In Smile 2, 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.
The sequel is a must-see and among 2024's best horror movie offerings; now, ahead of its release on Digital on November 19 from Paramount Home Entertainment, we sat down for a spoiler-filled conversation with star Rosemarie DeWitt.
In our interview, The Boys and La La Land star talks us through her character Elizabeth Riley's gruesome, bloody death scene, what it was like working with Scott, seeing the Entity come to life with practical effects, and whether she could return for the widely-demanded Smile 3.
DeWitt also explains the process of creating the horror franchise's famous "smile," what she enjoyed about working with filmmaker Parker Finn, and what made Smile 2 different from her experience on Poltergeist.
You can check out the full interview with DeWitt below.
I had an incredible time with this film and Elizabeth is such a great role. There’s that moment you get to do one of the franchise’s signature smiles, so what was that process like and how long did you work on it for?
It’s funny because I feel like the only person who knows what it’s like is Parker. He knows exactly what the Smile is and it’s really technical. It’s really just down to the, ‘Turn this way, look this way.’ Also, ‘Keep acting, do a monologue, kill yourself, and have prosthetics [on].’ It was definitely a lot of, you know, this going on but it was day one. It was the very first scene we shot and…I mean, I like a challenge, so I have to say I liked it. I almost prefer doing a scene like that instead of the exposition set-up scenes earlier in the movie. I like the ones where I could be a little bit harsh and you can say, ‘Is she a good guy or bad guy? Does she love her daughter or is she out for money?’ Weirdly, that scene was really fun to do. I hate what it probably does to people’s nervous systems [Laughs] but it was kinda cathartic.
You alluded to the prosthetics and the crazy, bloody scene that follows. What was it like shooting that? It’s one of the movie’s most insane, gory sequences.
Yeah, the gore, I don’t think I was prepared for just as an audience member. I don’t think I even knew it was happening until I would walk from the set to the restroom and people on the crew would visibly cringe at me. That part just from a comfort standpoint was not easy because the blood is so thick and wet and cold. We were shooting in the winter with snow on the ground and to just have it be in every part [Laughs] of your clothing and undergarments…I ended up taking two hot showers and then getting all bloodied up again, but most of the day I just spent on the floor with a hot water bottle. It took maybe two days to shoot.
Before we get to that madness, you do explore that mother/daughter dynamic with Naomi Scott. Throw in the fact Elizabeth is her manager too, and what it was like to work on that with your co-star?
I was kind of glad that we started off with it because the more I got to know Naomi, she’s such a lovely human. She’s playing some more self-involved and paranoid and just not considering other people or not capable. But she is. She’s so lovely. She’s the kind of person who greets everybody with a huge smile on the crew every morning. If you’re going to decimate somebody [Laughs] and scream in their face, it’s nice for day one when you think you might not like them and before you fall in love with them.
You’ve worked in horror before, such as Poltergeist, but what made Smile 2 different for you?
You know, it’s funny. I thought there were real dynamics, like you said, to play with. I was curious about the mom-ager role. I also wondered what it would be like to be part of something that’s so genre. Poltergeist was really grounded in the family and reality and then you had to pretend there were spirits but this one was like, ‘Oh wait, I’m gonna [kill] myself?’ I don’t want my kids to ever see it, but I wanted to do it once.
There’s that great final scene with what happens to Naomi’s character and the emergence of the Entity. What was it like to watch that final scene and the big twist that Elizabeth is still alive and in the crowd?
It was cool. The trajectory of the very first thing being that I did for Smile was to get the mask made of my face for the prosthetic. I brought my little one, don’t ask me why, but she wanted to come and wasn’t going to see anything gory. Then we were in the special effects shop and I saw them making that thing that crawls into her. That was when I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be really cool. It wasn’t CGI’d, it was all real stuff. They really made that giant creature or Entity, so that was really thrilling just to see their work. It always takes a million people to collaborate on these things but that’s what I saw in that scene. As much as I saw this crazy thing, I was also like, ‘Wow, they really pulled it off. That’s a giant feat.’
Elizabeth does survive Smile 2 but she’s been exposed to the Smile, meaning we could see her back in a third film. Would you like to come back, even if it’s just for a cold open…
Just so they can throw more blood on me? I’m always open to all things because you never know where you’re going to find fun or just a creative challenge so who knows?
You’ve worked with some great filmmakers over the course of your career, but how was it collaborating with Parker Finn?
It was good. It’s harder when you’re working on something and people are like, ‘We don’t know what it is. Just try something.’ That’s where it gets kinda hard and, with a movie like this, you want it to be precise. You know, the jump scares…I was happy with how well that scene worked and that’s because he knows exactly where he’s gonna cut away and exactly what he’s going to show. It was satisfying.
Smile 2 arrives on Digital on November 19 and hits 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on January 21, 2025.