Scream star Jenna Ortega says the script for SXSW horror film X was 'the most outrageous thing I'd ever read'
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In A24's new, 1970s-set horror romp X, Jenna Ortega, Mia Goth, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, and Scott Mescudi (a.k.a. Kid Cudi) play the cast and crew of a porno called The Farmer's Daughter who are menaced by a pair of scary oldsters while filming in rural America.
"They rent out this farmhouse to shoot an adult film for the weekend," says Ortega, who starred in January's Scream. "Everybody is going into this with really high hopes, and the older couple they rented it from is maybe not the most inviting, and maybe a little bit too curious about what's going on. [The script was] the most outrageous thing I've ever read."
Christopher Moss/A24 'X'
X is written and directed by Ti West, whose previous credits include 2009's much-loved retro-horror film House of the Devil.
"I was a big fan of Ti's for a long time," says A Cure for Wellness and Suspiria actress Goth. "Even before finishing the script, I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of."
Goth plays one of the movie's performers, Maxine, while Ortega portrays a crew member, Lorraine.
"She's a conservative Southern Christian girl who's thrown into an adult film production, and it's kind of jarring and exciting for her," says Ortega.
Thought its story takes place in Texas, West shot X in New Zealand. "It's one of my favorite places I've ever been," says Ortega. "If I could live there, I would. The locations we were able to get really improved the quality of the film, at least visually, because everything was so stunning."
"It wasn't a very long shoot, but it was full-on," adds Goth.
Ortega is a former child actress whose films include 2013's Iron Man 3, but she admits to having been a little starstruck around one particular costar while shooting X.
"Scott Mescudi, I mean, I was a huge fan of his music and I tried not to make a big deal about that," she says. "But [he is] one of the nicest people. Also, I'd never seen him act before, so I was pleasantly surprised. He plays a real badass character."
X makes its world premiere March 13 at Austin's SXSW Festival. The film hits cinemas March 18.
Watch the trailer below.
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