FMC 167: Pearl Written and Directed by TI West

Full Episode Transcript
Reginald Titus Jr. and Casey G. Smith discuss Ti West's 2022 horror prequel "Pearl," delving into its origins, box office success, unique visual style, and the standout performances by Mia Goth.

Opening Discussion
Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary episode 167. Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we cover movies with commentaries from directors who take the time to record them on Blu-ray and DVDs. We also give our detailed insights, so look out for spoilers. We discuss the latest in showbiz news along with movies and TV shows that we've been watching. So join Reginald Titus Jr., that's me, and Casey G. Smith, that's me, every week here on Filmmaker Commentary.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yo, yo, welcome to another episode of Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I'm joined with...
Casey G. Smith: Casey G. Smith.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome back, sir.
Casey G. Smith: Good to be back, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And today we're talking about Pearl, directed by Ti West, 2022, written, directed... uh, well co-written, directed, and produced by Ti West.
Casey G. Smith.: Yes, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, came out in 2022. What was the box office and the budget for this film?
Casey G. Smith.: So Pearl, as it dropped on us in 2022, had a budget of $3.1 million and ended up clearing at the global box office a total of $9.4 million, y'all.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's a win.
Casey G. Smith.: Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And for those that may not know, Pearl is the prequel
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: to one X that we covered last episode.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, on the cover it says "an extra extraordinary origin story." Got like the X, you know, I guess that's the whole theme there.
Casey G. Smith.: There you go, there you go.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, did this win any awards or like kind of what were people saying at the time about this film?
Casey G. Smith.: Uh, so Pearl won some just small kind of local, local awards, like local film societies, like there's one in Boston, the Boston Film Critics, the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, it won the Best Cinematography by Eliot Rocket. Uh, the movie music UK Awards, it won for Best Score for a Fantasy Sci-Fi Horror Film for one Tyler Bates and Tim Williams. The Hawaii Film Critics for Best Actress by Mia Goth and Best Horror Film. So yeah, mainly smaller, um, smaller organizations recognized it, but it seemed to have a nice amount of buzz
Reginald Titus Jr.: Mhm.
Casey G. Smith.: because again, I heard about and saw the trailer for Pearl before I saw anything for X, which of course came out before. Uh, but it's, it seems to have a nice following now. People are excited because you informed me last week that, you know, there's going to be a a third film
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith.: and it's now going to be a trilogy that will of course follow, now we're going the opposite direction. We're going towards the, quote unquote, future, as we look to MaXXXine.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: With of course, three, three X's.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Triple X.
Casey G. Smith.: So, uh, but yeah, so there's, I mean, it it seems to be well received and I think people are, are excited to see these different kind of takes on the horror/slasher genre,
Reginald Titus Jr.: Mhm.
Casey G. Smith.: and, and what the combination of what, you know, Ti West and, and Mia Goth are able to accomplish, so.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I'm in.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, sign up for that for sure. Um, and just the marketing, again, it's been great. Seeing just Mia on the front cover of X, and she looks like a, like her character, she looks like a completely different woman as Pearl. I mean, she is, of course, but it's the same person, you know what I mean? Like, Michael Douglas, uh, Bruce Willis can't do that. Uh, they look the same character.
Casey G. Smith.: And there's there is something about it. When I first saw the trailer for Pearl, I was like, what is this? Like, it looked dark, but creepy, but I was still intrigued. And I and it is because it's pulling in that, that technicolor,
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: you know, uh, old Hollywood vibe.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. So like just it's inviting the, the cover of this film. It's it makes you want to purchase it. Like I saw the Blu-ray for X at Walmart. I was like, what is this? This lady looking at me with her overalls on X, you know what I mean? But it's like kind of more seductive. And then you look at this one, it's the same woman, but she her hands are bloody, she's got this axe. He like, dang, I want to purchase it. It's like,
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. But there's you but you know there's something, that's blood aside, you know there's something off about her. You're like, what's, what's going on? There's something about Mia Goth that's just slightly She's, yeah. She's, she's attractive, but it's like, there's something slightly, within the, within the, within character. I'm not talking about her as a person, but as the portrayal of of Pearl, you're like, yeah, something off here. Can't quite put my finger on it. If I did, I might lose it, but there's something not quite right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What did I do wrong?
Casey G. Smith.: Are you scared of me?
Reginald Titus Jr.: People tell me polite.
Casey G. Smith.: What is it say? Yes. I mean, they're we're getting, we're getting spoilers. We'll talk about, you can tell we're excited to talk about this.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's a good film.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. Hell.

What We're Watching & News
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, but before we talk further about Pearl, let's talk about TV, news and movies.
Casey G. Smith.: So, according to Variety, box office Scream 6 scares up franchise best with $44 million debut.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Man, I want to watch that one.
Casey G. Smith.: Yes, sir. Scream 6 collected $44.5 million in its opening weekend, a scary good start for Paramount and Spyglass Media's long running slasher series. Uh, those ticket sales were enough to top domestic box office charts over the two newcomers, Sony's prehistoric 65 and the heartwarming comedy Champions, as well as last week's victor Creed 3.
Casey G. Smith.: So yeah, some good stuff happening at the box office. And yes, Scream 6 coming in with its, its best opening.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Nice.
