Interview: Ti West, Moses Sumney and Giancarlo Esposito on ‘MaXXXine’
MaXXXine isn’t Ti West‘s first film set in the ’80s. 2009’s The House of the Devil, one of his first films, and the one that arguably put him on the map, was also set in that era, paid homage to the style of horror films from that decade, while also touching on the “satanic panic” craze of the ’80s as a backdrop for that film. MaXXine, however, is undoubtedly West’s biggest in scale, following the success of the first two installments of what has come to be known as his X trilogy, 2022’s X and Pearl.
MaXXXine follows adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), who finally gets her big break following years of attempting to cross over into the mainstream. Cast alongside actress Molly Bennett (Lily Collins) in The Puritan II, a highly-anticipated sequel to a cult classic B-horror movie, Maxine thinks she’s finally found her big Hollywood moment. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, including her friends and loved ones, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.
West says “quite a lot of research” went into capturing the authenticity of that era, a bulk of which he conducted while working on the script for the film. “I think in writing the script, you’re also researching at the same time. I’m always trying to find a way to put the characters in a time and place where you really believe it and you’re not distracted by it. We’re not using the setting as a prop or a kitschy element. The goal is to try to make it feel like it’s a very lived in environment. So in doing that, a lot of it comes from my own memories, a lot of it comes from being like, ‘What other brands were there besides this [specific brand] that day?’ because whatever the biggest brand is, what were the cheaper alternatives? Let’s try to get that in there. Or, ‘What kind of clothes were people wearing three years earlier?’ because maybe the people in this movie don’t buy new clothes every other week, things like that. And so by doing that, you build out the world a little bit, and then your writing gets influenced by it, and so it happened simultaneously for me. When it comes to photographing the movie, you think about modern techniques that would distract you from what a movie of the era would feel like, so it’s always a balance of trying not to be too self-aware but trying to also be committed to it so you feel like you’re in the world and you’re in the story.”
There isn’t much room for sentimentality in West’s X trilogy, what with the slasher, horror and brutality of it all. But the friendship between Goth’s Maxine and Leon, played by Moses Sumney, is undoubtedly the heart of the film. There’s an air of brevity to the scenes they share together, and at times, it feels like Leon is the only person in Maxine’s life who isn’t interested in taking advantage of her or her newfound fame. “Leon is the only one who doesn’t really want anything from her,” agrees Sumney.
“The scene of the two of them sleeping on the couch is one of the only scenes in all three movies,” remarks West of the bond between the two characters. “That [scene] went such a long way in putting the movie together. It tells us so much about the two of them, because the fact that she could be comfortable enough to sleep there and he could also be comfortable enough, it just says like, ‘Okay, these people feel safe here and they don’t normally feel that way.’ That [specific scene] is out of the ordinary from the trilogy as a whole, so that was a really identifiable moment for me in terms of how to visualize the relationship and the tenderness between them.”
Sumney says “it was really lovely” to capture that dynamic between the characters. “Mia was very sweet and very adamant about wanting to meet me after I was cast,” he says. “She wanted us to develop a relationship so that you could really feel a connection between the two people and it was not hard for us. She’s very sweet and I found there was a lot of connecting points between the way that we grew up. Weirdly enough, I also have a connection with Maxine; my parents are pastors. [Mia] also comes from a religious family as well. My family is crazy, her’s is as well. It was really sweet and really helpful to develop something with her and it’s great also, because Maxine is someone you’re not sure cares about literally anybody, and I definitely felt the same about Pearl. So it was really nice to be like, ‘Okay, there’s a reason why she cares about [Leon] and it’s my job to find that and nurture that.”
MaXXXine also marks Sumney’s very first role on the big screen, having previously appeared in The Weeknd and Sam Levinson‘s HBO show The Idol in 2023. However, when he first landed the role back in 2023, Sumney says he wouldn’t have classified himself as a horror fan. “I used to say I wasn’t a fan of horror,” he explains. “And then after I got this [role], someone was like, Well, what about this movie,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, I love that.’ ‘What about I Know What You Did Last Summer?’ I was like, ‘Of course, I love that movie.’ ‘What about Hereditary?’ ‘I love that movie,’ and then we kept talking about it and I was like, oh, actually, I guess I love horror movies. So I’m a big fan of the genre, it turns out, and it was cool to be in one. I think it’s kind of the actors’ playground and I feel really lucky to have been in one.”
On the other hand, Giancarlo Esposito, who plays Maxine’s agent Teddy Knight, says he’s a big fan of the genre, having also appeared in Abigail, another horror film released in 2024. “I love horror movies,” he says. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre was one of my favorites. The Freddy movies were intriguing to me. The idea of wanting to be frightened and getting some joy out of that somehow was interesting. This movie’s a little bit different because it follows the story of ambition; Maxine has to get from one place to another and is also trying to put away her past to get there. I like that story because all of us here, we exist in this world of film and we exist in a world that is negotiated. We have to figure out what we want to do, and then we have to go ask people to support us. But then, there are all these questions and doubts that come along the way in trying to create yourself and become a brand, and yet still be honest and truthful in your integrity, in your organic expression. It’s a really weird balance and this film strikes all of that. You really feel that throughout many of the characters within it.”
MaXXXine is now playing in theaters.
Ahmad W.
Aspiring critic and poster designer.