Horror fans are in for a treat this weekend with the release of the second part of Ti West’s slasher trilogy, titled Pearl. The prequel centers around the villain of the same name introduced in X, played by Mia Goth. However, the unique thing about that masterful slasher was the fact that Goth played two different characters: Pearl, who was a fragile old woman doubling as a psycho killer, and Maxine, who was an aspiring actress looking to be a star. Even though X released all the way back in March, the horror community can’t stop buzzing about Goth’s dual performance, especially with the actress returning for her murderous role in Pearl. Now, thanks to an exclusive interview with Slashfilm, West talked about why these two characters, separated by decades, look so similar.
Pearl and Maxine in the film are mirror images of one another, both being wannabe actors at one time in their lives. When Slashfilm suggested that you could swap the characters out for one another and the story would be the same, West responded saying:
“I think it's a little bit of both. I don't know if it's more the former, but to speak to the former is to say, Mia and I, when we were making X, part of the reason why I wanted her to play both roles was we always thought of it as, ‘They're two different characters, but kind of the same person.’That was always interesting to me in making X ,prior to even knowing we were going to make 'Pearl.' I thought that it conceptually was really appealing."
Maxine and Pearl weren’t related by blood, but they were connected by their dreams. If the two were the same age and tried to become actors at the same time, they might have even been friends, or enemies depending on how you look at it. It’s just at this particular moment that Pearl's dream has become a nightmare and those desires had corrupted her decades ago. When Maxine has her final standoff with Pearl, she’s staring at her potential future if she’s not careful or insane enough. Maxine is at a fork in the road with the character’s naivety convincing her there’s no way she could end up like this monster.
However, cycles of violence and blood-soaked histories have a strange way of repeating themselves. It remains to be seen if Maxine will be a “successful star” or spiral down a similar maddening path, but that really doesn’t matter. What matters is that just that singular thought of failure Pearl’s putting in Maxine’s head is forever corrupting, spawning a thousand other painful thoughts. Doubts that could lead Maxine down a path full of bloodlust. The two's connection is a warning, whether Pearl likes it or not. Her burnt out star is a warning that a thirst for fame only leads to painful disappointment.
However, there was another reason why West made the two characters look alike, and it's technical. "X was very craft-driven for me, and I wanted to put the craft that people that make movies on display, special effects makeup being one of them, and performance being one of them...Just conceptually, that idea seemed to fit the movie, and I didn't know if we'd be able to do it until I met Mia. All that just seemed like an interesting challenge." Having Pearl and Maxine on screen together is a technical marvel and seamless. It’s so good that, if you didn’t know going into it they were both played by Goth, you would have no clue. When a director actively challenge themselves, that’s when a genre like horror is at its best. West and his crew’s brilliantly creative work in X is what makes the prospect of Pearl so exciting.
X was a cautionary tale about aging, not taking for granted what you have, and in classic John Carpenter fashion, the dangers of sexual repression. However, beyond that it’s about the moment when your dream becomes a deadly nightmare. We all have life experiences that connect us with our family and friends, but this slasher asked the intimately disturbing question, how would you react if you saw yourself in the eyes of your enemy? The horror of mirrors. That’s masterfully driven home by Goth’s performance and the characters' eerie similarities. Maxine may have killed Pearl, but what this slasher villain told her will stick with her forever. That lingering idea is something that will most likely be explored in MaXXXine.
You can read more about the characters' duality in the full Slashfilm article. Pearl is now in theaters, and you can watch a new exclusive clip for the prequel from Fandango down below.