Despite calls for awards like the Oscars to recognize horror films, MaXXXine director Ti West isn’t sure it’s necessary
After impressing audiences with her stellar performances in both X and Pearl, Mia Goth is ready to knock our socks off again with trilogy closer MaXXXine. In the new horror movie she returns as Maxine Minx who is now living in Hollywood attempting to make a career as an actor. However, complicating things is the fact that dangerous serial killer the Night Stalker is on the loose and that her violent past is coming back to haunt her.
Goth’s performance will likely once again stir up the ongoing debate surrounding awards season and horror movies. Organizations like the Oscars are infamous for rarely nominating horror films, with the likes of Toni Collette for Hereditary, Lupita Nyong’o for Us, and Essie Davis in The Babadook often being cited as examples of terrible snubs. And that’s only the start of the list, which often features Goth too for X, Pearl, and perhaps now MaXXXine.
It’s certainly a hot topic and so we asked the film’s writer/director Ti West for his thoughts on the matter when discussing his latest work. And whilst he understands why it’s something some feel very passionately about, he admits it all depends on how much you personally care about awards season.
As he told GamesRadar+ and the Inside Total Film podcast: “You know, I think that kind of depends on how much awards mean to you. I think it’s a subjective thing that one award might mean something to somebody but it might not mean anything to someone else. Like the Oscars might be very important for one group of filmmakers and then the Palme d’Or might be very important to others. So, it’s hard to really encapsulate what any of that really means, because it’s different for everybody.”
Continuing, the filmmaker emphasized that for him personally awards recognition for Goth would simply be a bonus on top of fans’ appreciation of her work. West concludes: “As someone who makes horror movies and as someone who made the movie that you were very high on the performance from [referring to us citing Pearl as an example for the argument], and having been close to Mia [Goth] for nearly five years now, I would be happy if she was recognized, which she has been. So, whether or not she’s recognized by a certain organization, it’s here or there. Of course it’s always nice to be liked by everybody, but it’s okay when people in general are enthusiastic about the work that you’re doing.”
MaXXXine releases in theaters worldwide on July 5. For more from our interviews, here’s the team discussing shooting at locations from Hitchcock’s Psycho, why they see Maxine as a superhero in this chapter, and Goth teasing Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein movie.
And to stay up to date with what is coming soon to the big screen, check out our guide to the upcoming movies to watch out for.