Casey G. Smith.: today. Which is impressive. That's like it's built up, it built back up. I'm that is impressive. I think again, of course, the for y'all who are maybe new to Filmmaker Commentary, we've covered the Scream films,
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes.
Casey G. Smith.: all of them.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Please go back and and and give a listen to the episodes. Spotify, SoundCloud, Stitcher Radio, uh, iTunes, and so on. But the, the last one we covered, uh, Scream 5,
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: introduced new blood, uh, in the form of one Jenna Ortega.
Casey G. Smith.: Literally, yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, and also Melissa Barrera.
Casey G. Smith.: Mhm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And it, it jolted new energy into the franchise.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And and that still holds true. I actually had the pleasure of seeing
Casey G. Smith.: Oh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Scream 6 this weekend.
Casey G. Smith.: I'm jealous.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You should be. No, just kidding. No, no. It's, uh, yeah, I I I did enjoy it for sure.
Casey G. Smith.: When I saw, when we saw the first one, uh, I mean Scream 5 and before I knew who Ortega was, and seeing like just her character just, I'm like, who is this? Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Who is this young lady? Like she, she steals it. I'm like, man, and she has this curdling cry. Apparently she's been acting for a very long time.
Casey G. Smith.: Since she was eight?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, so it's like, okay, she's a she's a a vet. And so
Casey G. Smith.: She's blowing up right now. Right now it's her and Jonathan Majors. Like they are like, and they're both in both films that I saw this weekend. I saw Creed 3 as well and doing their things. And actually I I watched Jenna host SNL. She hosts SNL this weekend. She can, she can do it all. She can do comedy, she can And it was actually a pretty funny episode of SNL. There's a road trip sketch that, that skit that was, that was pretty, pretty funny.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: But yeah, but also while she was hosting, it she talked to everybody how, you know, how long she's been acting and they showed a clip from her very first commercial.
Reginald Titus Jr.: As a little girl.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, it was like a toothpaste commercial. Colgate toothpaste commercial.
Reginald Titus Jr.: She's a vet, bro.
Casey G. Smith.: Yes, she is. But uh yeah, that's what's going on in the news. What have you been watching, Reginald?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, so last time I talked about Ozark. Ozark is one of those shows that people have been telling me about, you know, I've been from different walks of life. People have been telling me about Ozark. I'm like, it looks, you know, you look at it, you're like, that's desaturated, it's kind of blues, like, I don't know. It's got Jason, uh, Bateman.
Casey G. Smith.: Yes, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Got him in it. He kind of plays a straight guy or whatever. It just always, usually that's his thing. But this character's a little different. Um, I'm like, I don't know. And then just finally decided to dive in. I was like, okay, now's the time. Let's go ahead and dive in. And, uh, it's we're me and my wife were in the rabbit hole of Ozark World.
Casey G. Smith.: How many episodes in? How many seasons in?
Reginald Titus Jr.: We're on season 3 now.
Casey G. Smith.: Holy smokes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And each episode's like 50 minutes, something like that. So, yeah, that's, that's a wrap. It's a commitment. And it has the same style as House of Cards. So if anybody, if y'all watched House of Cards back in the day, same thing. So it's got more
Casey G. Smith.: Now, it it went what, four or five seasons?
Reginald Titus Jr.: House of Cards?
Casey G. Smith.: No, uh, Ozark's.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, it's on four, I believe. I think it's at four. And I'm I don't know anything about season 4 or anything like that. So I don't know if it's closed off. If there's anything coming back, if, you know, everybody gets, gets the nick, you know, I don't know. Um, but I, I call this genre sophisticated debauchery.
Casey G. Smith.: Oh, the SD.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Or SD, the SD. What you have like, you know, your upper middle class, white, and, you know, you they're, it comes off as they're living the straight narrow path, America. And then you discover there's more to their success. That we saw in House of Cards and, you know, we see that here in Ozark. And I was like, oh man, this is, I can see why the whole country's kind of talking about this.
Casey G. Smith.: The way that they got there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Man. Yeah. So anyhow, I I definitely would recommend it. Um, everything that's in House of Cards is in this film. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: Okay, okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: All the sins are covered. I'm sorry. They pick your picalos. We've got them all. Absolutely. Um, so one thing I want to mention before I dive into the things that I've been watching, I mentioned a couple of trailers
Casey G. Smith.: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: that I had the privilege of being privy to while at the theater. So, uh, one was for Evil Dead Rise.
Casey G. Smith.: What?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Bro, you know, obviously we cover horror here time to time on Filmmaker Commentary and we have specifically covered Evil Dead,
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: uh, and Evil Dead 2.
Casey G. Smith.: This trailer, dude, I was like, no. Like, I, I, I, I will not be watching this.
Reginald Titus Jr.: See, you can tell by this trailer.
Casey G. Smith.: No, no, here's the thing. Oh. Very well done.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, for different reasons.
Casey G. Smith.: Scary as hell.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Really?
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. Like this is not Sam Raimi. This is, there's no comic relief in this. There's no slapstick. This is, oh my God, I was like, oh, no.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Directed by Satan.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, somebody, you know, uh, you know, uh, It's Evil Dead Rise? Evil Dead Rise. It's, bro, yeah, yeah, you can look up the trailer for yourself. I was like, oh, no, this is, my word. I am, I am, no. Yeah, no. Some things you can just tell. Bro, it was, it was disturbing. It was disturbing. That's hard to do these days too. You got to be tapped into a certain kind of energy to pull it off, I believe these days.
