Mia Goth Talks Harmonizing Horror Scream Queen Status With Motherhood

The Big Picture

• Welcome to a new episode of Collider Ladies Night with
  MaXXXine
  star Mia Goth.
• During her second Ladies Night chat with Perri Nemiroff, Goth discusses how her craft has evolved since making
  Pearl
  and
  X
  .
• She also teases working on the new
  Frankenstein
  movie with Guillermo del Toro.

A lot has changed for Mia Goth since the release of X in March 2022. She’s seen her star skyrocket. After a steady stream of impressive supporting credits in films like The Survivalist, A Cure for Wellness, Suspiria, and more, X finally got Goth her very first lead role in a feature film. Now, thanks to the X franchise, she’s headlined three — X, Pearl and MaXXXine — and the industry’s taken notice. Not only does she have two highly anticipated new projects on the way in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and the long-awaited Blade film with Mahershala Ali, but she’s essentially living Maxine Minx’s dream. She’s a certified Hollywood star and, finally, everyone knows her name.

In the third, but maybe not final installment of the X trilogy, Goth returns as Maxine Minx. Maxine is the sole survivor of the 1979 farm bloodbath in Texas, and now she’s busy trying to make it in Hollywood in 1985. Maxine has stuck with the adult film industry and found a good deal of success there, but she’s eagerly awaiting her chance to show off her acting chops on the big screen, and she finally gets that chance thanks to director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) who casts her as the lead in the horror film The Puritan 2. Maxine’s eager to give the project everything she’s got and become a star, but a distraction comes in the form of a serial killer who strikes a little too close to home.

With MaXXXine now playing in theaters nationwide, Goth took the time to return to Collider Ladies Night and discuss how her career and craft have evolved since the making of X and Pearl, and how becoming a mother has changed her approach to the work as well.

A Big Change in Goth’s Approach to Acting? She’s More Confident in Herself

One particular thing I’ve appreciated about Goth’s work since day one is that she appears to give every single ounce of herself to her characters while bringing their truths to screen. Turns out, Goth recognizes that in herself as well. The pursuit of that honesty has been a top priority for her as an actor all along. Here’s how she put it:

“Something that stayed true the entire time is what the goal is of the scene, what the goal is of the job, of the craft, is to make it as honest and as real as you possibly can and to root that in truth.
If it doesn’t feel right, don’t relent.
Don’t just move on because it’s the easy thing to do. Do whatever it is you need to do to fight for the truth of the scene.”

While Goth has always been one to fight for the truth of a scene, something has changed considerably about how she goes about doing that; now, she fights that fight with far more confidence in herself.

“Something that’s changed is probably the way I go about that. Maybe my techniques and the way that I approach the work, the way that I approach my relationships to the other actors that I’m working with. I’m more confident, so I’ll just do different things.
I think I used to be quite intimidated on set
, and I would feel like I couldn’t do certain things, but
now I’ll just do whatever I need to do to make sure that the scene is gonna work
. And also, my confidence as a performer is probably something that has changed a lot, too. I remember even talking to you when we were talking about
Pearl
, and I feel like I was in such a different place then, too.”

Mia Goth’s Secret Sauce: Here’s How She Loses Herself in Scenes

Speaking of our last Collider Ladies Night conversation for Pearl, this second go-around with Goth gave me the opportunity to follow-up on a particular point Goth made during that 2022 Toronto International Film Festival interview. While discussing how she tackled filming the Pearl end credits scene — a hugely impressive 2-minute performance beat in which Pearl grins big and ultimately tears up — Goth emphasized that nailing such a scene isn’t about planning the evolution of a moment, but rather, not thinking about it at all while filming.

