Mia Goth discusses improvisation on the set of Ti West’s ‘Pearl’
The breakout British star Mia Goth has revealed to reporters that one of her most iconic scenes in Ti West’s celebrated prequel film Pearl was improvised.
The moment comes when Goth’s Pearl stares towards the camera and holds a face-twitching smile for an unbearably long time. “That wasn’t scripted. That was something that I think Ti came up with on the day,” the actor told a group of students at Savannah College of Art and Design, as reported by MovieMaker.
Speaking at a screening of the film, followed by a Q&A, Goth explained, “He said, ‘Why don’t we just see what happens if we just hold on your face for a while and see what happens?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, okay, Ti… leave it with me”. Out of seemingly nowhere, the British actor Mia Goth has emerged as one of the finest young performers of contemporary cinema, playing two characters in West’s 1970s horror pastiche X, the young actor Maxine and the elderly villain Pearl.
It wasn’t a straightforward experience for the actor, as she tells the group of students, “When I was shooting X, I was being Maxine, and the first half of the movie, we’re just shooting Maxine. But then, the next half of the film, we were also shooting Pearl, and then by the time we got to that section of the shoot, I was basically on set all the time…it was challenging, but the idea that I was able to play two roles — that was more a gift than anything, and I relish in the challenge that was presented to me”.
As well as taking the starring role in Pearl, Goth also co-wrote the script for the horror movie alongside Ti West, with the character’s monologue to Mitzy (Emma Jenkins-Purro) standing out as a highlight of the movie. “The writing process for that monologue really reflects what the entire writing process for the script was,” Goth stated in the Q&A, adding, “I would write in the kind of stream style [of] consciousness, and then I would send that out to [West]”.
Take a look at the trailer for the film people are calling one of the best horror movies of 2022, below.
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