Casey G. Smith.: They were siphoning that energy and it was prevalent on screen. So yeah, Evil Dead Rise. Woof. Scary. Um, then there was a trailer for, I I've seen before but they play it again, called for The Blackening. I think we I think have you seen that trailer? The Blackening? The Blackening. I don't know.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So this one seems to take
Casey G. Smith.: I don't think so.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It it it and it just starts off and it kind of has, um, vibes of our man, uh, Jordan Peele vibes almost. But it's like, it's like a comedy though. And it's it's several black people. They're they're on this, you know, vacation together and they're in a location and all of a sudden they come across a game called The Blackening. They open it up and it's got like jigaboo imagery and they're like, what the hell is this and all that. And then as they start to play off, a video pops up and this guy's like, if y'all don't play the game, so and so is going to get killed and, you know, one of their friends has been captured and tied up and so now they have to go through this. Yeah, and there's all kinds of tropes. It it looks it looks it looks entertaining. It looks funny. Um, but it's dealing obviously with with a bunch of tropes in horror and and black people in horror.
Casey G. Smith.: Wow.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. The Blackening. Uh, also, I saw a trailer for another reboot of Haunted Mansion. This one has Rosario Dawson in it, Lakeith Stanfield. It looked it looked okay. You know, Haunted Mansion never really been my thing. It it looked
Casey G. Smith.: That was one of Eddie Murphy, right?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Mhm. Yeah. It's okay. Then of course, the one that's been seeing a lot of commercials and trailers for this one, but Air, you know, starring, um,
Casey G. Smith.: Oh, yes, Affleck. Yeah, Ben Affleck and then starring, um, I'm blanking on his name. I'm looking, I'm seeing his face.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Was Viola Davis in that one?
Casey G. Smith.: Uh, yeah, she's playing like Michael Jordan's mother in that one. And also, I mean, the main star of it is our, um, Ben Affleck's like best buddy. Uh, Damon. Oh, Matt Damon. Matt Damon, yeah. So yeah, Matt Matt Damon, it it the more and also again, you you got Jason Bateman, he's, uh, he's in it as well. Yeah, I mean it it looks good. Like the more I see it, I'm like, yeah, I want to kind of check this out. Yeah. But they're definitely going for Oscar vibes with that one. I can just tell the way it's structured, I'm like, okay, they they're trying to go for that, that Oscar.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Man. So the the company I mean Michael Jordan built a billion dollar company out of that.
Casey G. Smith.: And the whole trailer gives you that impression cause like Nike was struggling, like struggling bad and they, they banked everything on a rookie. Made it, made a shoe before he even played the house that Jordan built. No doubt. They say that with Mary Max like the house that Tarantino built. Like they have their like key people. They're like, whatever you want to do, you, you get the green light because without you, no billion.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, that's cool when you can get that that respect, put some respect on their name. You know. And then, and then when they deliver and both these guys, they they definitely have delivered in their careers. Absolutely. And then the last trailer is, is one with Jennifer Lawrence and it's it's a comedy. It's called No Hard Feelings.
Casey G. Smith.: Mhm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It it it looks hilarious. It's basically Jennifer Lawrence. She's kind of a bit of a, sex positive. Let's call it. A sex positive person.
Casey G. Smith.: What does that mean?
Reginald Titus Jr.: She likes to have sex. Oh, a nympho. That's good. Is that negative?
Casey G. Smith.: Possibly yeah, possibly. Maybe maybe maybe you could say sex positive, but yeah, she's a very active, sexually active person.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Sexually positive. that that that actually came up, uh, in Scream, like somebody said that, oh, they said, you're, you're a, you know, they called her, there was one girl whore, slut or whatever. She's like, sex positive. I was like, that's, okay. So I, I literally just regurgitating that. But anyway, uh, Jennifer Lawrence is very, um, active and she sees and she she's got no, she's a Uber driver but has no car. She's just like got some, some weird life choices going on and she sees an ad to date some young guy. The parents put this ad out there like, you know, because he's super introverted and you know, if you date our son and we'll, you know, give you a Buick, some kind of vehicle or whatever. So she tries to do that, but this this kid is so introverted and he had like every all of her wily tricks aren't working on him. And it's just, it's just chaos ensuing throughout. But the trailer it's it's it's hilarious. I've seen it twice and and both times, man, I was I was pretty much dying laughing. When's it drop? Or is it just a summer thing? I don't remember the the date the release date, but but it's coming out this year. In the in the next couple of months. No Hard Feelings. All right. Yes, sir. But that's those are my trailers. Um,
Casey G. Smith.: One more film I've watched. Watched this with the film with the family last Friday. Of course, it's our horror day. Chucky 2.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh. I haven't seen that one in a long, long time.
