How Ti West's X Pulled Off Shooting Scenes With Two Mia Goths

Name a bigger surprise success story in 2022 in the horror genre than Ti West's "X" — it won't be easy. This A24 slasher was released way back in March and was a critical and box office success. "X" currently holds a 94% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $14 million on a budget of just $1 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Even before its success, there was a clear level of faith in this project. So much so that writer-director Ti West wrote a prequel titled "Pearl" and shot it back-to-back with "X." Moreover, the film was an original slasher film with an all-star cast that included Kid Cudi, 2022's Scream Queen Jenna Ortega, and last but not least, Mia Goth.

Those who have seen "X" probably are aware that there was a double dose of Goth since she had two roles in the film. The first was as Maxine Minx — a part of the adult film crew — and as Pearl, the elderly woman who is one-half of the couple that hunts down the film crew. On paper, keeping the two different characters separated may seem like a no-brainer. But West clearly likes a challenge, bringing the characters' two paths together to make us all question what movie magic was used to accomplish this feat.

Sarah Rubano, the hair and makeup designer on "X," gave a peek behind the curtain of the production during her chat with Below the Line. Luckily for Goth, they would use a body double whenever shootings scenes with Pearl and Maxine, meaning that there was never a day of shooting where Goth had to switch between the two. "On those days, we would shoot because we had a Pearl double, who was in the Pearl makeup, fully, and then we had a Maxine double, who was fully in the Maxine look, so that Mia had something to work with," said Rubano.

Rubano also revealed that while there was one primary body double who would put the Pearl makeup on, they also used an older woman sporadically when needed. A couple of the specific instances named by Rubano were the sex scene between Howard and Pearl and certain shots including the one where Pearl is turning the keys of the truck in the film and they needed an older set of hands in the frame. The over-the-shoulder shots only helped the crew because, as Rubano described, all you could see were "the wispy hair and the bony shoulders" with Pearl's over-the-shoulder shots and there was a wig that matched Maxine's hairstyle for any of her over-the-shoulder shots.