‘X’ Prequel: Mia Goth Doesn’t Think Pearl Is a Villain
X actor Mia Goth stunned horror moviegoers with her show-stopping performance as Pearl. Additionally, she had a whole other role to offer the slasher flick. Goth is returning to Ti West’s throwback genre universe with a prequel called Pearl. The actor once explained why she doesn’t think of the film’s antagonist as an actual villain. Rather, she sees another side of the character that takes a bit of a deeper look to see.
Mia Goth played dual roles in ‘X’
West’s X takes place in 1979, as a group of young filmmakers seeks to make an adult film. They all have their own motivations for making the production, but they all ultimately want to get the movie completed. The group travels to an elderly couple’s reclusive farm in Texas to shoot the film, but they’re holding horrible secrets. When they discover what the group is up to, they begin to hunt them down one by one.
Goth turns in a dual performance in X as Pearl and Maxine. As a result, she plays both the horror film’s protagonist and antagonist. It creates a fascinating dynamic that also adds to both characters. However, Goth had to sit in the makeup chair for hours each day to get into the necessary prosthetics to age up to play Pearl.
Mia Goth never saw Pearl as a villain
In an interview with Thrillist, Goth talked about her experience playing Pearl in X. The character’s envy and lust ultimately drive her to commit the murders over the course of the movie. However, Goth never saw Pearl as a villain. Rather, she saw another side to the character that many audiences likely didn’t think to ponder about, including the relation between Pearl and Maxine.
“I never saw Pearl as a villain to begin with,” Goth said. “I really think that she was more a product of her time and a product of all the experiences that she’s gone through. I had a lot of sympathy for Pearl, actually. And in many ways, I kind of saw them as the same woman.”
Goth spent all of the time getting into her prosthetics to get into the right headspace for playing Pearl. The sequences featuring both characters included a body double. However, Goth asked West later in the shoot if she could do scenes by herself. “It was very freeing,” Goth stated.
‘Pearl’ is a prequel to ‘X’
X had a nice treat for audiences who stayed through the end credits. West revealed a teaser trailer for the upcoming Pearl, also featuring Goth in the lead role. However, it’s actually a prequel to X that tells the back story of how she became the elderly person that the world previously met.
West and studio A24 both kept Pearl under wraps, even with all of the hype surrounding X. This prequel will further expand the universe and teach the audience more about the character Pearl.
