far away from who I am. But yeah, I definitely welcomed the challenge and it was something that I wanted to do and so I was very excited to be a part of it.”

Mia Goth in X
Image via A24

RELATED: Ti West Explains Why His New Movie 'X' Is More Charming Than You Might Expect

As for Snow, it’s been ten years since her last horror movie, What Would Rather. (Which I highly recommend!) What is it that finally lured her back to the genre? Snow explained:

“I love doing horror movies because I think that there’s an intricacy there of making something suspenseful, but layered. And you are just having a blast because it’s escapism to its finest, right? It’s so over the top in terms of what you get to do. And as a human being, you get to tap into places that you’re hopefully never going to go through, and so it really expands your imagination in a new way. I love it and I missed it.”

Brittany Snow in X
Image via A24

In Ortega’s case, X marks her third horror film in two years. In 2020 we got the Babysitter sequel, The Babysitter: Killer Queen and then earlier this year, Ortega was a major standout in the fifth Scream movie. In fact, she actually booked X while working on Scream. She recalled:

“I booked X while I was on Scream. I got the call from Ti while I was with Matt [Bettinelli-Olpin] and Tyler [Gillett], so they all shared hellos and also kind of caught up because they used to work together in the past, which was kind of funny.”

The benefit of moving right from Scream to X? Ortega explained:

“I don’t know if there was anything I learned in particular because the characters are so different, but I think just having very freshly ran for my life and screamed at the top of my lungs and done whatever, it felt like second nature. It wasn’t something that I was worried about coming on and it felt very familiar. I didn’t feel too out of place.”

Jenna Ortega in X
Image via X

Looking for more from Goth, Snow, and Ortega? Be sure to catch our full chat in the video at the top of this article and keep an eye out for Snow’s episode of Collider Ladies Night dropping tomorrow!