Casey G. Smith.: Dude, I kind of forgot like some of the stuff like, I don't remember some of this, cuz you just kind of remember some of the set pieces like, the main set pieces, everything goes down at the warehouse.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I wouldn't have remembered. It's been it's been at least 20 years. It's been a while. More than that, probably 30 years since I've seen Chucky 2. So we've seen the first Chucky, of course, it was probably a couple months ago or a month ago, something. We saw the first Chucky. No, it was probably about three weeks ago. Saw the first Chucky, and I never seen the first Chucky. Like I've I started out with the with Chucky 2. Yeah, so I mean, because with Chucky 2, you can just, you can kind of dive into that world. Right. So I remember when that one came out. Um, and we watched 2 and 3 over and over again. Um, so I was like, I saw Chucky, the first one for the first time, a few weeks ago. I was like, oh, okay. Oh, you had you were So when we covered Child's Play, the remake, you hadn't seen the original yet, still. I forgot about that. Yeah. So, it was hilarious. Chucky 2 is funny. Okay. Cause in that one, that's when they had a little bit more budget, and then they had the puppeteering where they can actually make them make the faces and stuff like that. Like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuff going on. Right. Um, and he had way more dialogue. Like just funny dialogue. So like there's one scene where, um, they rebuilt Chucky, the manufacturer rebuilt Chucky because of all the stuff that went down. They're trying to get the good guy. The good guy. They rebuilt him. And so all these good guys have different names like, hey, my name is Tommy. I'm Danny. I'm Bobby. Like that's all like they're different names. Charles Lee Ray. Yes. So he makes his way back to where Andy's new foster home is. And there's a, uh, um, another good guy doll there. And he said, hey, my name is Tommy. So. So Chucky gets this doll and like just like bludgeons it. And then like in the backyard, it's like dark and he's like digging a uh, uh, what do you call it for him? A grave? Yeah, for the dog. And then it's funny cuz he's like the dirt like falls on the face. You can see the close up of the dirt going on his face. And he's like, eat dirt, Tommy. And then he puts on more dirt on his face. The kids were just dying laughing when he was doing that.
Casey G. Smith.: That's crazy.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh man, that was it was that that was a good time.
Casey G. Smith.: The kids, they they enjoyed it though?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, they're not scared anymore.
Casey G. Smith.: All right, that's cool.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They're they're scared if I buy them a doll though, cuz I still threaten them with that. I was like, hey, you know, I'm I'm going to buy you a Chucky doll. So they're like adamant. No.
Casey G. Smith.: Do you know my my best friend, he's he's he's he's the same way. He was like, if I were to ever see a Chucky doll on my doorstep, I would freak out. And I'm like, where can I find a Chucky doll?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, they're available. So I'm like, I'm what I was thinking about doing, maybe the oldest one, I might do them like that. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to do it. And like just kind of sneaking in the room and just like plop it there.
Casey G. Smith.: Just yeah, have it sit there. Just have it sit there. So when they wake up, it's sitting. Oh my gosh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh man. That oh, that'll be great. Um, so I've been I've been figuring it out.
Casey G. Smith.: I bet you look up some YouTube videos where people have done that to people. They've they've somehow put, like I I saw a a Instagram clip of some guy he he had placed like a almost like a a table tray on his bed and or a chair maybe it was a chair, but it was something where he could lay on top of it and then he put the sheets over himself. So it looked like he was like floating out of bed. And then and his girlfriend or wife is laying next to him. And like and the and the camera is a little further back from them where she's closer to the camera, but you see him just kind of elevated and his his arms are kind of, you know, laying down towards the sheets and he just starts moaning. He's like, And then all of a sudden she wakes up and she just starts like praying over like I don't know what language she's praying in, but she just starts praying over trying to like cast out this spirit. She's like, And everything and he's like, she's like, like, you know, like, you're not going to take him. You're not going to take him. But oh, and somebody put the comments, her love for him was real.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's real.
Casey G. Smith.: It was it was it was pretty hilarious. But, um, I've also been watching, again, I mentioned I saw Scream 6. Yeah. And uh, yeah, quite enjoyable. It all still works. Um, you know, we get a uh, a character that returns. The twins, the the twins return. Yeah, like almost like like all the main, the main ones from the previous one, they're all back in this one. Perfect. I can't wait to see it. Yeah, man. Definitely worth checking out. Uh, also, I saw Creed 3. Michael B. Jordan's directorial debut, Creed 3. And that it also hits. I I I before I went in, I I I rewatched Creed 1 and about 90% of Creed 2 going into it. So I could kind of, you know, be re-up on it. And, um, man, as always, man, Jonathan Majors is always bringing it. Uh, and and and, you know, Michael B. Jordan, obviously he's great. Tessa Thompson is great, but there's a little girl. I think her name is Maya. But she's, she's deaf. Cause if you remember at the end at the end of, uh, or in in the second Creed, like their child is born and and she has some hearing hearing impairments. And she's genetic from her mom. Right. But she's like, but their daughter, she's completely deaf. And so they they're using sign language. And they're they're signing with her the whole film.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's different.
Casey G. Smith.: It is. It's beautiful though. Cause I mean, I I human. Yeah. And I, you know, I studied ASL in high school and I still remember a lot of it. So I I I love when I see sign language in in a film. It it it hits me a certain kind of way. But they're communicating. It's it's quite awesome. And, um, just the, the backstory and the dynamic between Creed and, uh, Damian, how's it feel to be me? But one of my, yeah. Yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna give anything away.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, no spoilers. Ah.
Casey G. Smith.: All all I'll say is this that is when, cause obviously we know they're going to fight, right? At the end of the movie. Right? That's the that's the the lead up. But I'll just say this, you will you will appreciate the song that Damian comes out to when, uh, when he comes out to the ring, you're like, All right. Yeah, you'll you'll you'll appreciate it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: All right. Yes, sir.
