Actor MARTIN HENDERSON Talks X

As the New Zealand release of Ti West‘s X fast approaches, Jarret caught up with actor Martin Henderson (VIRGIN RIVER, THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT),  to talk about his role in the film, shaping his character and his experience on the production.

What was it about X that drew you to wanting to be in the film?

What struck me when I first read the script was, and I remember calling my manager because I knew Ti as a director and I had a lot of respect for him and it was an A24 film, So I knew it was going to be the coolest version of whatever they were making and it was being shot in New Zealand. The role was fantastic so I was like, oh, I’ve got to do this movie. And that was before reading the script, you know, so I read the script and I go confused about what I was supposed to feel. I was like, am I supposed to feel for these people? Am I supposed to think these guys are trash or liberators or, you know, it just, it challenged me in a way that I really didn’t expect typically for a horror film.

That intrigued me, I was like I have to speak with the director who had also written the script, to understand his vision and how he’s sort of exploring these themes of aging and that really appealed to me as it was unusual in a way. It wasn’t what I expected. I liked it. I sort of joke, but it’s kind of true. I like that the movie makes me think, but not very deeply and not for very long, you know, it’s like, it’s perfect entertainment.

Absolutely. And your character, Wayne, he’s a novice when it comes to working as the ringleader on an adult film with the crew, but he’s like a born leader. What were your reference points for the character, in terms of shaping him as that sort of leader?

Yeah. Good question. It was sort of a mix between sort of a football coach, Ti and I both talked about, you know, Wayne’s kind, he’s like the coach, he’s got this team of people that are going to go play this game and he wants them to win. And so it’s sort of using that kind of energy to rile them up and get them focused and keep them on target. But with an element of a used car salesman too. I had that template in my mind that he’d sell anything to anyone, even if they didn’t need it. And which sort of makes him quite endearing in a way. And it was important that had to have a degree of likability so that when things happen, we actually care. So it was getting that balance, I guess, but definitely a football coach was something Ti & I kept talking about.

You definitely achieved that, as Wayne was likeable, charismatic and a strong leader whilst still ultimately being a pornographer.

Exactly. I think Ti was very clear. He didn’t want him to be too sleazy as it’s quite easy to take a character like that, especially in the seventies with the costume. He’s already a strip bar owner, an opportunist and has a hot young girlfriend, so we needed balance, he needed to be more like likeable than sleazy. So yeah, it was about finding that balance.

In terms of working with Ti, he’s undeniably a modern master of horror, how did you find the process of collaborating with him on the film?

I mean, Ti is someone who welcomes your ideas and he really loves your enthusiasm. I think that means a lot to him. So when you’re  coming to him with like “I’m thinking about this for the character” or if it were wardrobe, hairstyle or even dialogue here and there, he was very receptive. He was very different to say Gore Verbinski, having shot THE RING with Gore then doing X with Ti, what I had noticed, how they were similar was they had very rigid, clear ideas about how certain things had to be done because unlike a drama, you know, there’s a technical side to horror filmmaking that has to be precise in order to create the right reaction, the surprise or the jump and even the comedy too.

And so Ti had a very clear idea of how everything should happen in a scene. So in some ways there was a rigidity there that at first I was like, oh, but I want to try this and I want to try that and he just said, no, no, I really wanted to be like this. And at first that’s quite challenging. You feel like you’re not being given the bandwidth to play around with stuff. Ultimately you just have to say well he’s the director and he wrote the film, I have to trust him. He knows what he’s doing. And then you see the movie and thank goodness you realize he was. There is definitely a period there where you have to kind of give the reigns over to him a bit, which is a little scary as an actor.

You mentioned working with Gore on THE RING and you’ve worked with Johannes Roberts on THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT prior to X. Do you feel there’s something unique to other genres about working with a director on a horror film?

I think that technical stuff I talked about is definitely something specific that I’ve noticed. Particularly if the director really knows what they’re doing and they really have a clear idea of how visually things have to be presented in order to have the right effect. I love that because there’s a lot of discussion on a set like that about atmosphere, you know, and the shots will be designed in order to create a sense of spookiness or foreboding or loneliness or airiness or, or surprise and, and especially with Ti. I mean I think the way he moved that camera around and all of the shots were so consciously built in order to generate the right moment and the right feeling as the story progressed. And I think he’s a master at it, like you said, and he’s emerged probably with this film more so than any of others film.

