Writer/director Parker Finn’s sequel to his 2022 horror film Smile (read our review HERE, watch the movie HERE) is heading for an October 18th theatrical release date, and tickets to Smile 2 screenings are now on sale. In the build-up to the release of the film, Finn sat down for an interview with SFX magazine, during which he not only revealed that this sequel uses ideas that he wasn’t able to work into the first movie, but also that he imagines the franchise carrying on with increasingly off-the-rails sequels!
Smile was based on Finn’s short film Laura Hasn’t Slept (watch it HERE), which won the Special Jury Recognition Prize in SXSW’s Midnight Short category. Caitlin Stasey (Neighbours) played the title character in that short, and reprises the role in Smile, making it a follow-up of sorts. Smile has the following synopsis: After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.
Here’s the Smile 2 synopsis: About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
Smile was produced by Temple Hill, and they are producing Smile 2 as well. Scott is joined in the cast by Lukas Gage of The White Lotus and You, Rosemarie DeWitt of La La Land and the Poltergeist remake, Dylan Gelula of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Dream Scenario, Raúl Castillo of Army of the Dead and Knives Out, Miles Gutierrez-Riley of The Wilds and On The Come Up, and Kyle Gallner (Red State), reprising the role he played in the first movie.
Finn told SFX magazine, “There was information I had for myself that wasn’t expressed in the first film that I took the opportunity to bring into the new one, so what Smile 2 is doing is showing us new things. We felt like we’d uncovered the mystery in the first one, but we’ve maybe only scooped a single glass of water out of the ocean.” He added, “There are some ideas that I think are very exciting. I think it’s really fun to imagine a lineage of Smile movies where each one becomes more off the rails than the previous one. What’s really interesting about Smile is that you can find yourself in different stories, different characters, different worlds.“
Are you looking forward to Smile 2, and would you like to see Finn’s vision of an extended Smile franchise come true? Let us know by leaving a comment below.