close
close
cegivel

The director of Smile 2 reveals how his actors achieve that signature smile

Monicel
The director of Smile 2 reveals how his actors achieve that signature smile

The first Smile movie is truly terrifying, and many of those scares are due to that iconic rictus smile. On the eve of the release of Smile 2, director Parker Finn explains how his actors achieve the signature move.

Smile 2 is about to hit screens, and the sequel will be a very different take on the material, revolving around a pop star named Sky Riley who becomes entwined with the evil entity from the film series. horror movies

Director Parker Finn returns to write and direct, meaning he also makes sure his cast gets that infamous smile right.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the Los Angeles premiere of the new film, Finn explained: ‘Sometimes the actors are clearly well-prepared, like I can tell they’ve been at home studying in the mirror, and other times it takes a little more training.”

As for what this coaching entails, the writer-director explained: “I think what you want to do is actually smile in a friendly way; you don’t want to overdo it, you don’t want to strain your face, but it’s about disconnecting the eyes from the smile, and then how to position the head.

“There’s a bit of head tilting going on; there’s the famous ‘Kubrick Stare,’ we leaned on that idea, and then it’s about the tools of filmmaking.”

A famous example of this “Kubrick Stare” is Jack Nicholson in The Shining, so it’s probably no coincidence that actor Ray Nicholson’s son is tasked with “smiling” in this sequel.

Jack Nicholson doing the Kubrick Stare in The Shining.Warner Bros.

On the same red carpet, Nicholson Jr said he nailed the smile in one take, following co-star Naomi Scott’s advice.

“Going into it, Naomi set me up like, ‘(Finn) is very specific, he’s going to work with everybody, like you don’t think you’re doing the wrong thing, he’s very specific.’ And we did and Naomi said, ” Well, that’s a catch, that’s it.”

Smile 2 opens today and tomorrow before opening worldwide on Friday, October 18. For more scary stuff, check out our review of Smille, the creepypasta you should read before you see Smile 2, and our list of horror movies streaming this month.

Related Posts