Casey G. Smith.: But yeah, Creed 3, Scream 6, digging them. And I'm still also burning through Yellowstone. I watched a couple more episodes of that. That's that that is living up to his reputation. Tulsa King is still one of my favorite shows that I watch. I man, Stallone and Tulsa King. Yeah, that's one of my favorite shows. Uh, and that's kind of it. you know, I've, uh,
Reginald Titus Jr.: Mhm.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, had much time for too much too much else this week. And still, you know, uh, still doing the Mandalorian, uh, Abba Elementary. Again, that's my I always always whenever a new episode is up, I always watch that. Yeah, all that still still doing its thing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And, uh, today's show is sponsored by
Casey G. Smith.: Natural Hair The Movie by Grinder of Matter Films, available to stream on Tubi as well as on Roku, the Roku channel on Demand. Please check it out and leave a review.

Film Analysis: Pearl
Reginald Titus Jr.: And now let's jump back into the show. Thank you for tuning in Filmmaker Commentary. We're talking about Pearl, 2022, co-written, produced, and directed by Ti West, distributed by A24. And also see Lines get on here. Hmm. Now, let's jump into the synopsis. Trapped on her family's isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she's seen in the movies, Pearl's ambitions, temptations, and repressions all collide. Pearl, an extraordinary origin story. And if this is your origin story or first time listening to Filmmaker Commentary, please know that there will be spoilers. You've been forewarned. Jumping right into it. What's our You want to present our cast?
Casey G. Smith.: Yes. So, the cast of Pearl consists of one Mia Goth as Pearl, one David Corenswet as the Projectionist. Tandi Wright as Ruth, who I believe played the mother. Yes, that was the mother. Matthew Sunderland as father. Emma Jenkins-Purro as Misty. Alistair Sewell as Howard. And Amelia Reid as Margaret.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.
Casey G. Smith.: Those are the, okay, all name the, there's four other people who don't even have IMDb profiles but pictures, but there's Gabe McDonald who plays woman, Lauren Stewart, who is the pianist, I guess in the in the church scene. Yeah. And then Todd Rippon, who is the director. And Grace Acheson as the ticket taker.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Hmm.
Casey G. Smith.: That's all we have listened on IMDb for Pearl.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I I can dig it. Um, how did you watch this film?
Casey G. Smith.: Watched it on Blu-ray yesterday. First time.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. How about you, sir?
Casey G. Smith.: Same. Uh, watched it today. I tried watching it. I got it on Blu-ray. I just went on and purchased it. Um, went to Walmart and it was there. I was like, wow, they are selling this thing like hot cakes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I ordered mine off Amazon.
Casey G. Smith.: Um, yeah, watched it on Blu-ray. I tried watching it last night, but I was like, my brain couldn't do it. I was too tired.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Mhm.
Casey G. Smith.: I was like, yes, it's not going to be a good experience. Turn this off. So I so I finished it up today. And good. I think I like X better.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Agreed.
Casey G. Smith.: Um, but this, you know, I see what they're doing. It's like a little magic trick. You know, it's like, hey, we're here. We got the house. We making another movie. So that's what it feels like. Um, and then it looked like they're having fun with it. So yeah, but still entertaining nonetheless. Um, what did you like or not like about the film?
Casey G. Smith.: Um, I did like, I liked the performances. I I like the dialogue, some of the things that are said, especially some of the There's two like long takes, one with the with the mother when she's talking about, you know, having to take care of the dad, and then at the end with Pearl when she's closing her eyes and talking about how she feels about life when she's talking to Ruth. Like that that was a hell of a long take.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It was a monologue like crazy.
Casey G. Smith.: I was like, wow, it was impressive cause there was no like break. There was one like really break where it cut back to Ruth, but then it just stayed on Pearl. Mhm. I was like, whoa. So, um, yeah, and just some of the the the the techniques and kind of nostalgia and emulation of that, uh, period of filmmaking is, uh, is pretty cool.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. For me, I like the how concise it is. You know, it's kind of same thing with X. It's like, there's not too much fluff in it. It's like, we're getting straight to the point and we're not going to force you to stay with us. We're going to end this thing. That's true. And so I can appreciate that, you know. I can appreciate that. There's there's a little bit of humor in it. And, you know, obviously we always cover tropes on here, but like they're they're, you know, those those tropes are, are, are definitely there and, um, but yeah, there's like some tongue in cheek kind of humor in it. And and and now like knowing who Pearl becomes and seeing her at this age, at this younger age, like there there's some some of that came across as funny to me. Yeah. Not like in a bad way, but I just, you know, it's it's kind of, I don't feel like you're in in on the joke a little bit, but it's some it's a little it's a little ridiculous. It's like, oh this this this girl is wild. Yeah, she's off. Oh yeah. So this, uh, as far as the special features, there was no commentary. We have any commentary on this one. Um, did you like watch any special features or like any like kind of interviews with Ti West or Mia?
