Mia Goth, the movie star who saw her career in horror take off after her performance in Ti West's slasher film X and its sequel, Pearl, has addressed her participation in the X film series. Goth is a young actor who has always been associated with horror, and more so in recent years as she became an essential part of West's trilogy. Pearl, the second film in the franchise and the prequel that served as the origin story for her "old lady" character, was co-written by Goth and West.

Her performance in the film was so good that it brought back to the table the conversation about Oscar-worthy horror performances. In 2024, audiences will see the return of her character from X, Maxine, as she's still a thriving actress trying to survive the L.A. scene in the midst of the Night Stalker crisis of 1985. While promoting the trilogy conclusion, known as MaXXXine, she told Time Magazine:

"Playing Maxine and Pearl has been the most creatively fulfilling experience of my life...And one of many reasons why it's been such a gift is because I've been blessed to play these characters that are so fearless and have such agency."

During the same interview, Goth reflected on her career as an actor. In some very candid statements, she shared why she hates the craft she has become known for, and her hopes for moving on from the horror genre she has become synonymous with. She said:

"The truth is, I hate acting. Acting is actually the hardest thing to do. It's this elusive thing and you think you have it—it's like trying to grip smoke. I'd love to make a romantic movie. I've been so focused on this end of the spectrum of violence and gore, but I love love too."

Art needs to be a little dangerous and to get genuine moments, you have to blur the lines a little.

Mia Goth is a Modern Scream Queen Unlike Any Other

Born in 1993, and starting her career as a model, Goth moved to the film industry in 2013 when she showed up in Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac. After that, Goth participated in projects like The Survivalist and Everest, until she landed a role in Gore Verbinski's A Cure for Wellness. Suddenly, Goth was the actor for horror and genre films. Suspiria and High Life followed after that, and a few years later she kept showing her horror skills in films like Infinity Pool, The House (voice acting), and West's trilogy. When it comes to modern scream queens, there's no better candidate than Goth.

Per the Time piece, West has also shared some details about her playing multiple roles in the trilogy: "Part of the allure is that it’s not pretend for her,” he says. “She finds a way to connect to the material. Sometimes it’s larger than life and crazy, but she finds a way to ground it within herself.”

He recalls that when he told her he wanted her to play both Maxine and Pearl in X, “She just stopped and I could see the wheels turning. Then she was just like, ‘I could kill that.’ And I totally believed in her confidence."

Per our MaXXXine review by Will Sayre: West's latest feature may lose out to Pearl in terms of timeless, hard-hitting material, but thrives on offering a unique blend of genres and subgenres. In MaXXXine, we get a biting satire of Hollywood (Maxine's absurdist press interviews as she rises up the ranks in Hollywood are hilarious) combined with the smoky '80s horror and erotic thriller vibes of Brian De Palma, plus a delicious soundtrack we could consume all day. But the high-concept editing (from the director himself) reminds us we are indeed in the year 2024, and proves that the possibilities of the moving-image medium are still increasingly endless, at least with an auteur like Ti West in charge.

MaXXXine will be released in theaters on July 5 2024.