Creepy Grins, Mega Pop Stars and Jumping From a SXSW-Screening Short to a Hit Horror Franchise: Parker Finn Chats 'Smile 2'

When a beaming face is described as "the worst smile I have ever seen in my life", it isn't quickly forgotten. The grins in Parker Finn's films aren't meant to be easily shaken. That line springs from the writer/director's debut feature, which wasn't his first to wonder what might happen if someone couldn't stop seeing the same Cheshire Cat-like expression everywhere to nerve-shredding effect. Before Smile became the highest-grossing horror movie of 2022 — and before the box-office smash spawned 2024 sequel Smile 2 — Finn played with the same concept in his 2020 short Laura Hasn't Slept.

Australian actor Caitlin Stasey (Class of '07) plays the eponymous character, who can't get some shuteye as the film's title notes. As she explains to a therapist when the short begins, closing her eyes means having nightmares about a smiling face. When Smile then starts, Laura is in the frame again, still struggling with a grin that no one wants to see. The concept from there: that being taunted and haunted by the eerie smile that can appear everywhere and on anyone is both deeply unsettling and contagious. Smile's point of focus is psychiatrist Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon, Mare of Easttown). In Smile 2, it's mega pop star Skye Riley's (Naomi Scott, Anatomy of a Scandal) turn.

When the supernatural force at the centre of Finn's work so far is smiling, which is whenever it's on-screen no matter the face it has taken, the unlucky target's whole world feels anything but warm. Horrific, terrifying, distressing, tormenting: those terms all fit as well. So discovers Skye a year after a car accident ended her last tour, also leaving her both injured and grieving. She's on the comeback trail when Smile 2 kicks off, with a new album out and a fresh run of live gigs to come. Then a smiling malevolent evil won't leave her alone — and the spiralling that follows as she endeavours to understand what's happening, what's real and what isn't, and how to stop it, all plays out in the public gaze.

These are flicks to see with an audience, even if Laura Hasn't Slept made the program at 2020's SXSW in Austin, which took place solely online due to the pandemic. It still won a Special Jury Award in the Midnight Short program, then clearly caught Hollywood's attention. Finn himself loves seeing viewers react to his movies. His latest chance to do just that came via Smile 2's Australian premiere. It was also his latest connection with SXSW, this time at SXSW Sydney 2024, where the film screened as one of the SXSW Sydney Screen Festival headliners.

Don Arnold/Getty Images for Paramount

"It's the best. I think that, especially as a writer/director, it's incredibly delayed gratification when you're trying to make a film. It takes years to do it. The whole reason that I make films is for audiences, and that moment when you finally are putting it out in the world, I love watching the film with audiences," Finn tells Concrete Playground following a screening that he advises was "fantastic, great crowd, really fun". He continues: "so to hear everybody screaming or laughing or gasping or going silent all at the same moment, it's the best".

Also featuring Lukas Gage (Dead Boy Detectives), Rosemarie DeWitt (The Boys), Ray Nicholson (Licorice Pizza — and, yes, the son of Jack Nicholson), Dylan Gelula (Hacks), Peter Jacobson (Fly Me to the Moon) and Raúl Castillo (Cassandro), plus Smile's Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) returning, Smile 2 skews bigger, bolder and gorier than its predecessors. It reinforces a clever connection at the heart of the franchise, too: that seeing people happy and smiling when you're having a tough time, with or without a supernatural force at work, can be hellish itself. We also chatted with Finn about what makes an unshakeably scary smile for him, the inspiration for the franchise, researching pop stars, casting an incredibly committed Scott as Skye, his hopes for the future of all things Smile and more.

On What Makes a Perfectly Unnerving Smile That Creeps You to Your Bones

"The smiles in the film are all human performance. We're not adding any VFX or CG to these. And for me, it's that uncanny sort of smile that feels like it should be friendly.

But the way that we frame it, the way that we have the throughline of how the actors perform it — for me it's the disconnected eyes from the smile that don't break staring at you, it just creates so much tension and stress for me. I find it really creepy."

On What Inspires a Maniacally Smiling Figure to Pop Into Your Mind When You're Dreaming up a Serial Killer-Like Supernatural Entity

"I think that what's so great about, for me, the concept of Smile is that of course there's turning the warm, friendly gesture on its head, and turning it into something cruel and upsetting — but what I really love about it is this idea of how we employ smiles almost as a mask. And what we put out into the world, we're trying to say 'hey, everything's okay' and it's hiding what's really going on on the inside.