Casey G. Smith.: Yes, I watched the two special features that are on the the Blu-ray. It's pretty quick. Um, there is one that's about 11 minutes long and it's simply called, uh, Coming Out of Her Shell, The Creation of Pearl. And then there is the Time After Time featurette, which is, God, what was that one? I think that one might might be just like maybe five minutes, maybe. Yeah. Seem kind of short. Yeah, but that one was a quick, but the 11 minute one was worthwhile. It gave some nice little insights. And then I watched a couple of interviews with with Ti West and with and and with Mia Goth, just them talking about how it all came together and just different people just about about three different interviews that I watched that were on YouTube. They weren't included on the Blu-ray. These were outside sources. Um, but yeah, that that was about it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Same. I think I watched the one, the creation of Pearl, that's the feature that I saw on the Blu-ray. And then while driving here, I was just listening to, um, an interview on YouTube. It was like a podcast and they were actually interviewing him like the zoom call. Um,
Casey G. Smith.: Was it with the lady? Yeah. Was she asking some kind of redundant questions?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. She was I was like, I was like, are you listening to the answers? Cause one was like, well, what would you have done if if if if things the collaboration didn't work out with with me and he's like, well, I would have not done it because she is Pearl. Yeah, I just that's the one I did watch. I'm like, well did you have a backup plan? No, like we just, we did this because Mia is Pearl and it's like, I was like, why are you I got kind of annoyed by that. I'm like, you're asking the same questions with a different way. Like you're not listening to his answers. Like you just on to the next one, like, was this your plan the whole time? Uh, no. We did this because Mia Goth is Pearl and as we worked on and developed X, we decided that, hey, why don't we give this a shot? So, do a little research, people.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. But just listen to the answers.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And you can kind of tell, uh, listen to some of these interviews like podcasters or people that are, you know, whatever, they're they're journalists and media, so-called journalists or whatever. They may not be too, uh, they're not used to interviewing people in that way. And so, uh, they seem unprepared or they're just throwing crap out there.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, there's this was one of the most glaring ones. I was like, man, she's asking, like she's not paying attention to his answers. She's just waiting to ask her next question. Nonetheless, though, it was uh, you know, Ti is very, he seems he seems he seems like a genuinely nice guy. And at least very professional and accommodating and I always like seeing when there could be collaborations between people for future projects and, you know, obviously with him and Mia, they got a good thing going with this. The Pearl trilogy, I don't know, or the X trilogy, I guess it maybe it'll be called. An extraordinary trilogy. An extraordinary trilogy. There you go.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, what did you like or dislike?
Casey G. Smith.: Um, primarily I like the short again. I like how it was short. It's to the point, digestible and I can appreciate the style of it. Mhm. It's different from X. Even though I like that style more, it feels a little bit more grounded. This one feels more satirical in a way. Yeah. Um, but I can appreciate it for what it is. It it feels like the the hidden reality. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Even like with the with the music and the score and everything, I mean, they really leaned, they totally leaned into it. And even the the graphics that they use throughout and they're even with some of the things, the special features kind of have some of those graphics that work. I think at the end of that first featurette, then when they put up the the name of the company that produced it and it was like, I was like, okay, that was It's like at a diagonal and it kind of goes up across the screen. Unfolds across the screen. I'm like, they're sticking with this. It reminds me of when, um, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, when they were doing the grind house films, specifically Planet Terror, you know, and how they were presenting the the text and all that. Um, that's what it reminds me of big time.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, really just capturing capturing that era and all the the kind of the visual tricks, uh, visual language that that they used.
Casey G. Smith.: What type of tone do you think it was tapping into?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, I said old Hollywood, Wizard of Oz and pandemic vibes.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, for sure the pandemic because like we're in the American audience isn't used to anything kind of pandemic as, you know, currently. Yeah. Before the before the actual pandemic in 2020. So we like, when we see other countries that have the mask on, we're like, hm, you know, is that neces is that you know, that serious, you know. Is it really that big of a deal? Right. We're just ignorant. And so it's uh, but after living through, You're gonna learn today. Yeah. After living through you're gonna learn today what the pandemic is. Right. And so now you can actually without living through a pandemic, I think we'd be more detached to this film. But now that we live through a pandemic, when they have the mask on and we see her dad sick from, you know, the elements that's going on and you're like, we can kind of relate now, you know. And I think it's I mean, and you could tell they made this during the pandemic where they said it right, right in the height of it. And so they incorporated that in. I thought that was pretty smart. Yeah. They got the mask on and he's like, yes, it's a pandemic. It's like, it is. Yeah. Even though it's 1918 in this film. Well, I mean, when when was when did the Spanish flu? When was that taking place? Well, I'm assuming it was around this time. So this is 1918. And so that's what the period this takes place. So that's just what I'm assuming that's happening. Yeah. I was thinking this must be the Spanish flu, but Yeah. Yeah, man. So that that's awesome. Um, I also like how they opened when they, like, how how he did the push through, uh, Ti West did the push through from the barn. And we think it's