I think people like, wow, this guy’s a true filmmaker. Like he understands the world of cinema and the faux movie part within the movie is all about that. He’s using the pornography world as a way to do it. He’s like even porno movies can be art movies, you know, and he’s sort of saying even horror movies can be art. Like let’s don’t forget the art of cinema in our storytelling. And I think he’s right in his analysis, we’re losing the cinematic language in film and in horror movies particularly. And he wants to try to help restore that. And I think this movie goes a long way and showing people that you might not know you are missing it when you watch a horror movie, but when you watch X, you really see what you’ve been missing prior. A lot of people are coming away from the movie going, wow, it just looks so cool. It was, was so well shot and that’s a big reason why people are loving it.

Definitely, that editing too with those transitions between scenes, splicing the last shot with the next shot, back and forth, it’s pure artistry. With shooting the film during the pandemic, did you find that the atmosphere on-set was a little different to productions you had been on in the past?

I had just come from doing five months on a show that I shoot in Vancouver, where there was strict rules as to production. It was heavily controlled in terms of testing, PPE and all the protocols, red zones and green zones and who interacts with who and where you could eat and when your mask could come off and on. That was part of what informed the decision to take X, as it was to be shot in New Zealand and at that time, New Zealand had very successfully managed to keep any variant at the border except for the odd breakthrough case. And so New Zealand was this open slate as it was absolute freedom. And so once we got through the MIQ, it was business as usual and that was just a breath of fresh air, literally, without wearing a mask every day and just being able to act like, like normal life. I know the New Zealand governments go a lot of criticism for the way they handled certain parts of the pandemic. But I have to say as someone who has been working around different parts of the world and seeing just how restrictive it was with the virus around the community, to come to New Zealand where it wasn’t present and the way we were able to go about daily life was just incredible.

Pandemic aside, what was it like for you working back in New Zealand on a film again. Is there something different about working on a New Zealand set as opposed to anywhere else in the world?

Fundamentally they’re the same, you know, you’ve got the same job titles, people doing the same things. X was a nice balance though as we had a few head of departments that were American, being producers, writer/director, cinematographer, costume designer and most of the cast were all brought down from the States, but the majority of the crew were all Kiwis. I think most of our crew had all just come off working on the new AVATAR for whatever it was, like three years or something. That’s a very technical film. The whole thing I think was shot in a sound stage with crazy state of the art technology. And here’s this movie, X, that was predominantly all shot outside using equipment and filmmaking techniques from decades ago. So there was a real old fashioned quality to what we were doing.

I think the crew really loved that, particularly given what they’d just been doing for three years. What I love about New Zealand and Australia too, is that we don’t have a class system in the industry in the way that the US and certainly England does, and I think that translates to a very democratic attitude amongst the crew. I like that, it sort of feels like a family, nobody’s putting anybody in their place and everyone’s sort of rolling up their sleeves and getting on with it. So I, I love that part of coming home and working here in New Zealand.

X opens in New Zealand Cinemas from April 7 and here’s where you can see it…

AUCKLAND

Event Cinemas Queen St

Friday 8th April – 8:30pm
Tickets [SOLD OUT]
Friday 8th April – 9pm
Tickets [SELLING FAST]
Saturday 9th April – 3.30pm
Tickets
Saturday 9th April – 6pm
Tickets
Saturday 9th April – 8.30pm
Tickets
Sunday 10th April – 2.30pm
Tickets
Sunday 10th April – 5pm
Tickets
Sunday 10th April – 7.30pm
Tickets

BAY OF PLENTY

Event Cinemas Tauranga Central

Friday 8th April – 8:30pm
Tickets

CHRISTCHURCH

Alice Cinemas

Friday 8th April – 8:30 pm
Saturday 9th April – 8:30 pm
Sunday 10th April – 8:30 pm
Monday 11th April – 8:30pm
Wednesday 13th April – 8:30pm
Tickets

HAMILTON

Event Cinemas Chartwell

Friday 8th April – 8:45pm
Tickets

MANAWATU PLAINS

Event Cinemas Palmerston North

Friday 8th April – 8:30pm
Tickets

TARANAKI

Event Cinemas New Plymouth

Friday 8th April – 8:30pm
Tickets

WELLINGTON

The Roxy Cinema

Thursday 7th April – 8pm
New Zealand Premiere w/ Special Guests
Tickets [SOLD OUT]
Saturday 9th April – 8.30pm
Tickets [SOLD OUT]
Sunday 10th April – 7.30pm
Tickets [SOLD OUT]
Tuesday 12th April – 7pm
Tickets

Taking place in 1979, X follows a group of young filmmakers who set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.

X stars Brittany Snow (PROM NIGHT), Mia Goth (SUSPIRIA), Scott ‘Kid Cudi’ Mescudi (DON’T LOOK UP), Martin Henderson (VIRGIN RIVER), Owen Campbell (SUPER DARK TIMES), Stephen Ure (DEATHGASM) and Jenna Ortega (SCREAM).