Smile became a box office smash hit when it was released in September, surprising audiences with its blend of good old fashioned jump scares and an intense allegory for living with depression.
It was compared to beloved movies from It Follows and Hereditary to The Ring – but ultimately, it found a fanbase by how it twisted familiar influences into something boldly original.
However, according to the cast there’s a different reason for its success.
Despite telling a fantastical story of an evil curse that’s passed from one person to another, leading to hallucinations of strangers with warped smiles who warn that death is coming, the film's grounding in very believable anxieties have helped it strike a chord.
Kyle Gallner, who plays police detective Joel, the ex-boyfriend of Sosie Bacon’s cursed Rose, said the challenges of making the movie work were much tougher than simply believing in the supernatural.
As he explained to Zavvi: “It's less about believing in the supernatural and more about supporting the person across from him who is going through something that he may not understand.
"It’s more about the characters’ relationship and their dynamic with each other - somebody coming to you with something that sounds so potentially absurd or left of centre and not knowing what to do with that.
“The power in the film comes from one character looking at another and saying that they’ll help them in whatever way they can – that they might not have the answers, but they will try to figure it out together.
"Building that relationship between Joel and Rose, figuring out who they were and how they would support each other, was far more important to make this work than diving deep into the wider mythology."
On the other side of that partnership is Bacon, who joked to Zavvi that the film “was much less intense to watch than it was to shoot”.
The actress has played several characters suffering from trauma and mental health issues in previous supporting roles, but her first lead performance is by far her most challenging in that aspect – it was exactly this that interested her.
“I don’t know what it is about my general demeanour that makes me keep getting cast as people with these struggles in their life”, she laughed to Zavvi.
“But I love that this screenplay took the time to properly unpack her history - this was the first project where I could really see the aspects that were built into her personality on the page, rather than just having to make it up on my own.
“It was cool to be able to explore that on camera, rather than having to come up with a backstory and personality on my own. It was the first time I could see how the sausage was made, for want of a better phrase!”
The experience of making Smile proved to be particularly influential for co-star Jessie T. Usher (best known as A-Train from The Boys), who here plays Rose’s fiancée Trevor – the character most likely to get audiences screaming at their screens as he ignores the obvious signs of her curse.
The actor hasn’t kept his ambitions to work behind the camera a secret and seeing director Parker Finn at work might have been the creative spark he needed to plan his own filmmaking debut.
“This movie did inspire me quite a bit, seeing how Parker made the camera effectively play a role within the film, watching him move a scene forward through intricately timed reveals really stuck with me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8d987Wtkxs
"As an actor first, there’s always a feeling when you get behind the lens, you feel like you’re still part of the scene even when you’re staying out of it.
"That’s how I felt watching Parker work and seeing the story come together under his vision. It’s certainly helped me keep my future ambitions alive.”
In short, the cast all agree: Smile will get under your skin not through its otherworldly elements, but in how it entwines those with the darkness of the everyday – something that makes its debut director Parker Finn a name to watch out for.
Smile is released on home entertainment on Monday 26th December.For all things pop culture, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
