Director Parker Finn has offered an enticing update on a sequel to his directorial debut, Smile. Speaking with Comicbook.com, the filmmaker revealed that, while he made Smile as a standalone horror outing, he intentionally left some threads hanging just in case.
"I made Smile to, of course, be self-contained, tell its whole own story. I didn't think in a million years that there would be such a demand for a sequel. But having said that, I think there are definitely things inside of the film that remain purposefully unexplored that would be very exciting to dive into, and also things that I didn't get a chance to do on the first one for either budget constraints or if it didn't quite fit in the story that I think would be really exciting.”
Finn continued, teasing an “exciting” and “unexpected” way into Smile 2. While remaining coy on the details, the director assured audiences that he still has plenty of tricks up his sleeve, and would strive not to repeat himself should Smile 2 get the green light.
"I still feel that I never want to overtly just repeat myself or do the same thing I just did, but I think that there could be a really exciting way for there to be more in the world of Smile, but something very unexpected and surprising for an audience with a lot of tricks of its sleeves."
This is not the first time that Finn has stated his desire to only make a sequel if he can think of a unique direction for it. "For me, as a filmmaker, I never want to retread and just do something I've already done again the exact same way,” he said last month. “In a universe where there could be any potential -- more story to tell from Smile, I'd wanna make sure it was surprising and different and not what people were expecting after the first one."
The First Smile Has Been a Major Box Office Success
Released in September, Smile is written and directed by Parker Finn and follows Sosie Bacon as Dr. Rose Cotter, who, after witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.
Directed by Parker Finn in his feature film debut and based on his 2020 short film Laura Hasn't Slept, Smile stars Sosie Bacon (Narcos: Mexico, Mare of Easttown), Jessie T. Usher (The Boys), Kyle Gallner (Scream), Caitlin Stasey (APB, Bridge and Tunnel), Robin Weigert (American Horror Story, Deadwood), Judy Reyes (Scrubs), Rob Morgan (Stranger Things), and Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar).
Smile has done what all the most successful horror franchises do, over-performed at the box office. The movie has grossed a massive $210 million worldwide against a $17 million budget, results that will no doubt have the studio scrambling for sequels as it finds another horror franchise on its hands.
We will have to wait and see (while wildly speculating, of course) what this unexpected and exciting approach to Smile 2 might be.