news Ti West Says Mia Goth Deserved an Oscar for ‘Pearl’: It Would’ve Been ‘a Nice Addition’

Ti West is giving the Academy a new North Star.

In a new interview with The Independent, the “Pearl” and “X” filmmaker weighed in on the Academy Awards snubbing genre films including horror. West noted especially that lead star and collaborator Mia Goth deserved to be recognized at this year’s awards ceremony.

“It depends on how seriously you take something like the Oscars. If you take it very seriously, then maybe you’ll notice that a certain kind of movie isn’t there as much,” West said, “but also maybe the Oscars see themselves as more about movies that are representing a different message in a way. It’s hard to say.”

While West noted that he doesn’t “really” care about the Oscars, he added, “It would be dishonest to say winning an Oscar wouldn’t be awesome. I’m sure it would be great, but if it matters all that much to you, inevitably that’s going to make your life a downer.”

However, he said Goth “deserved” an Oscar for “Pearl” at the very least. She co-wrote the film with West.

“In my opinion she deserved it, but at the same time, I don’t feel that it takes anything away from what she did,” he said. [An Oscar] would have just been a nice addition.”

Goth previously said that the Oscars were “very political” and that a “change is necessary” to connect to the “wider public” of movie audiences.

As West continued with The Independent, box office numbers drive Hollywood and at times thwart smaller original films. “From a box office standpoint, certain prestige movies of this last year – COVID notwithstanding – have underperformed. If you’re going to make another movie like that, the metrics they’re going to be compared to are not great,” West said. “So, if you’re going to make a movie like one of those movies, you’re inevitably going to run into people saying, ‘But the movie you’re saying that your idea is like, made no money.’ And you’re having to be like, ‘OK, but this one will…?'”

The bankability of Marvel is hard to ignore, with the MCU also racking up multiple 2023 Oscar noms for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

“The thing that everyone always complains about is Marvel movies, but there will be something else after Marvel that people love and hate at the same time. That’s just how it goes,” West said. “To use Marvel as an example, they’re not in that business [of telling original stories]. They’re going to keep remaking ‘Spider-Man’ because that’s their thing, so that is unfortunately going to drown out some other things due to the scope of those movies. But they were never in the business of doing some small original story thing. Anyone in that business has been in the minority for some time, so it’s not new.”

The “MaXXXine” trilogy filmmaker concluded, “The difference for me, in the last 12 or so years, is that I’m not worried about what other people are doing as much. I got my own problems. I’m just trying to make this movie and somehow survive the process…and trying to stick the [franchise] landing.”
 
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