in like a 4x3 aspect ratio and it pushes out into wide. It's like, oh, it's kind of playing home watch too. Like the older films, but in this one he does the same push out, but we are in, you know, we're already in the wide frame. But it just it's just a different feel and it's like very beautiful. Like so, like the vibe that you think is going to be a different film than a horror film just from the color grade. Oh, yeah. It starts off lively and bright. And he goes dark. Just like X starts off like a kind of grounded seventies, you know, fun feature and goes, you know, becomes a horror, becomes horror. I mean, they yeah, they they start off kind of emulating their their time, their that decade, that period and and just just twist it on you. So, uh, I do I do like again with that that opening, uh, credits like right as it shows the the title of Pearl, right as she's stabs the goose and is literally, you know, flicking it into the alligator's mouth. It's like, Pearl. I was like, like the freeze frame. Yeah, I'm like, that's cool. I don't know why I was like, that is really cool. And then at the very end when it's, you know, credits are rolling and she's just there smiling and holding that smile. I was going to put that as far as my memorable scenes. Tears coming out. I was like. So yeah, we got yeah, so basically, what happened, oh, so I might as well build that scene up. So like in that scene, her while their her dead parents are at the table. Yeah. They've been dead for running pig. Yeah, the pig's mouth there for at least a couple weeks. It's disgusting. Totally disgusting. And she puts it on the table with all the other crap in her decomposing parents. Then she thinks her I she assumed her husband was coming back, but at one point she kind of lost like kind of faith in that. Husband comes back from the war. He's like, hey, she's like, glad, I don't know what the line was, but I'm glad you're back, honey, or something like that. Yeah, we're going to make a a good life together and I'll and and and we'll live here forever, whatever and I'll be the best wife that I can be. So she, you know, like, hey, welcome back basically and she's smiling and it's just fake weird demonic smile. It's awkward. And she just holds it, which normally they could freeze frame on that. But Ti West asked her to just, we're going to try something, just just hold that smile as long as you can. Yeah. And it was about three minutes of her holding that. And it's it's not only awkward because we we know all the horrible things she's done at this point. Yeah. And she's just holding it. And holding it. And we're waiting for her to break. And she's not blinking either. That's the other thing. I was like, she's not blinking. Yeah. And just holding the smile. And then the tears come down from her eyes. Yeah. And her eyes are watering. It's awkward as hell. Like you you feel you makes you uncomfortable. You're like, oh, that. And then poor Howard just came in and he's horrified. You know, he's like, I'm Where's see my wife and give me some. But uh I've got I've got I've got questions at the end. I'll save this for that. Yeah. Indeed. So yeah, that scene is, yeah. Any who. Hey, hey, got a way to end. The music, um, I should have looked up who did the music. Tyler Bates. Tyler Bates. Tyler Bates and somebody Williams because remember they mentioned they won some awards for their for their work. So they had a 60 piece orchestral score and it it does have that feeling of like the old Hollywood. It's like, man, they it's like 85 minutes of music that they composed to this movie. Like, wow, this is well done. It brings the rise and all the falls, all that. Yeah, it's it's it is on it, man. It's funny when she's going she's riding in the town. Looking like Mary Poppins and the music is kind of playing along. I was like, that looks like Mary Poppins. Like I thought that. See me, I get straight Wizard of Oz, Wizard of Oz, wicked whisk witch of the West or the woman who who who is also plays the wicked witch cuz she's riding on that bike like. Like that's that's straight up the vibes I get every time. I'm like. And I saw it. I was like, from just from a visual reference like seeing on that tall bike and then that that hat that's so tall. And then, you know, Ti West says, hey, that was a Mary Poppins thing. And then another one that he referenced on it. So he actually referenced Mary Poppins. So I was like, that's what I got from it. But, um, there's, uh, the music that follows, uh, Pearl, it reminds me of like Jaws, when she's like kind of when she's on her way going somewhere like. Yeah. Like, yep, we should be afraid of this one. Absolutely. But freight, some's not right with me. Like I don't have something that everybody else has. Yeah. She yeah, and people say that I'm not well. She I'm not well. Like they said it several times. In X and I think Howard said it about her in and in the first film. I think her mom said something and then she said it about herself. I'm like, that line keeps appearing. She's not well, everybody. Uh, what kind of style do you think they were um, going for? I know we kind of touched a little bit with um, kind of like tone. Yeah, again, old Hollywood, Technicolor. Yeah. And I think it's digital. Uh, when I was looking at some of the behind the scenes stuff, the the camera looked kind of small. I wonder if it was shot with the Ari or the red, but it looked like a small footprint. Let's see here. Um, from an editing standpoint because uh, I know he edits this film too. Um, the split screen. You see the split screen again. Like as he's shooting two sequences and you puts those together. Um, specifically when, um, I think she's putting together the the meal. I forgot what she's doing in her red dress, but that's when he does a little split screen. Mm, right, right, right. He did, he did utilize that once. Uh, I don't know what it was shot and it's not showing it here in in IMDb at least. Oh, no worries. Sound mix is Dolby Atmos. That's uh, boom. Um, do you have anything as far as like style? Not particularly. Again, that it's just trying to emulate the past and really really make it feel like that that that old time classic Hollywood to give you that vibe. With a character that's so like dark and broken. This is like she's like she's she's like a like a broken Dorothy. Yeah. It's like, oh. A broken Dorothy, absolutely. Uh, what kind of themes did you pull from this film? Oh, boy. Uh, thematically speaking, I had themes of, I'm special. Man. Fantasy, jealousy, malice, rot, and self-fulfilling prophecy. True. I just had like other death. Like death just follows this poor child. Like it starts out with, hey, Mr. Goose. Stab. She