Director Ti West teases that the horror prequel Pearl will be nothing like its predecessor X, which saw Mia Goth star in a dual role as the film’s lead. A24’s X released in theatres earlier this month and followed a group of actors who, while staying in an elderly couple’s farmhouse deep in rural Texas, set out to make their own adult film that they each hope will project them into stardom. The film sees Brittany Snow, Kid Cudi, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, and Owen Campbell star alongside Goth, who takes on the role of the young wannabe superstar Maxine Minx, as well as Pearl, one of the elderly owners of the house.
While premiering X at SXSW Festival, West revealed that a prequel to the hotly anticipated horror had also been shot while the crew was filming in New Zealand. Many were therefore delighted when X‘s credits offered a short tease for Pearl, which looks set to delve into the origins of Goth’s complex and eerie character. While X is set in 1979, Pearl will take audiences back to 1918, during the events of World War I, and will see Goth return as the titular character. Few other details are known about the upcoming project at this time, with many eagerly awaiting news of a release date.
Now, West has shed a little light on what audiences can expect from Pearl, revealing that it will be nothing like the original film. During an interview with Inverse, West revealed that he has no “desire to repeat [him]self” and that while there is “a lot of connective tissue” between X and Pearl, they are two very different projects. West also touched on the music that features within both X and Pearl, revealing that the prequel will offer audiences “a much more grandiose, different type of experience.” Check out West’s full quote below.
I don’t have a desire to repeat myself, so Pearl for instance is not like X. The movies enrich each other in a really cool way. I made X knowing I was gonna make Pearl. There’s a lot of connective tissue between the two. And there’s obviously a related character. But whatever people might expect Pearl to be they are almost certainly wrong about what it is.
I will say that the music in Pearl is once again from Tyler Bates, who did a completely different thing. And again, because I’m trying to be so cagey about any info, I’ll say it is a much more grandiose, different type of experience. So, as you suggest that music being important, I think you will feel the same when you see Pearl. The music is very much on display in a big way.
West went on to say that he intends to remain rather secretive about Pearl, sharing that he feels as though the film “benefits from not knowing a lot about it.” The director recently teased the potential of a third installment within his newly forming X franchise, revealing that if he were to tell a third story it would be very stylistically different from both X and Pearl. Since its release, X has received an incredibly warm reception from audiences, with positive reviews pouring in from the likes of Stephen King, who called West’s film “extremely good.“
Just as X subverted expectations and challenged a number of the typical horror tropes, Pearl looks set to follow in its footsteps with this exciting tease that it will likely be entirely different from what audiences are imagining. While many had anticipated that the prequel would be just as unique as its predecessor, it is certainly exciting to hear that the two films will differ in a number of ways beyond simply the era in which it takes place. Given X‘s success so far, it likely won’t be too long until an update is given on Pearl, with many expecting the sequel to hit theatres in 2023.