In the world of Smile, I love that if you look on the other side of that coin, the smiling faces are also hiding something on the other side, belying what's really behind that smile, something quite evil. And for me, I love that dichotomy."

On Making a Connection Between Skye Spiralling and How a Smile Can Feel Taunting If You're Struggling

"The reason I want to tell these stories, I love all these big supernatural elements, but it's really about this character's story and really trying to put the audience in this character's shoes. Which was an interesting challenge for this film because Skye is a mega-famous pop star, which is not necessarily a relatable scenario for most people.

But I wanted to go behind that velvet rope and tie them to this human being who's quite broken and dealing with really fraught emotions. And I wanted people to really be able to connect with her and relate with her as a human being, and to feel the stress and the anxiety and the walls closing in as she's spiralling out of control, trying to use all the techniques of filmmaking to make the audience feel what Skye feels."

On the Research That Went Into the Pop Star Side of the Story, Including Diving Into Pressures, Expectations and Constant Public Scrutiny

"I think we're at this peak parasocial relationship with celebrity, and nothing is bigger in celebrity or fame right now than pop. So some of these pop stars have been elevated to the status of  a demigod. And I was so interested about what's going on behind the scenes, the real person behind that. How can you deal with that level of expectation?

So I dove headfirst into research. I watched every documentary that I could. I read every essay, every article, every interview and just kind of immersed myself in that world of pop. And so much from that research directly wormed its way into the script and into the film. It really helped guide a lot of what I wanted to do."

On Enlisting Naomi Scott to Play Skye — and Her Performance at the Pop Star's Best and Worst Moments

"I think that Naomi was the perfect storm for this character. She inherently has this X-factor gravitas to her, where I believe this mega pop star, that she could really be this character. But at the same time, she's capable of these incredibly raw, human moments, as she's hitting rock bottom.

And it happens to be that she's this incredibly talented singer, she can perform choreography, she can do all these amazing things. She's such a force of nature, and the role was incredibly demanding, and it was an absolute dream to get to work with her."

On Creating an Unsettling Mood and Tone That Kicks in Immediately and Doesn't Subside

"Mood and tone, and this creeping sense of dread, is something that is really important for me to build into these films. I wanted to make sure that in both films, we, from the opening frame, feel incredibly anxious — and that the movie, what we're exploring with some of the themes and motifs, I want to create that emotionality for the audience, to make them feel what the movie is doing to the characters.

It's all about this precision use of filmmaking tools. Obviously performance, what we're doing with the camera, sound design, everything, to just build this stress that just keeps bubbling and boiling more and more and more — and it turns into this powderkeg that's ready to explode by the end."

On Finn's Dream for the Concept When He Was Starting Out with Laura Hasn't Slept

"The dream was that it got into SXSW. That was as far as I had gotten — as far as thinking 'hey, how is this film going to live and be presented to the world?'.

I made that short to stand alone. But while I was in post on it, I had this idea that eventually became the first Smile. The short had really inspired that journey towards Smile.

But I think that short and everything that happened after, that's a very rare example where reality way, way, way overshot any expectations I had. So it was like a pinch-me, dream-come-true moment."

On Going Bigger in Scope, Scares, Tension, Intensity, Gore, Shocks and Boldness with Smile 2

"Of course I wanted to challenge myself. For me, I only want to make films that I'm terrified to make. I think that's how I'm going to get the best out of myself. But making that jump from the first Smile to Smile 2, it's a much bigger film and I bit off a lot more.

But I always love to try to punch above my budget and above our schedule, and go maximalist with everything. So we have more resources, yes, but we also are doing so much more, this so much more movie to make — so it was still just about putting that one foot in front of the other and trying to create the best experience for the audience possible."

On Where Finn Would Like to Take the Smile Franchise From Here

"I think we'll have to see. I think there's a lot of really exciting directions that that Smile could go. Right now, I'm really excited to see how audiences react to Smile 2.

If we're so lucky to have audiences connect with it, I love the idea that these movies could just keep getting more and more off the rails and insane, and really doing new, unexpected versions of what Smile is. That would be important to me, to keep it very fresh and exciting and unexpected."

Smile 2 opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, October 17, 2024.