X , the latest slasher from writer-director Ti West, is the next A24 entry ready for its close-up when it arrives in theaters on March 18. After its successful World Premiere at SXSW this year, a prequel has already been announced that is certain to only deepen the mystery of the film. In recent years, A24 has helped popularize a genre that has come to be known as “elevated horror,” pairing the gory spectacle and jump scares that scary movie fans love with rich themes that would please the ancient philosophers.
While X may not seem like it fits the bill at first, following a group of filmmakers and actors aspiring to arthouse porn, it has plenty of questions to ask about the nature of youth and the importance of cinema. The story starts when Maxine Minx (Mia Goth, Emma) and Bobby-Lynne Parker (Brittany Snow, Someone Great) venture to a secluded farmhouse with their crew to make an adult film. While there, they meet the elderly host and his eerie wife Pearl (also played by Goth), whose interest in the visitors threatens to get gruesome.
Goth and Snow spoke to Screen Rant about the art of the film-within-a-film and the discussions they had with the director about their characters’ aspirations and motivations.
I really loved the making of the independent film within X. Brittany, could you talk about the meta of making a movie about making a movie?
Brittany Snow: Yeah, I think that’s probably some of my favorite scenes to film. The whole experience was great, because I was working with fantastic people and incredibly talented performers, but I think the meta making of the film was really funny.
Ti and I talked a lot about making sure that these people really want to be successful entrepreneurial performers. They’re not making a bad movie, and it shouldn’t be viewed as such. Riding that very fine line of taking it seriously, but it also being funny – because we do take it seriously, but it shouldn’t be over the top – was a really funny thing to play with.
It’s just one of my favorite things to see, because it was done in such an accurate way, in terms of the Super 8 and the 70s film reels.
Mia, I’m sure it was difficult for you play a dual role. What discussions did you have with Ti about Maxine and Pearl, outside of prosthetics?
Mia Goth: We spoke for hours about this. Something that was really enjoyable was the prep that I had with Ti and getting to know him. It really became a collaboration; we were talking daily for a good couple of months before I ever met him in New Zealand, where we ended up shooting the film.
We spoke at length about the fact that they’re very much the same woman. They carry the same essence, they’re just at different life stages and the product of different circumstances and life choices ultimately – but their spirit is the same. When they come across each other for the first time, it’s quite for Maxine, but it sparks something in Pearl.
Ti was also very giving with Pearl and Maxine, and what I wanted to do with them. He really trusted me immensely with that, so I did my own prep and brought it to him. And he essentially said that whatever feels good for me will work for him, so that was a lot of fun.
Bobby-Lynne could easily come across as a queen bee, but there is a real sweetness to her character and like you said, she takes her job seriously. How do you view her connection to the rest of the crew?
Brittany Snow: I always viewed Bobby-Lynne as someone who had entrepreneurial views about life. Because she does, she views everybody who’s making the film as a part of her plan, and she values and respects them.
I think that it would be easy to make her one-dimensional, either stupid or mean or something like that. But we used Dolly Parton as a really good reference, in terms of someone who is very much in control of the lens in which people see them and also is using it to their advantage. I think it was really fun to get to play with those levels.
And I kind of always viewed Maxine as almost like a sister in this, because I respected her. It was nice.
Speaking of Maxine, even though we don’t get to see anyone’s backstory, hers is maybe the most mysterious throughout the film. Why does she think this is the right avenue for her to utilize her X-factor?
Mia Goth: I see Maxine as someone who’s incredibly ambitious and very keen to get out of the situation that she’s in and make more for herself than what life has handed her.
She’s been trying; she’s explored a ton of different options, and she and Martin have gone to tons of different ventures. Nothing’s quite worked, but there’s perseverance there and just a knowingness that she deserves more and that she’s willing to work for it. Really, nothing’s going to get in her way.
I guess that veil of mystery is really not mystery; it’s actually that just she’s just so focused and keyed-in on what this opportunity could mean for her. That’s why at times, she seems to not really be a part of the group or is kind of just in her own head – because the weight of the opportunity isn’t lost on her.
Key Release Dates
X (2022)
Release Date:2022-03-18
