Psycho, Hardcore, The Angel of Vengeance… Ti West comments on MaXXXine’s influences
The director of X, Pearl and MaXXXine guides us through the jungle of cinematic references in the last part of his trilogy.
Recreating Los Angeles in 1985
Ti West: “MaXXXine takes place in Los Angeles in 1985 and the idea was to recreate the era in such an authentic way that the viewer truly believes in the world they are seeing. But this documentary desire is also mixed with nostalgia and collective memory, that is to say the way in which the era and the city have been represented in the media. So there are three axes: reality, nostalgia, cinema. The films where Los Angeles “plays its own role” (LA plays itself) are a real subgenre of cinema. I wanted to be part of this story, because Hollywood is a fascinating and absurd place, not so much a real place as a pure surface, where glamour hides a hidden and sordid side. To recreate this world, we had both conscious and unconscious references. For example, we reviewed Angel (by Robert Vincent O’Neil, 1983, about a high school prostitute threatened by a serial killer) to see how Hollywood Boulevard was lit in the 80s. But it wasn’t about copying and pasting. The goal was really to make a film that felt like it had come to us from that space-time rather than a film from today that looks at the time, if you know what I mean. But go ahead, suggest titles and I’ll tell you how they influenced us!”
Vice Squad: Descent into Hell (Gary Sherman, 1982)
“If films about Los Angeles are, as I said, a sub-genre in their own right, there are in reality not many that show Hollywood Boulevard in the 80s. Vice Squad was a reference because, even though the majority of what happens in this film has nothing to do with MaXXXineit’s a real time capsule that propels you towards the seediest and most sordid side of Hollywood. In the genre, The Streets of Hell (Savage Streets1984) is not bad either. It is a far cry from the 80s as they are usually represented in American cinema: the suburbs, the shopping malls, all that atmosphere Breakfast Club.”
The Angel of Vengeance (Abel Ferrara, 1981)
“It’s less of a direct reference than Vice Squad because it takes place in New York and the atmosphere is therefore a little different. But the world that the heroine walks through is still quite seedy, and this kind of story about a woman who has been pushed to the limit and who fights back, it is totally the state of mind of MaXXXine. I know very well The Angel of Vengeance And MaXXXine and share the same energy.”
Harcdore (Paul Schrader, 1979)
“A direct reference. There are similar things in terms of plot. What’s great about hardcoreit’s the way this world of porn and low-budget movies is represented, without apologizing for anything. You see another side of Hollywood– even though they probably shot downtown. The character of Season Hubley – who also plays in Vice Squad – is very relaxed in her relationship with sex and the porn industry, which of course contrasts with the attitude of George C. Scott’s character. There is a real spiritual connection between MaXXXXine And hardcore.”
Psychosis (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
“Usually when you use, say, a fake New York street in Universal Studios, it’s not to emphasize its fakeness, quite the opposite: you use it to create the illusion that you’re really in New York. But I wanted to use the backlot Universal to show this fake New York, then a fake western town. What could be the high point of this journey through fake places? That’s when I thought of the house of Psychosis. It made all the more sense because Psychosis was quoted in a dialogue of X. So I wrote that scene, and then we asked the Hitchcock Foundation for permission, and they gave it to us. It’s really very strange to film that house, which normally only happens if you’re doing a sequel to Psychosis ! In my eyes, there had to be this kind of flamboyant homage in MaXXXinebecause, as much X And Pearl took place in enclosed spaces, I wanted this one to be a real explosion of cinema.”
Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
“The tribute to Chinatown was not planned, but since there is a scene in the film in which Maxine punches the private investigator in the face, we put a small bandage on Kevin Bacon’s nose, and then we ended up saying to ourselves: what if we made it bigger, this bandage? (in reference to the one worn by Jack Nicholson in Chinatown). MaXXXinein a way, is an ode to Los Angeles, and Chinatown is one of the most famous and awesome movies about LA. That’s how this reference was decided. Although I am aware that it might go over the heads of Gen Z!”
Theda Bara
“Theda Bara is one of the first vamps, one of the first sex symbols in the history of cinema. In Pearlthe character named his pets after his favorite movie stars – and the alligator was named Theda. It was also seen that The Queen of the Caesars (CleopatraJ. Gordon Edwards, 1917) was playing in the cinema. It was a very controversial film at the time. Its mention in MaXXXine was a way of coming full circle and telling the story of these stars who cause scandals and whose names end up on the Walk of Fame: a star on a sidewalk on which a cigarette is crushed.”
MaXXXineby Ti West, with Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Kevin Bacon… In theaters July 31.