On June 24th, Halsey attended the world premiere of ‘MaXXXine‘ at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. She spoke to Hollywood Reporter while there.

Halsey on getting the role of Tabby in ‘MaXXXine‘:

“I was a huge fan of the first two films [‘X’ and ‘Pearl’], and I obviously loved Ti as a human being overall. I actually just met up with Ti to talk about films, music and generally everything. MaXXXine sort of came up organically and I told him that I would love to audition. He said, ‘Great, send in a tape.’ But I didn’t think there was a chance in hell that I was going to get this.” Halsey was surprised when she got a callback. “I was like, ‘Shut up! Are you kidding me?’ Then the real panic set in because then I realised I had to actually do it.”

On preparing for the role:

“I had really minimal information but I knew that my character Tabby worked in a dance club. She was part of a really unique group of people, vulnerable women who are targeted, in a way. One of the things that stuck out to me about Tabby is that she really wants something amazing to happen for her. She’s looking for that moment, that burst of confidence. That’s why I based her as a New Jersey girl, because I was able to go back to where I was when I was coming up, thinking, it’s going to be me one day. Someday, something good is going to happen to me. I then just thew a little accent on it and it all came together.”

“There’s a lot of Annie Lennox and a lot of Debbie Harry sometimes, those more alt-leaning girls of that era who are real tough. Tabby doesn’t need anyone to protect her. Well, she does but she doesn’t think she does. She’ll kick your ass, basically, if you try her.”

On her red carpet look:

“It’s very Hollywood. I wanted a little bit of late ’70s, early ’80s Cher, you know what I mean? The big hair and the open tummy silhouette, and a little Grace Jones in the face with the eye makeup. I was kind of looking to those divas who were turning the times at the end of the ’70s, catching up to the ’80s.”

On doing more acting:

“I have a couple pretty exciting projects coming, and I’m really looking forward to announcing when the time is right in the next couple months. But this is definitely going to be more than a venture of tourism for me. This is a place that I hope to really explore. I love storytelling in any capacity. Songwriting and creating an album is inherently storytelling, and acting is just more of a extrapolated version of that.”

‘MaXXXine‘ opens in cinemas on July 5th.