“Smile 2” director Parker Finn took the film to the extreme

Director Parker Finn exceeded all expectations with the first Smile film.

The 2022 horror film was made for $17 million and became a box office giant, grossing over $200 million worldwide. When filming Smile 2, Finn took the same approach, pushing his budget and schedule to the limits of a process he described as “a 10-gallon film in a 5-gallon bucket.”

“We had a few more resources, more toys to play with. But I always try to go beyond my budget and schedule,” Finn said. “(I tried) to take everything to the extreme. In some ways, it felt just as stressful or even more stressful because of what we did in this case.”

Along with Naomi Scott and the rest of the cast of “Smile 2,” Finn walked a black carpet outside Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on Tuesday night to celebrate the film's premiere.

“Smile 2” follows global pop sensation Skye Riley (Scott) as she becomes the latest host of the sinister smiling ghost on the verge of her world tour. Then she has to survive on the streets without losing her mind to the mysterious force.

While planning the sequel, Finn rejected many ideas “in the first month” of brainstorming because he felt “if they came to me so quickly, they would be too obvious.” Then one night in a sudden flash of inspiration, it came to him Idea for Skye Riley.

“There was one evening when this idea for this character, Skye Riley, this pop star, hit me like a lightning bolt. I was obsessed with it,” Finn said. “I love that this world is so unexpected for a horror film. This glitzy, glamorous, shiny world of a pop star felt like a collision with “Smile.” And I’d really like to see where that could go.”

Scott only had a few weeks to practice Skye Riley's songs and choreographies before filming began. While Scott was figuring out her sound and look, she didn't look to a single source of inspiration for fear of being too “derivative of a particular pop star.” Instead, she “trusted that all the artists I had consumed over the years were there unconsciously.”

“I enjoyed the singing and dancing the most,” Scott said. “I allowed myself to let it feel organic and found Skye's voice with the choreography and costumes that were already there.”

“Smile 2” is in cinemas now.