Directing three movies over four years is no easy feat. Especially if they are all part of an unconventional trilogy with a prequel, no less, in the middle. Judging from the response of most critics and moviegoers, however, director and screenwriter Ti West has pulled it off. “X” was considered one of the best horror movies of 2022, “Pearl” demonstrated the considerable acting skills of franchise star Mia Goth, and now “MaXXXine,” is a wink at the Hollywood studio horror-thrillers of the mid 1980’s. And West, understandably, is ready for a break.
READ MORE: “MaXXXine” Review: Ti West And Mia Goth Slash A Love Letter To ’80s Hollywood
The third chapter finds Maxine Minx (Goth), attempting an almost impossible feat, jumping from porn films to legit, Hollywood productions. She’s found a fan in British director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debecki), who casts her in the highly anticipated horror sequel, “The Puritan II.” It’s 1985 though, and the notorious serial killer the Night Stalker is killing women left and right. When some of Minx’s friends and colleagues are found murdered, the police are understandably curious. Are they part of that rampage or the victim of an advantageous copycat killer? And why is a kooky, southern private investigator (Kevin Bacon), chasing her all over the Warner Bros., er, Universal Studios lot?
No spoilers here, but it goes without saying that the story could continue. The question is whether West, who was pitched on turning “X” into a trilogy by distributor A24, would be interested in such an endeavor. Or has he even had the energy to consider it?
“I suppose it would always be interesting to get even further away from it, and come back to it, because I’m very proud of these three movies, and I think Mia’s very proud of these three movies,” West says. “And I don’t want to say that we couldn’t make another movie and make it even better, but we also, I think, pulled off three good movies, and let’s not push our luck. Because sometimes you can only take an idea so far. I always think the British version of ‘The Office‘ is the best example. I would’ve loved to have more of that show, but part of why I love that show is because I still think about wanting more of it. I feel like they just got out at the best time. Yeah, I mean anything’s possible, but not this summer, I’m not going to roll right into it.”
Speaking to The Playlist last week, West reflects on just how he stretches an indie film budget to impressive extremes; how an incredible ensemble cast that also includes Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Michelle Monaghan, among others, came together; his creative collaboration with Goth; and much, much more.
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The Playlist: You have a well-deserved, and I want to phrase this correctly, lauded reputation for making films at a certain budget that appear much more expensive to the naked eye. That is a skill that many filmmakers don’t have. How do you keep pulling this off?
Ti West: I don’t know. I guess maybe that’s what I do. The actual answer to the question is you’d just be very particular about what you spend your time doing. I think for a movie like this where we didn’t have the luxury to really…like we were on Hollywood Boulevard for four days and nights, which is very expensive and very time-consuming and very difficult. So, there wasn’t a “Let’s get there and figure out what we’re doing.” It’s like, no, no, no, this is exactly what we’re doing. And basically, if you saw a frame on Hollywood Boulevard, a really busy frame, for instance, is when the two detectives come up to Maxine at her house. Everything’s going just outside of the frame on either side. There’s nothing eighties whatsoever [outside the frame]. You know what I mean? It’s like only what’s in that rectangle has been worked upon, but we’ve worked upon every aspect in that frame. And then outside that frame, we didn’t do anything. So we had to be very specific about what the plan was for the day. And we couldn’t really deviate from that because we didn’t have the luxury to say, “Well just make the whole block eighties and we’ll figure it out when we get there.”
There are so many things in this film that any other filmmaker could have asked for, and they could have been turned down. The Hitchcock Foundation could have said “no” to your request for the Bates Motel set on the Universal Studios lot. Did you have a backup plan or were you just fingers crossed?
No, each movie has had that. So for instance, on “X,” I had no backup for [covering Fleetwood Mac’s] “Landslide.” And so if Stevie [Nicks] had said no, I don’t know what we would’ve done because it was such an integral part of the transition of the movie and whatever. And then, but we got it. And then on “Pearl,” the monologue, I had no backup. If that didn’t work, we were doomed. I was also like, “Well, I believe in her, but at the same time, this is really hard for her to do. So I hope this is great.” And then on this movie, yeah, I had no backup for the “Psycho” house. I guess it would’ve just not been in the movie. And it’s obviously a thread that started in “X” and went all the way through. And so they said “yes,” and it was very surreal to do it.
