[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for X.]There’s lots to love about Ti West’s new movie X, but one of the best of the best is his choice to have Mia Goth play both Maxine and Pearl.
Maxine is part of a group of filmmakers who head out to an isolated farm in rural Texas to make an adult movie. That farm belongs to Pearl and her husband Howard (Stephen Ure). When they find out what their guests are really up to on their property, they’re not happy about it and things get violent. Pearl’s youth has come and gone, and she never got the opportunity to live the life of her dreams. Driven by regret and jealousy, Pearl and Howard pick off the filmmakers one by one.
X functions as a highly effective slasher movie, but the experience burrows its way into your brain to such an extreme extent courtesy of its thematic heft, something that is significantly bolstered by having Goth play both roles. Was that always the plan or did West ever consider having Goth play Maxine and not Pearl? Here’s what West told me during our recent interview:
“I always wanted those characters to be played by the same actor. One, because of the craft of the special effects makeup and, two, because I think people kind of want to be where they’re not, you know? It’s like, 'When I get there it’s gonna be better,’ and then when you get there you realize, ‘Oh, if I could just go back it would be better.’ This is a common thing in life in general, and I felt like there’s a duality to those characters. I think that they’re different people, but they’re kind of the same character, just different places. And so that always felt to me to be an interesting challenge for an actor, challenge for special effects makeup and then just thematically and [for] the cinema craft thing I keep going on about, it just all seemed to be a sensible way to do it. Well, actually, not a sensible way. An absurd way to do it. But if pulled off, a memorable cool thing to do, and that was the drive for most of it.”
If you’ve seen films like Suspiria, Emma., and A Cure for Wellness, you went into X already know that Goth is a next-level talent, so it should come as no surprise to hear that Goth was prepared to go big and give Maxine and Pearl everything she’s got -- and then some. Here’s how West described Goth’s approach to playing Maxine:
“Once you’re rolling, she has a very wild energy that you never quite know what you’re gonna get, which I think works especially well for Maxine because all these characters in the movie have their own goals [for] what they’re trying to get out of this experience, but none of them are taking it as seriously as Maxine is. Mia I think relates to that and has an element of that, of just sort like, ‘I’m going 110%.’ If you ever did a fight scene with Mia, you’d be like, ‘We’ve gotta be careful,’ because it is what it is. [Laughs]”
Pearl was a different kind of challenge for Goth. Here’s how West broke it down:
“And then when she was Pearl, it’s not so far as to say it was like, ‘Oh my god, we forgot it was her,’ but it kind of was because eight hours of makeup every day does turn you into a different person. Not just visually, but that’s a long time to sit in the chair. She had to be up at three in the morning every day for six to eight hours before we even started the 10 to 12-hour day. That’s a lot. And it’s heavy and it’s just a lot to take on, so it was a little bit like treating, not an old person, but a somewhat invalid person in a way because we were always helping her around. She had contacts, she didn’t really see. So it was just an odd experience. She wasn’t so method that you would never talk to Mia through the makeup, but you just stopped talking to Mia through the makeup because it was so convincing.”
Before ending the chat I had to ask West for his take on one of the big, burning questions the film poses; would Pearl have ended up in the same position even if she got everything she wanted in her youth? He kept it cryptic and said:
“That’s a relatively existential question, so it’s hard to necessarily say for sure. I think that in many ways that question is more interesting than the answer, and I’m not trying to dodge what you’re saying. I’m just saying, let’s say she did become whoever she wants to be and let’s say Maxine does become whoever she wants to be, will they really be happy? I don’t know. I guess only time will tell.”
Looking for more on X? You can catch my full interview with West at the top of this article! Also, be sure to check out Brittany Snow’s episode of Collider Ladies Night using the link below.