Inside Ti West and Mia Goth’s already filmed secret prequel to A24 slasher ‘X’

Late Sunday evening after the SXSW Movie Competition world premiere of the gory new A24 slasher “X” — a few Nineteen Seventies porn crew terrorized by an aged couple on a rural Texas farm — writer-director Ti West dropped yet one more juicy plot twist: a follow-up to the March 18 launch is already on the way in which.

A prequel movie, “Pearl,” has already been filmed, shot in secret again to again with “X” in New Zealand in the course of the pandemic. The shock reveal now units up West’s “X” and “Pearl” to launch the primary horror franchise from A24, the house of art-house style hits “The Witch,” “Hereditary” and “Midsommar.”

The bold feat was partly impressed by the distinctive calls for of constructing “X” throughout COVID-19. Manufacturing on the R-rated horror image was set to happen in early 2021 in New Zealand, the place circumstances have been low. Going through a compulsory two-week quarantine on arrival, West thought, why not use the time to pen a sequel?

“My plan was to write down it there and see if I can persuade A24 that we should always make two films,” he informed The Occasions.

Opening nationwide Friday, the 1979-set “X” stars Brittany Snow, Jenna Ortega, Scott “Child Cudi” Mescudi, Martin Henderson and Owen Campbell as members of an grownup movie crew arriving for a racy shoot on a distant farm. Stephen Ure stars as their less-than-welcoming host, and Mia Goth performs twin roles as an aspiring starlet named Maxine and Pearl, the aged lady who develops a wierd fixation along with her.

Goth, recognized for her notable work in “Nymphomaniac,” “Excessive Life” and “Suspiria,” is startlingly unrecognizable beneath prosthetics and make-up because the aged Pearl. The second movie takes place many years earlier and can see Goth diving deeper into the backstory of Pearl as a younger lady circa World Struggle I.

A longtime style voice behind indie horror favorites “Home of the Satan,” “The Innkeepers” and “The Sacrament,” West’s most up-to-date characteristic was the 2016 western thriller “In a Valley of Violence,” starring Ethan Hawke and John Travolta. Directing tv for the final a number of years on exhibits together with “The Exorcist,” “The Resident,” “Tales From the Loop” and “Them” gave him the modern thought of capturing two movies again to again affordably, utilizing the identical units and crew to inform very totally different tales set greater than half a century aside.

Stars Martin Henderson and Brittany Snow joined filmmaker Ti West on the world premiere “X” on the 2022 South By Southwest Movie Competition.

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Occasions)

“As a result of we have been in New Zealand the place it was secure, and we had an incredible crew and we have been constructing all these things,” he mentioned. “Coming from TV I believed, ‘a lot is amortized, it could be a disgrace to not…’ Nevertheless it was an extended shot.”

The primary name he made was to Goth, who was recreation to remain in New Zealand longer for a possible second movie and to step into a brand new function as artistic collaborator. Within the months previous to capturing “X” they developed “Pearl” collectively, buying and selling notes over FaceTime.

“We didn’t know what was going to occur,” mentioned Goth. “We thought on the very least, if nothing comes of it, we’ll write the script and it may well function an awesome backstory for Pearl and my grasp on my character.”

Aspiring star Maxine (Mia Goth) has her eyes on Lynda Carter-level fame within the 1979-set “X.”

(Christopher Moss / A24)

West wrote “Pearl” in quarantine, despatched it off, and went again to prepping “X.” By the point filming started in February, they’d a greenlight. The prequel, which isn’t but dated, marks Goth’s first co-writer credit score. Produced by A24, Jacob Jaffke, Harrison Kreiss and Kevin Turen, it’s government produced by Goth, Dennis Cummings, Sam Levinson, Ashley Levinson, Karina Manashil, Mescudi and Peter Phok.

“It was actually simply betting on, ‘Effectively, if we write an excellent script, why would they are saying no?’” mentioned West. “We joked that essentially the most A24 factor we might do with this film is make two of them. For a studio that’s constantly making difficult, progressively attention-grabbing, filmmaker-driven [projects], making two films on the similar time fell into the umbrella of what’s so cool about what they’re doing.”

The problem of discovering a contemporary tackle the slasher style whereas additionally celebrating the craft of filmmaking was what enticed West to make “X” to start with. The place “X” is steeped within the American impartial cinema of the late Nineteen Seventies through which it’s set, paying homage to movies similar to Tobe Hooper’s “Texas Chain Noticed Bloodbath,” the prequel locations its protagonist inside a starkly totally different period and cinematic custom.

Mia Goth as Pearl in a scene from Ti West’s “X,” in theaters March 18.

(Christopher Moss)

A sneak peek proven to audiences at SXSW will even be connected to “X” in theaters, and gives a style of what’s in retailer for “Pearl”: think about the midcentury melodrama of Douglas Sirk meets the Technicolor of “Mary Poppins” in a “demented” Disney kids’s film, in accordance with West.

“As a lot as ‘X’ is that this love letter to cinema, in a approach so is ‘Pearl’ — it’s only a very totally different type of cinema. Which additionally units up an thought for the third film, which has a unique vibe altogether,” he mentioned, teasing a full “X” trilogy that he could or could not already be cooking up. “I at all times felt like if you happen to’re going to make a slasher film, it’s important to make a bunch of sequels.”

Learn extra from the 2022 SXSW Movie Competition.