This isn’t to insinuate that in your other films, it doesn’t look like you guys are having fun or a blast, but there’s something about the energy in this movie where it just seems like everyone is just having a ball, for lack of a better term. Was that the energy on set or was that just inherent to the material and how it comes across on screen?
Sometimes it was on set. It was a hard movie to make for sure. So, sometimes it was a very, “We’re here to work” kind of thing. But, everyone got along. The cast is so delightful in real life. We all just really clicked. So, it was very hard work, but everybody was happy to be there. And that makes a big difference. But also, I always thought of the third movie [needed to] like to stick the landing and to kind conclude these three movies. It really needed to be a wild night out at the movies. And I think that was always part of the DNA of it. Since you’ve seen the movie, there are sequences in this movie that I think will be talked about or you would tell your friends, you’ve got to see. “I don’t want to tell you what happens in that alley, but you should see it.” And it was always meant to be very rich like that as far as in its cinema and its audience participation. And so I think by the nature of that, it was just everyone kind of knew like, “Oh, we’re teeing up a big moment to happen soon.” And that’s a fun thing to be a part of.
It also feels like there are some LA or Hollywood-specific things in the movie that you don’t always see on screen. Was that something you wanted to prioritize? Were there locations you’d driven by you always wanted to include?
There’s less and less things in LA that are sort of historically related to the movies, which is so weird [because it’s] Hollywood. There’s so many more brand new condos than there are Brown Derby’s and things like that. So it’s definitely very different than it was wanting to capture the kind of grittier side of Hollywood. And then the glamor side of Hollywood, the Chinese Theater, and things like that. What it’s like to be on a movie studio backlot. The Hollywood sign. These very big iconography things do come here as a tourist to see, and just the bizarre facade that is LA in a weird way that I’m just charmed by. And so that was something I wanted to try to have my contribution towards, but it wasn’t as specific as I drive by this place and I really want to shoot here. It was more just sort of trying to evoke a feeling and then trying to figure out how the hell to do it.
As someone who does the Hollywood Sign hike at least once a month, I have to give you guys massive credit. Even though it’s set in the ’80s, that is the most accurate depiction of the sign that I have probably ever seen. So congrats for pulling that off. However, your team did it.
Thanks.
Beyond Mia, your cast is sort of amazing. Was this a wishlist come to life? Was this just the creativity of your casting director?
Yeah, it was kind of a wishlist. It was the [benefit] of whatever goodwill the other two movies had gotten me, which I was sort of unaware of because I was busy working. The moment to become aware if there was any was on this movie. Elizabeth Debicki for example. I’m a huge fan of hers. I didn’t know if she’d want to do this movie. I have no idea if she knows anything about any movies I’ve ever made or even likes anything I’ve ever made, but I’m just such a fan that I was like, “She would be great in this.” And so we sent it to her and then she liked it and she wanted to do it, and that was the process. And I was like, oh, this is amazing. Than Giancarlo Esposito, same thing. Kevin Bacon, same thing. Lily Collins, same thing. There were all these people that I’ve never had a reason to seriously call them about something. And then I did with this, and it was like we sent ’em the script and they just really liked it. And we really got along as collaborators, but also just as people. It was very cool to have all these people that I’m a big fan of want to be just a part of the movie.
Let’s talk about Maxine’s arc from the first film to this one. When you were writing the script for it, where did you want her to be at the end of this chapter? Where did you want her character to sort of land compared to when we first met her?
I didn’t know. I was figuring it out. I don’t really know when I’m writing, I’m kind of making it up as I go along. I have a rough idea of the general broad strokes, but it wasn’t like I knew what the very end of the movie was because you could start writing and then things change. So, I think when I first had the idea for the movie, it had more sort of body horror aspects and had more relation to some of the previous films. And then it just felt like my desire to not repeat myself was very much in my head. So, it just got more and more into this mystery story. [That’s] where it kept taking me rather than horror stuff. And then that bounces you all around and then you kind of figure out where you’re going from there. I didn’t really know until I kind of got there, and I couldn’t tell you when I got there. I have no memory. It’s all been a very big blurry four years. But yeah, there are versions of the [movie] where it ended up very differently, but this is the one that felt the best.
When you were writing the script at the beginning, was the villain always who the villain ended up being?
No. But early on it was early on. Again, in the very original idea, it was not. But as the idea started to pivot a little bit, then it became that.
