A group of protesters hit the red carpet of the Los Angeles premiere of MaXXXine — but not to boycott the new horror film.
The staged event was held as a promotion for the third installment of the X trilogy, which hits theaters on July 5. The protestors stood on the carpet at the Monday, June 24, premiere with signs that read “Hollywood is Satan’s playground” and “Our children deserve better,” in reference to events that will go down in the movie.
MaXXXine picks up after the tragic events of 2022’s X, which saw the cast and crew of an adult film get murdered by a homicidal elderly couple in rural Texas. As the massacre’s sole survivor, Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), looks to make her big break in Hollywood, her past comes back to haunt her as a serial killer nicknamed the “Night Stalker” begins terrorizing Tinseltown.
As teased in the film’s previews, the movie will see several people protest against the adult film and horror movie genres. One of those protesters could be the father of Jenna Ortega’s character, Lorraine Day, who was killed in X. A June MaXXXine trailer showed a man sporting a T-shirt with Ortega’s face on it at a protest, carrying a sign which read, “Satan stole my daughter.”
Joining the protestors at Monday’s premiere was an actor dressed as the character Pearl, played by Goth, 30, in both X and its 2022 prequel, Pearl. In trailers for MaXXXine, Maxine is haunted by visions of a bloody Pearl, much like the version of the character at the premiere.
Goth pulled up to the premiere at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre in a pink convertible alongside actress and singer Angelyne. She was joined on the red carpet by her costars Kevin Bacon, Halsey, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Giancarlo Esposito and Lily Collins, as well as director Ti West and producer Jacob Jaffke.
“I’m excited for audiences to see the scope of this movie. I’m excited for them to experience how different this movie is from the previous two, and I’m excited for them to have fun,” Goth told Deadline on the red carpet. “When I watched it for the first time, I was just really taken aback by how much of a party it felt like, and it felt like that also when we were filming it.”
She continued: “It felt like a victory lap, the fact that we were able to make a third [movie]. The fact that we were able to make a second movie and then a third movie, it all just felt like a celebration, and I think really translates into the final cut of the movie.”
Inside the theater, Goth thanked attendees for supporting the film and praised her fellow cast members for being “incredible” in the film. She also thanked West, 43, telling him, “I love you,” before embracing him for a hug, per footage shared by Deadline.