As Smile 2 continues to scare larger audiences than its acclaimed predecessor at the global and domestic box office, director Parker Finn offers some insight into the decisions made in making the horror sequel.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the Smile director said he “absolutely” cast Ray Nicholson in Naomi Scott’s film as a tribute to his “favorite movie of all time” – Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking classic, The Shining.
“I guess I always try to reference The Shining,” he said.
“With Ray, he auditioned for the role. The audition was very intense. Of course, Jack Nicholson is one of my favorite actors ever. I love that Ray has very strong genes, and his smile, right away, I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s like looking at Jack.’ The young man.
He continued, “What really struck me was how well he slips into that toxic, charming persona that he plays in the movie. He can bring back that feeling of being really anxious, but part of it also tickles me.”
While Finn said he did not create the role of Paul, the late actor husband of international pop star Scott Skye Reilly’s character, for Ray Nicholson, he described the casting as “fantastic Kismet”.
In fact, many fans have drawn obvious but still uncanny parallels between father and son online, with Ray Nicholson commenting on the chatter surrounding Deadline last week at the film’s red carpet premiere: “He’s my inspiration. He is my inspiration.” I had dinner with him every night. I studied it, and that’s how I learned to be a human being. “So, of course we would be kind of similar,” he said, adding that he lists his father as his “hero.”
Later in the interview with EW, Finn said that his homage to the 1980 genre staple went beyond simply casting Ray Nicholson, with a party scene in the film borrowing motifs shown in the Overlook Hotel bar scenes.
“While I was working with my costume designer, Alexis Forte, we started trying things out on Ray for that scene, and once we put the costume on him that became it in the movie, we said, ‘Oh my God, this is the Shining.’” He explained that he looked just like Jack.
Smile 2, which debuts in theaters Friday, unfolds as the pop phenomenon struggles with the inexplicable escalating effects of dealing with an annoying smiley character who follows her wherever she goes. For the Paramount sequel, which also stars Rosemary DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lucas Gage, Miles Gutierrez Reilly, Peter Jacobson, Raul Castillo, and Dylan Gilula, Fiennes drew from real-life lore of women affected by the often brutal machinations of fame. Including Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, and Britney Spears.