You’ve dedicated four years of your life to these three movies. Can you let Maxine go? Will you want to return and show where she is in the nineties? Is that something that you could even consider right now?
Well, I certainly can’t consider it right now because I’m still, I’m two weeks away from finally taking a nap. I suppose it would always be interesting to get even further away from it, and come back to it, because I’m very proud of these three movies, and I think Mia’s very proud of these three movies. And I don’t want to say that we couldn’t make another movie and make it even better, but we also, I think, pulled off three good movies, and let’s not push our luck. Because sometimes you can only take an idea so far. I always think the British version of “The Office” is the best example. I would’ve loved to have more of that show, but part of why I love that show is because I still think about wanting more of it. I feel like they just got out at the best time. Yeah, I mean anything’s possible, but not this summer, I’m not going to roll right into it.
How would you describe your relationship with Mia creatively? Why do you think you guys have bonded in making these three films and had such a connection?
It’s just been a strange thing to go through. We met on Zoom four and a half years ago or whatever to talk about “X” and we got along very well, and she had the same passion for the movie as I did. And I think she had a little bit of a chip on her shoulder at the time that she wanted to prove herself that she could be the lead of a movie and she could carry this. And that aligned well with the character, and that was what I was looking for. Someone who was fearless enough to say, “Yes, I can play two roles in a movie and I can go all in for it.” And that was inspiring and that was great. And then the idea of a second movie came up and was like, “Well, would you stay in New Zealand? We could make two movies in a row that’s going to be an extension of this challenge because it’s a different character.” And she was up for it. And then based on whether those movies were going to be successful or not, maybe we get to do it a third time and revisit the first character. And that’s so unlikely and strange. It’s the obvious thing for people to ask us about, but we’re still living it. Even talking to you is like, I’m still working on these movies because this is, in a way, this is working on the movie. So, in a couple of weeks, the movie comes out and I don’t do any more press. The movie’s delivered. There are no more technical things to do. And then it’s actually done, and then I could maybe begin to have a sense of what this has been like, but for now, it’s like I’m having this engaged conversation with you, and then I will have an engaged conversation with somebody else about the movie. And so I haven’t had any time to really think of, “Well, what has it been like these last four years making the movie?” It’s like I’ve just been working.
You just said you haven’t stepped away from the movie enough yet to be able to look back and judge it, but is there one sequence you were most proud of?
I’m as happy as it’s possible to be with “Maxine.” I’d still be editing it if I felt like I didn’t.
Sure.
But I don’t know. The nightclub scene I think is really fun. I think the [studio lot] guard with Kevin Bacon, is really fun and they’re very satisfying. To see that with an audience that I see in the alleyway is very satisfying to see with an audience. Some of the split screen. I’m really proud of the score that Tyler Bates did. I think it works really well with the movie, the re-creation of Hollywood Boulevard, and stuff like that. We worked really hard on that, so I’m happy to see that. I would never usually sit through the movie, but I did last night at the premiere, it was at the Chinese. That’s just a very rare opportunity to sit and see it on that big of a screen with 900 people and in such a historic Hollywood location. And then see that location in the movie. [It’s sort of like] hearing your voice on tape. It’s very cringe-inducing, but it was an attempt to try to be like, “Oh, let me just experience this.” And it wasn’t a flawless experience for me, but I’m trying to be as happy as I can be with it. But yeah, there’s a ton of cool sequences in the movie that I think I wouldn’t change them.
I know this trilogy has been your life for the past four years. Do you have any idea what you’re doing next or even in the back of your head what you want to do next?
Yeah, I do. But I think part of the fun of the last several years is that these movies have been made so kind of covertly and secretly and it’s been this sort of pageantry of when things are revealed and whatnot. And so even if I did something that had nothing to do with these movies, I’ve just enjoyed keeping it off the internet. I’ve enjoyed having people not know anything. Even people who have seen “X” and “Pearl,” they don’t really know what they’re in for. With “MaXXXine,” I’ve kept a lot out of the trailer and that’s kind of appealing to me. So many movies now, it’s like everything about them before you see them. And so I’ve just enjoyed trying to not spill the tea on too many things. So, I’m probably just going to stick with that for a while. I have a sense of what I’m hoping to do next and we’ll see if I’m correct. I have a whole collection of PDFs on my desktops of things I thought were going to be next years ago and they weren’t. So you never know.
“MaXXXine” opens nationwide on July 5