A24 is behind yet another unique horror movie for its ever-growing catalog. And, this time, the production studio brings in director/writer Ti West (The House of the Devil) with X. The latest A24 movie is about a group of adult entertainers going to an excluded farm in Texas to film what — they hope — will be a groundbreaking arthouse-porno film. However, they soon learn that their elderly hosts are more dangerous than any of them could have expected.
While horror often gets a poor reputation for punishing sex workers, and the film industry, more often than not, represents those in this profession negatively, X depicts its adult entertainers as more than disparaging tropes or stereotypes. The women, in particular, embrace how liberated they feel and are much more than archetypes. During an exclusive interview with CBR, X stars Brittany Snow (Bobbi-Lynn) and Mia Goth (Maxine/Pearl) discuss their roles and how the film embraced their characters’ sexuality.
CBR: One thing that really stood out to me a lot about X is the characters and their relationships. I would love to know, for each of you, what stood out to you about your respective characters?
Brittany Snow: I guess for me what stood out about Bobby-Lynne was that there was a lot more to her than just an archetype of a blonde bombshell at that period of time. I think there’s this trope of a woman who was in the porn industry — or perhaps was a sex worker of some sort — that was using that to diminish her image, or maybe she didn’t care about her image. I think this was really interesting to me to play a character that was actually very entrepreneurial and wanting more out of life and was actually the smartest person in the room — or so she thought. I think giving her some levity and some depth was important to me. I wanted to be a part of something that showed that.
Mia Goth: Likewise, I think, on the surface, you could read the script for the first time and see it in one way. But what was so interesting about the script, as well, was that each time you come to it, you would get something different from it. You realize how human they are. You see their desires and how complex they are, and the fact that I was playing both Maxine and Pearl came with a lot of the ideas. I think, in other iterations of this film, it could have been done in a very one-dimensional way, but they’re not. Ti West was very interested in these characters and their desires and fears that they had, so it was exciting.
Touching on something that you both brought up is there’s this reputation in some horror movies that those who are sexually promiscuous are punished to some degree. However, we see in this film, that these characters are more than those stereotypes. What do you think this movie has to say or subvert when it comes to the usual approach to this type of horror movie — especially when it’s about these characters who work in the adult entertainment industry?
Snow: I think it says a lot. This is a very sex-positive movie, and not in the gratuitous sake of it being for shock value. I think that was a huge point for me. I think, for all of us, it was that we weren’t going to do a movie that was just using sex for shock value or for sex sake, or specifically the nudity too. I think it’s all done in the viewpoint of these are actual people and that this was a line of work… They all had altruistic motives going into this, of wanting a better life for themselves, so I think that using sex in this way of making it a more character-specific thing instead of like a shock value was really something important.
Goth: The fact that we spend much time with these characters before too. We get to know them and their individual quirks and their personalities. We fall in love with each one of them, and they’re all incredibly charming and very lovable, so that by the time you get to the sex scenes, and when things start to take a turn, they’re not just that one thing. They’re fully-fledged people and characters with their own motivations for doing what they’re doing, but they’re not just defined by that. There’s a handful of scenes that we get.
X takes place in the late ’70s. What about this time period do you think adds to this story in the film itself?
Snow: I think for the women in the film, there’s a sense of revolution in a way. There’s a sex-positivity that’s coming around that time, and there’s a lens of branching out on your own, making something of yourself, not having to be beholden to the norms of the ’60s. I think this was an ever-changing time. I think the ’70s were very, there were all these different subgroups of people. There were all these people that were on the verge of something. I think these people, these characters we’re playing, are symbolic of that. We’re on the verge of thinking that we’re going to make it out of this town, this life that we are living, and it’s quite sad that our lens is shattered.
It’s fun to play such liberated women who are very much in control of their sexuality and where they want their futures to go. Even with Pearl, I never saw her as a villain. I never regarded her all that much as a victim. I think she saw something in Maxine, and it sparked something in her that had been dormant for a very long time. She’s also having a good time, in a weird, perverted way.
Both of your characters go through a lot in this movie. What was one of the most challenging parts of this production, for each of you, when it came to bringing your characters to life?
Snow: Not only was “Landslide” intimidating because I was paying homage to Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, but also it was daunting to be in such tiny outfits the whole time… Just the physicality. Mia can speak to this better than anyone, but I think each character had its own specific physicality. I think that was something really intimidating, but also really rewarding — Mia more than anybody. I think with Bobby-Lynn, it was really fun to get to play with someone who was in charge of their body and very confident about it and let that run the show.
Goth: I agree with Britt. Just feeling comfortable in my own skin. I’m usually just feeling — trying to tap into that inner confidence that these women had like with Bobby-Lynn and Maxine. They felt so comfortable in their skin and trying to align that with my own sense of self, and making sure that came across in an authentic way and it didn’t hinder the performance. Also, just playing two characters and juggling with that and the energy that would take, trying to manage my energy, and making sure I wasn’t letting one character down whilst working on the other.
Was there a favorite memory when it came to filming X?
Snow: I think one of the best moments was when we all got dressed up for the first time together. Jenna was speaking about this earlier — it was this really cool moment where we have spent so long thinking about our characters — Mia more than anyone.
Goth: I think just the whole experience in general. The fact that we got to go to New Zealand, and we had the opportunity to live in this beautiful country, and we were all together in this small town. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences that I’ve had. We all got along really well, so all the scenes that you see in the van as friends, that’s real. That wasn’t really put on. We all just got on immediately. I think Ti did a great job of getting a group of people together that really enjoyed each other’s company.
Watch the bloody mayhem unfold in Ti West’s X, debuting in theaters on Friday, March 18.
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