Audiences that attended the SXSW world premiere of directorTi West’s first feature film in six years,X, were in for a surprise. Attached toXwas a short teaser for a prequel film titledPearl, which West toldIndieWirehe shot in secret, utilizing some of the same cast, crew, and locations that he used onX. West wrotePearla few weeks before he started shootingXin New Zealand, and said that he intends to conclude the trilogy with another installment.
X, a slasher film that indie outfit A24 will release in theaters on March 18, follows a group of filmmakers who commandeer an isolated ranch in Texas to shoot a porn movie. Principal photography on the skin flick takes a turn for the worse when the elderly couple who own the property start to show an unhealthy interest in the filmmakers, and bloodshed ensues.Mia Gothplays both an actress in the porn movie, and the (heavily made-up) old lady who terrorizes the crew over one night. The woman is named Pearl.
West said that he plans on building a world out of this, “like people do these days.” He joked, “you’re able to’t make a slasher movie without a bunch of sequels.” In his own words:
“I came out of quarantine and I was like, ‘We’re already building all of this stuff, it’s COVID and we’re on the one place on Earth where it’s safe to make a movie. We have the whole crew from Avatar 2 who’s on break. We should make two movies.’ The miracle of A24 was that they thought this was actually a good idea.”
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West used special lenses and post-production techniques to enhance the period aesthetic ofX,in which the porn filmmakers claim to be inspired by the French New Wave. West said that he tried to evoke a different era in filmmaking—the old Hollywood age—inPearl, which he has already finished editing. He was inspired byDouglas Sirkmelodramas onPearl, which he described as “a Technicolor,Mary Poppinskind of movie.” The film will explore the role that the Texas ranch played during World War I.
Although he’s best known as the director of cult hits such asThe House of the DevilandThe Innkeepers, West’s last movie was the 2016 WesternIn a Valley of Violence, starringEthan HawkeandJohn Travolta. His last horror feature was 2014’s found footage pictureThe Sacrament. He’s spent the last several years directing episodes of TV shows such as theScreamanthology series,The ExorcistandOutcast. He was also a part of the directing team of Fox’sWayward Pinesand the short-lived Netflix seriesChambers.
Also starringBrittany Snow,Jenna Ortega,Martin Henderson,Scott Mescudiand others,Xarrives in theaters on March 18.Pearldoesn’t have a release date yet.
