The 'Pearl' and 'X' actress never planned on being a horror film star.
I was filming High Life with Claire Denis, and it was my last day of shooting, which happened to be my birthday. I grew up with my grandma for a while in Brazil, and she’s an actress there. With everything I try to do in my life, I’m just trying to feel safe at all times, and being an actor, it always feels like such a fluke. I was looking and dreaming. I was 7 or 8, and I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I've done quite a few horror movies, and that really wasn't the plan, necessarily.
Between X and Pearl, Mia Goth delivered some of the best performances we've ever seen in a single year of horror.
“All of that the intensity that came from shooting and the exhaustion that we felt really influenced the delivery of that monologue on the day…You can rehearse and you can go over your lines as much as you want, but until your there on that day you’re not really going to know how it turns out…It’s not so much thinking in that situation. Even though the Academy Awards [literally tweeted](https://twitter.com/TheAcademy/status/1598099650354954240?s=20&t=fwqO4Kp1GpjW0XitIKMIlg) out a reel of Goth’s performance in Pearl, it still feels like a stretch that we’ll see that recognition honored with an actual nomination. Even if Goth’s work flies under the radar during awards season, it won’t mute the overwhelming power of her performance. This was helped along by Ti West’s decision to film the monologue on the final day of shooting. In a lesser actor’s hands, the starry-eyed nature of Pearl may have made her feel gratingly naive. We may see Pearl teetering on the edge of madness. Even though Pearl is the antagonist across both films, the character carries hopes, dreams, and emotions that are relatable. In this entry, Jacob Trussell explores the incredible year of Mia Goth in X and Pearl. Anyone who has ever chased after a dream that felt bigger than themselves can empathize with what Pearl is attempting to accomplish. But they are bound together by one of the strongest horror performances of the year: Mia Goth’s Pearl. To be able to have a character like that to sink your teeth into was so rich. “Pearl is a dreamer, and she is such an emotional person, somebody who wears her heart on her sleeve and is quite sensitive.
Dancing queens meet scream queens! By Mashable SEA Jan. 12, 2023. It's Time for the Resurrection of ...
Maybe Wednesday Season 2 could pull [a ](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533466/) [Buffy The Vampire Slayer](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533466/) and do a musical episode. [Lizzo and Taylor Swift](https://mashable.com/article/m3gan-interview). More recently, critics have cheered genre mash-ups like [The Lure,](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4414-critics-love-the-lure) a Polish musical about man-eating mermaids, and the holiday/teen movie/musical/zombie horror of [Anna and the Apocalypse](/entertainment/18460/ring-in-the-christmas-season-with-the-zombie-musical-anna-and-the-apocalypse) [.](/entertainment/18460/ring-in-the-christmas-season-with-the-zombie-musical-anna-and-the-apocalypse) With a [M3GAN](https://deadline.com/2023/01/m3gan-box-office-sequel-tiktok-marketing-1235214229/) [ sequel reportedly in development](https://deadline.com/2023/01/m3gan-box-office-sequel-tiktok-marketing-1235214229/), it seems safe to assume writer Akela Cooper and director Gerard Johnstone would be game for a reprisal of dance and songs. [Entertainment](/entertainment), [Movies](/movies) Musical numbers have proved pivotal in some of horror's most talked-about productions of the last few months, including [Pearl](https://mashable.com/article/pearl-review), [Wednesday](https://mashable.com/article/wednesday-review-netflix), and now [M3GAN](https://mashable.com/article/m3gan-interview). They could translate an award-winning short, like the [taxidermy-centric ](/life/19268/lin-manuel-miranda-and-jimmy-fallon-sing-glorious-festive-parodies-of-2018s-top-songs) [Stuffed](/life/19268/lin-manuel-miranda-and-jimmy-fallon-sing-glorious-festive-parodies-of-2018s-top-songs), which earned a special honor from SXSW's 2020 jury (a jury that notably included Blumhouse's Jason Blum and this reporter). [M3GAN](https://mashable.com/article/m3gan-movie-review). Ortega's dance allows us to relish in her creativity, dig into the Easter Eggs, and — best of all — get to know a Wednesday who lets her hair down. 2023 is off to a strong start for those who love spookiness, as [M3GAN ](/entertainment/22236/m3gan-surprisingly-dominates-at-the-box-office-with-us30m-opening) [is killing it at the box office](/entertainment/22236/m3gan-surprisingly-dominates-at-the-box-office-with-us30m-opening) and [with critics](https://mashable.com/article/m3gan-movie-review). [this sensational sequence](/entertainment/21937/wednesdays-dance-scene-is-one-giant-homage-we-need-to-talk-about) since [Tim Burton's Addams Family spinoff](https://mashable.com/article/wednesday-review-netflix) hit Netflix. West's wide lens allows us to take in the full picture of the dance, and Goth's Pearl lacks grace, lumbering about in her overalls and boots, oblivious to her own awkwardness.