Interview: Parker Finn on Executing the Perfect Jump Scare in Smile 2; “I always try to subvert and do things that surprise people.”

After the critical and commercial success of Smile in 2022, writer/director Parker Finn knew that if he wanted to make a sequel it had to be a “crazy” idea.

The focus is on a global pop sensation: Skye Riley (played by Naomi Scott), who experiences increasingly terrible and inexplicable events in the run-up to a world tour. Smile 2 takes on the terrible curse of the original and spreads worldwide. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and pressures of fame, Skye is forced to confront her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.

As the film hits theaters, Parker flew to Australia to attend the premiere at this year’s SXSW Sydney Screens Festival and sat down with our Peter Gray to talk about when he knew he had the right premise for his sequel found the process of writing music helped shape the narrative and how he executes the perfect jump scare.

I was actually supposed to go to SXSW in 20202, and of course that didn’t work out, but I managed to see a lot of films, and Laura didn’t sleep was one of them. I remember thinking, “I wish there was more of this!” Then I saw the trailer SmileCaitlin Stasey saw, started putting everything together. It was so great to see this short film come together Smileand then build on that with Smile 2. You’ve talked about how (as a director) you always have to make a film for yourself first, and if an idea comes to you too quickly, it’s probably not the one you’ll explore. When did you know that grief, trauma, the idea of ​​a pop star and all the possibilities that arise from that was the idea you wanted to explore?

Well, you know, I thought about it when it became clear that audiences really connected with the first film SmileAnd the opportunity came up to potentially do a sequel. I wanted to make sure I could be very skeptical about sequels. I think sometimes sequels are made for the wrong reason. I always believe that they should be made with the same care and love as the original, which is not always the case. But in that first month of throwing out ideas because they were all being implemented too quickly, just like you just said, when I first came up with the idea of ​​putting a pop star in the spotlight, I thought, “This “It’s crazy.” Then it just got stuck in my brain. It wouldn’t go away. It started to grow and expand and it felt like lightning and I became obsessed with it. I went into the studio and pitched it and I think they were very surprised. But you have to give them credit for figuring it out. And discovering Skye Riley as a character really pushed everything forward.

Speaking of lightning, Naomi Scott in it? This is one of those horror performances that just uses her whole body. I know some of the songs were written before she came along, but how many of the songs shaped the story? If you listen to the lyrics, some of them are almost spoilers. How many were written before she came on board? And did Naomi help adapt the songs to her voice and character?

After writing the script, I started contacting music producers and songwriters. I had created this really detailed description of what I was trying to capture and then I was sent demos, hundreds and hundreds of demos from all sorts of artists looking for a sound that we could then build on for the film. There are five original songs. One is from producer duo Take A Daytrip and is “Grieved You”, our big music video song that we start with. This had started as a demo which we then developed with the producers who really pushed it forward.

The other four were then produced by Alexis Idarose Kesselman. She’s so incredibly talented, she bounced ideas back and forth and had created the sounds for some of the songs. She danced around some lyrics and I gave her some thoughts about how we could really lean into lyrics that felt thematic but also poppy. That was the big challenge. When Naomi joined we already had three songs in our kit, but Naomi brought a lot of herself with her. For the last two songs I brought Naomi and Ida Rose together and, you know, Naomi is a great artist and they worked really well together. It was so much fun to be on the edge of that brain trust as these songs developed. But yeah, Naomi really brought Skye’s personality to life.

And of course we get jump scares in these films. The first had what I would call “the laptop fear.” In this case we get “the phone”. And that’s all I’ll say. How do you know if you’ve executed a good jump scare?

Well, it starts on the page. And I go into production with a really clear plan for how to capture those moments, knowing that I want to give myself a little freedom in the editing. The horror only comes to life in the cut. So the challenge becomes when me and my editor Elliott Greenberg get so close to the movie that a good scare becomes a good joke, but once you’ve seen it 50 times it’s no longer funny, right? So you have to test it on other people. It’s really about tuning in. Find out where the rhythm is expected. How can we break through what people are used to? I think people are so inundated with Tropey jump scares and I’m always trying to subvert that and do things that surprise people. It’s about fine-tuning the editing and we’ll bring in other members of the post team and put them together. They’re all very nervous when we do this because they know we’re going to test a jump scare.

Well, I think you’ve mastered it.

Smile 2 is now in Australian cinemas.