‘MaXXXine’ Star Mia Goth Talks Role in Ti West’s Slasher Trilogy: ‘It Changed Me Forever’

Mia Goth at the premiere of A24’s MaXXXine at TCL Chinese Theatre on June 24, 2024.

Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for A24

Much has been made of how filmmaker Ti West has reinvented and refreshed the slasher genre by paying homage to the classics in his A24 trilogy. X, Pearl and the next one MaXXXine. Her lead actress, Mia Goth, agrees with the positive praise and adds that the back-to-back gigs have also reshaped something else: her career.

“This job has given me a whole new level of confidence that I didn’t have before,” the 30-year-old actress said. The Hollywood Reporter as he stood outside the TCL Chinese Theatre minutes before the film’s world premiere on June 24. “It changed me forever.”

Specifically, Goth points out that she played the main character Pearl in the technicolor gore film that served as a prequel to the 2022 film. X and was released the same year. X Goth starred as Maxine, a young porn actress who accompanies friends from the adult film industry to a remote Texas farm in 1979, where an elderly couple turns out to be feral guests. She also took on a supporting role as one half of the couple, the wife named Pearl, whose origin story unfolds in the gory prequel, revealing that she and Maxine share dreams of stardom.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play a role like Pearl,” Goth said of the role, in which she plays a troubled young woman living on a farm, caring for an ailing father while being subjected to the overbearing thumb of a German mother. “I’m very grateful, because a lot of actors go their whole careers without ever having that kind of platform. It showed me that I can listen to my gut, my intuition, and follow what feels right. Because when I’m given the space, and the right framework, and I feel comfortable in that kind of environment, it can really create an environment where I can thrive as a performer.”

West said audiences will see Goth in a new light MaXXXinewhich picks up six years after the events of X. Maxine Minx, the sole survivor of the so-called “Texas Porn Star Massacre,” now lives in mid-1980s Los Angeles, pursuing her dream of making the leap from X-rated films to big-time Hollywood. But the fateful events of that trip and a mysterious serial killer threaten to derail her rise to stardom.

“MaXXXine “It’s a really fun movie and I think people are really excited to see her in a new light than the other movies. She’s a completely fearless actress, and when we made XThis is what I was looking for and what we found (in Mia).”

West also found Goth to be tireless in her acceptance of the rigorous filming schedule that ensued when pearl And MaXXXine were given the green light in quick succession after the resounding success of X. “We ended up making these other movies one after another after X “She played in the craziest circumstances and she was on board from the start. She’s the perfect collaborator to play this character and she knows him inside out. That’s why people relate to her so much because the way she portrays him is so authentic.”

MaXXXine’s The star-studded cast also includes Elizabeth Debicki, Lily Collins, Halsey, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Giancarlo Esposito, Sophie Thatcher, Moses Sumney and Kevin Bacon. Debicki, who has earned just about every nomination possible for her role as Princess Diana in the prestigious Netflix series The crownplays a supporting role as a feminist B-movie director who hands Maxine her first crossover project, a satanic possession film called The Puritan II.

Debicki said THR that she is not a horror consumer – the last genre film she watched was Hereditary and she still cringes at the thought of it – but she’s a fan of the trilogy for a reason. “These are Mia performances and I love that about these movies. It’s so beautiful to see the breadth of an actress’s talents. I love championing movies where women get to show you what they’re capable of. It’s delicious. I love actors. I love their work and I love being around them and watching what they do. It’s the best kind of play you can do.”

For Goth, it was her relationship with West that gave her access to this kind of creative playground as a performer. “I’ve never had a relationship like that with a director,” says Goth, who previously starred in Lars von Trier’s film. Nymphomaniac: Volume IIClaire Denis’ The life of luxurythat of Luca Guadagnino Sighsthat of Sergio G. Sanchez Marrow bonesGore Verbinski A remedy for well-being and the autumn of Wilde Emma“I didn’t feel like I was just a mercenary on a movie set. I was really involved in the whole process, from conception to post-production of Pearl. It opened my eyes to what’s available, what’s possible.”

Pearl debuted at the Venice Film Festival in September 2022, and Goth said West pitched her a script for MaXXXine and she was immediately hooked. “I loved it,” said the actress, who also produced the film. “Every scene was so memorable with all the iconic Hollywood locations. There’s so much history behind each one, but I would say my favorite was shooting on the Universal lot. It was really cool.”

As for what the future holds for their collaborations, West said he needs to catch his breath and take a little break before making a decision. “I don’t know what’s next. I’m so tired because we’ve been doing this for three and a half, maybe four years straight. But yeah, I would work with her again in a heartbeat.”

MaXXXine opens July 5.