As a notorious over-thinker myself, not thinking sounds far more difficult than planning out each and every beat of such a shot. So how exactly does Goth do it? How does she quiet her mind and lose herself in the moment on set? Here’s what she said:

“The last thing you hope is happening when you’re in a scene is thinking.
If you’re thinking, the scene is completely dead
and you should just call cut and just start again because it’s never gonna work. A lot of times, that’s what prep is for. I don’t really know how much of your prep is actually applicable in the moment. Sometimes it is, sometimes not so much, but one thing it does every single time is just calm your mind. There’s so much pressure going onto a set. You’re not on a set every day, so
there’s this sacred nature to being there and how special it is to be making another movie
. So, having that prep behind you and knowing, ‘Okay, well, I did this, this, and that, I spoke to that person, I went here, I went there, I read this, listened to that, I got this playlist, I got this in my pocket …’ I don’t know how much it actually ends up helping, but it does calm your mind. So then you can have all that prep and that time that you put into it and then just let it go, and then that allows you to be present.”

What Does It Mean to Be a “Scream Queen?”

It’s moments like the end credits scene of Pearl and countless others in the X trilogy that have heavily contributed to Goth becoming a genre star. When discussing the leading forces in horror right now, Goth’s name will likely top many lists. She consistently takes on bold projects and then, whether she’s in a lead or supporting role, delivers unforgettable showstopping work, work that leaves one certain that no one could have brought that character to life quite the same way Goth does.

Stack up enough credits like that, as Goth has done, and you hit “Scream Queen” status. What exactly does it mean to Goth to be widely recognized as such by the horror fandom? She admits, “I don’t really know what a Scream Queen means.” She added:

“I don’t really know how to talk about that because, on one hand,
I feel so embraced by the horror community
and the genre community in general, and it’s something that I really welcome, and I’m really grateful for, that
X
and
Pearl
and
MaXXXine
in particular have resonated with people as much as they have. But then, on the other hand,
I
see myself as just an actor, and I happen to come across these roles that just so happen to exist in this genre. But when I’m working on the roles and preparing the roles and, really, in the scenes, too, I’m just kind of in my head.
I’m just in, like, a family drama.
”

Perhaps that’s precisely why Goth’s become a horror legend to so many moviegoers; she manages to achieve maximum authenticity by refusing to let the genre influence her approach to the work.

However, there is one thing Goth recognizes that is far different about working in the horror genre.

“I’m blown away by the types of roles that I come across. That’s another thing.
Sometimes I think to myself, ‘No, I’m not gonna do another horror movie.
I’m gonna wait for something else to come along.’ And then I’ll end up reading a script and it happens to be a genre movie, but this role is just extraordinary, and I’m like, ‘How could I give that to someone else?’ I couldn’t! So then I go and I do it, and I have an incredible time. I learn so much, and I’m very happy that I did it.”

What Does It Mean to Have a “Meaningful Voice” in Hollywood?

On top of continuing to chase extraordinary roles, Goth has hit a point in her career where she also prioritizes opportunities that value her voice throughout the creative process.

“I think in the beginning of my career, I was just kind of happy to be here, just kind of happy to be in a movie. [Laughs] ‘I’ll just do whatever you give me. I’ll be there.’
As time has progressed, I view myself as more valuable
, that I have more to give than just, quote-unquote, being in a movie. I think that having this experience of working with Ti [West] and being involved in the creative process from its very conception has shown me that I can have more agency over the creative process and that
having a meaningful voice can go beyond being an actor in a movie
, but can involve screenwriting, you can take on a producer role and you can have input there. And so I guess that meaningful voice, it’s just become clearer and it means more. It’s about more than just being happy to be here, but wanting to make great cinema.”

In addition to having an insatiable drive to make great cinema, Goth now has another top priority in her life — her daughter. One of her greatest takeaways from making MaXXXine? It proved to Goth that she can successfully operate as a working mother.

“We filmed
MaXXXine
and I had just had my daughter.
It was the first movie that I had done since giving birth
, and that presented a whole set of challenges that I couldn’t have anticipated. You go and you shoot your scenes for the day, and then you go home and then you take on the role of mom, and it’s a lot to juggle. I have
so
much respect for working moms. It’s something that I never really thought about all that much until I found myself in that position.
I am proud that I was able to do the two, that I was able to do what I love and then go home to my baby.
”

Looking for even more on how things have changed for Goth from Pearl to MaXXXine? You can catch our full Collider Ladies Night conversation in the video at the top of this article, or you can listen to the interview in podcast form below:

MaXXXine is now playing in theaters nationwide. Click below for showtimes.

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