stabs the goose in the barn and feeds it to an alligator. I'm like, ooh. Yeah. This pitchfork's going to be it. And it's weird cuz like, you know, you you when you think about like, you know, kind of classic good period characters, they always have a relationship with animals. Yeah. You know, like, you know, you've got Cinderella singing and birds coming and landing on her hands and fingers. True. Um, yeah, and you have, you know, Dorothy singing somewhere over the rainbow and she's talking to the animals on the farm. Got Toto. Right, right, Toto. Yeah, of course. Like, like, and she, I mean, not Mia, but uh, Pearl has a has a cow. Yeah. You know. Stop looking at me like that. When she she's The cow was like, all right. I'm like, he was like, oh, you know, it's like she's got this she's closest almost to the alligator as she feeds the goose to. It's like, you are not right. She's not well. But at the same time, it's it's weird because you kind of root for her. Even when it when it gets up to the point of her going to do this big audition. You don't really want her to fail. Cuz you don't want people to die cuz of her anger. Maybe maybe that's it. You're like, cuz if if cuz it's like, oh, if it goes bad for her, everybody's screwed. Yeah, pretty much. Like she she goes down. She take it all of us with her. I have to win. Next. I was like, just, excuse me. That that the tension on that scene played out quite lovely. Yeah. Cause you knew we I mean, as much as we didn't want to fail, we already knew because it's a prequel that she did fail. And it was just a matter of, okay, are these judges going to be, are they going to survive? Or she going to flip out and somehow murk all of them? Dang. Oh, boy. But yeah, those you just mentioned, uh, that's a death. Yes, that's pretty much. It's over. It's the . It's probably for the whole trilogy. It's like they just follows her. Death. But still still going to bless the meal. After the fact. Pearl just ain't right. Um, uh, trivia. Do you have any anything for trivia? Little bit of trivia. Um, so Mia and and Ti, they created this whole backstory while working on X. And they wrote the script within six weeks. Dang. I wonder how long it took him to write X versus Pearl. I'm sure X took took longer. Because, I mean, Pearl's plot's pretty pretty simple. Not that X. super simple. Yeah, but Pearl's plot is like, okay. Yeah. It seemed like just X has a little bit more thought into every scene. Every sequence. Sure. Yeah, this Pearl is is simple and it it spun out pretty quick. Uh, yeah, I'll say, you know, get in, get out. Just kind of give you an idea of what happened, you know, why why why she is the way she is, but kind of she was always that way and finally just I don't know. It's like I say she you want to say she snapped, but I know she was she was always been off. She killed more people before she failed than than after. I'm I mean, you know, at least as far as what we saw. Cause I like, oh no, she like mom, dad, you know, projectionists, they're all dead before she even got told next. Next. Um, there was like a after they shot X, there was like a three week period of getting the art direction ready for Pearl. Excuse me. Um, they originally wanted to shoot Pearl in all black and white. Good choice. Not too. Yeah, and then they were told no by the studio. So they only have a few scenes that are in black and white in the film. Good for A24. Yeah, that would have that would have been rough. Again, I'm not answering black and white. But sometime like this this would have been yeah, much rougher if if I mean, I think they could have potentially maybe have done the Wizard of Oz thing where it started off black and white. And then at one point something happens and then it all becomes color. It would have been cool if they shot it black and white, but they shot it like with an older camera. So it like it looked officially authentic. Mhm. Um, it probably wouldn't have done as well, uh, financially, uh, but at least it probably would be true to its time. Yeah. But I think I think they did fine with uh, going the route that they went. Yeah, this yeah, this was the good move. That was a better move. Yeah, they surely did. Yeah, everybody gets their salary and uh, let's knock this out in a few weeks. Yeah. So yeah, that all worked out. And of course all this was shot in uh, New Zealand. Yeah, in New Zealand.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I like it. I like it a lot. Um, what are we I , I would give this film 6 and a half, 7. Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. Agreed. I, um, I would recommend it to people that are, you know, they like horror or, you know, some of the satirical horror. Or if you're looking for just something like like different from your usual horror film. Yeah. Because it's yeah, it does have a different slant to it. You you don't I mean, you have I guess the the the killer next door, but we typically don't go back to like 19 Right. 20 something for for that kind of killer. So it it's got a different vibe to it because of that. And then to have a and then it being a prequel of another horror film. It's it's kind of scary when you kind of go back to these times and realize like what technology is not available. And you're like, dude, like, you can kind of get away with murder pretty easily. There's a lot of bodies. Yeah. There's a lot of bodies and before everybody became paparazzi, uh, enabled. Yeah. There was bodies. There were bodies everywhere. No drones in the sky, no local law enforcement having their cameras up. No news feeds. Nothing. Like no no no 24-hour news feed or no, man. Like I say. If you're missing, you're just missing. Yeah. If somebody didn't find you. Yeah. I mean, I guess people relied on dogs a lot. Yeah, they get your scent and track you down. But also people knew, they knew where they could hide a body and Oh, man. Yeah, that's just dark. Yeah, very dark. What do we watch next time? Next time, we are going to dive into the world of Quentin Tarantino. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, finally. Yes. And we're going to go and kick things off with one Jackie Brown. Yes. And they can catch us where?
Casey G. Smith.: Facebook.com/filmmakercommentary. We're also on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher Radio, and Spotify. We're on Twitter. He is at Reggie Titus. I'm at KCG Smith 32. We're also on the Gram at Filmmaker Commentary where we post episodes every week where you can find the link to listen. He is at Reginald Titus Jr., that's JR, and I'm at KCG Smith 32.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Until next time.
Casey G. Smith.: Peace. Respect.
Reginald Titus Jr.: