How Naomi Scott Became 2024’s Greatest Scream Queen in Smile 2

IT’S BEEN A phenomenal year for one of the greatest archetypes in all of horror: the Scream Queen. Genre stalwart Maika Monroe tracked a haunting killer in Longlegs. Mia Goth completed a fantastic trilogy with MaXXXine. Melissa Barrera was covered in so much blood by the end of Abigail, and Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley both just went there in The Substance. Horror fans looking for incredible performances have not gone hungry in 2024.

But while there’s been no dearth of leading female excellence in the genre, we had to wait until October to see arguably the very best one. Naomi Scott, who audiences have seen before as Princess Jasmine in the live-action Aladdin as well as the reboots of both Charlie’s Angels and Power Rangers, got into the saddle for her very first horror movie in Smile 2. Writer/director Parker Finn’s follow up to the 2022 hit Smile retains that film’s central conceit—a demonic entity that curses people to see visions of smiling people that leads to horrific, disturbing, violence—and then ups the ante in every possible way.

Scott plays the lead role of Skye Riley, a mega pop star making a major comeback after both a public battle with substance abuse and a car accident that resulted in the death of her actor boyfriend (played by Ray Nicholson, Jack’s son and horror royalty in his own right). It’s hardly a spoiler to say that Skye—through contact with her drug dealer (Lukas Gage)—becomes the latest to be afflicted by the smiling curse, and Scott gives one of the best performances of the year—period. Not only does she convincingly play the part of a pop star (and the music, which she co-wrote and actually sang, is super catchy), but she manages to balance all sorts of internal anguish and trauma with the physical demands of a horror movie Scream Queen; when she’s in trouble, you really feel it, and you’re along for the ride with her.

Scott, 31, didn’t grow up watching horror movies—that came much later in life, she says, when she discovered movies like The Shining. “I definitely went in, at, like, the “masterpiece” side entrance as my introduction into horror,” she says over Zoom with a laugh.

Horror films in general don’t tend to get the same love that straight dramas do when it comes to awards bodies, either, but certain performances—think Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist, Kathy Bates in Misery, or Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out—tend to make people think a little differently. Scott brings her A-game to Smile 2, fleshing out a character who’s just as interesting to think about on a psychological study level as it is to watch her scream her head off and attempt to duck looming death.

Despite taking a little bit to come around to horror movies, Scott sees a major value in how the genre explores important things in terms of storytelling and life itself.

“Horror can take us to these absurd places where we can explore the darker parts of humanity in an incredibly disturbing, psychological, emotional, fun, or funny way,” she says. “All of that. It’s just such an incredible way to tell a story.”

With Smile 2 currently in theaters and at the top of the box office, Men’s Health spoke with Scott about her relationship with horror, the most intense parts of playing Skye Riley, and chugging lots, and lots of water.

MEN’S HEALTH : You’ve never done a horror project before. Why did this feel like the right one?

NAOMI SCOTT: Because of Parker. I’d watched his short film in 2020, Laura Hasn’t Slept, and I remember watching it and being like, ‘This is so great.’ And when the movie came out, I saw all the marketing, and I was like ‘Oh my god, that’s the short film that I watched. I have to go see this movie.’ And, so, we watched it, and how confident he is in his filmmaking, and how he understands the genre in such a way, and that being his first feature, was quite astounding to me, as much as his use of character. The movie hinges on the character, so that also left space for [Sosie Bacon] to give this incredibly grounded performance.

That’s exciting, because it wasn’t about ‘I want to do a horror,’ it was about ‘This movie, if you took away all the horror, could play as a psychological drama.’ You know? But then, in my opinion, it’s only made more poignant and entertaining with the horror. It was an absolute no-brainer.

MH: The pop star aspect of Skye Riley is only half of the equation. Did you have any horror performance inspirations for her?

NS: No, and I think that’s because an inspiring performance is an inspiring performance. It’s so interesting that we talk about horror as this separate thing. This is something I’m learning as I’m promoting this movie—the rhetoric around it is interesting, because a lot of horror performances are just drama performances. Not all of them; there is a certain tool that is used in certain aspects to create tension, and the screaming, and that on top of it.

But when you think of Jack Nicholson in The Shining, or when you think of Toni Collette in Hereditary, there’s the extra layer of horror that comes over the top, but everything underneath is just a drama. So, I could watch just a straight drama and be inspired. But there really wasn’t a specific thing I was looking to.

MH: It’s interesting you say that, because sometimes I find that it almost works the other way, too. I remember watching The Power of the Dog a couple years ago, and that movie is regarded more or less as a straight drama, but I feel like the second half of it, with the music, the performances… it feels like a horror movie.

NS: Yeah, it does! The tension in that movie, you’re right.

MH: Your performance is very internal, but it’s also very physical as well; you spend a lot of time on stage as a pop star, but also off-stage running away from possessed people and visions and all that. What kind of training went into that?

NS: It’s so funny. We had an incredible choreographer, her name is [Celia Rowlson-Hall], she was brilliant; I had, maybe 2-and-a-half days of dance rehearsal. And… yeah [LAUGHS].

There was no rigorous training. Listen, I got cast, and we had a few weeks, and we had to go. I had an incredible choreographer, dancers who were there supporting, and Parker for whatever I needed. It’s funny, because that’s a question I keep getting asked, and I kind of think, ‘Wow, I think people think I like trained for this.’ Which is great! I’m also like, ‘Wow, thanks, but no!’ It was very much ‘dive in,’ and dance is something I love, and I enjoyed and reveled in the time that I did have.

MH: One of my favorite running bits in the movie is when Skye keeps on chugging Voss water bottles every time she gets upset or anxious. How many takes did you have to chug all that water? Did you have to specifically learn how to do that?

NS: Again, this is one of those things—I kid you not, I could have never guessed. Even friends of mine, they’re just like, ‘Nay, the water!’

Really, at the time, there was a particular one-take, where I chugged the water and then it ends with me throwing the mirror at the shower, which breaks. And that was a long oner, and the reset for the glass was like an hour. So, we can’t do this many times. And what that meant is that if the take wasn’t potentially the take, Parker would cut before we got to that stunt of the glass breaking. Because, of course, he doesn’t want to waste that. So, that meant even though we did the actual take fully twice, I chugged the water five times, all the way. I didn’t realize it was such an impressive skill until people were literally talking about it now. Parker just said ‘Nay, do what you can,’ obviously. And he’s never going to—we’re always very communicative about where I’m at. I was like, ‘No, this moment, she needs to down the whole thing.’ So, I brought that upon myself a bit. And then I was burping all day.

MH: I figured that would be part of it. It’s a lot of liquid.

NS: A lot.

MH: This is such an intense role. One of my favorite parts of the movie is a scene where something very traumatic happens, and then you’re trying to snap yourself out of it, and you slap yourself in the face a bunch of times. How did you arrive at that point? Did you have to get yourself revved up? That was such a level of intensity that you don’t see, even in horror movies, very often.

NS: What’s good about one-take filmmaking is that it begins to feel like theater. You do have this sense of immersion that you don’t always get with shorter takes. So, by the time I’m at that point, where I’m about to slap myself, I’m not thinking about slapping myself. Does that make sense? You’re just so in it. What was so great about that, and again, what I love about a good one-take, is that it’s a team sport. I mean, this whole thing is a team sport, but particularly with [Daniel Sharnoff], our camera operator and [Andrew Brinkman], our focus-puller, and everyone involved with the props and costumes.

Everyone has to be so on it, because it’s such a choreographed piece, where you’re pulling me from the bed, I get to the door, during the take there’s a little latch that opens and they spray me with blood, they hand me a shard. And this is what I love about Parker: there’s no effects. There’s no effects in that scene. Obviously, there’s effects make-up—[Jeremy Selenfriend], our head of effects make-up, did an incredible job. But there’s no VFX. And, so, how rewarding it feels to nail a take like that is such a great feeling.

I will say that at the end of that take, the hyperventilation, like, your body doesn’t know the difference. So, you have to let your body do what your body’s gonna do for five minutes. And then Parker came in, and I believe there was something that was not quite perfect about the lighting, or something happened in the take, but he knew that was the take. He got straight on the take to his colorist, and he was like ‘Can we figure this out?’ and he said ‘Yes.’ Because he was like, ‘This is the take.’

The thing about Parker is, yes, he’s so skilled in the visual storytelling, and tension, and horror. But he will never compromise character and performance, and that’s what I love about him. Anyway, he walked in, and he was like, ‘We got it.’ And I had an ice pack on my face, and I was like, ‘Yay! I don’t have to slap myself again!’

MH: When you’re going home at the end of a day like that, or even at the end of the whole shoot, how do you detox to not bring any of that madness or trauma home with you?

NS: Everyone’s different. I play trauma, I’m not in trauma. It’s more exhaustion, and fatigue, than it’s me being in a very precarious headspace. So, all the normal things one would do, like an athlete. It’s mental, emotional, spiritual. Just trying to create that environment. I did a lot of word wheels, which helps me get to sleep. It’s just pencil and paper, writing, getting my thoughts down. Just the usual thing. I did watch Love is Blind as well.

MH: You mentioned watching The Shining as one of your first horror movies.

NS: I said that, and then I was thinking, like, I don’t know if it was one of my first. But it was definitely, like one of them.

MH: One of the greats.

NS: I’m always scared. I’m like, don’t say it was the first horror movie I ever watched! [LAUGHS]

MH: You get to work with Jack Nicholson’s son, Ray, in Smile 2, and he’s great in his time on screen. What was that like, and did you ever talk about how his dad’s film was formative for you?

NS: First of all, Ray was so… you know when someone really understands the assignment? He was that, in such a holistic way. One of the first scenes we shot together, it was the last scene, and I had been screaming in the car all day, and everyone’s exhausted, I’m exhausted, and he was just conserving his energy, and just came in with the best attitude, and the best energy. He was just so supportive of me, but also just an incredible performer. Yeah, he’s in the movie, and yeah, it’s kind of one scene, but it packs a punch. He’s brilliant.

What’s interesting about that scene is that we had a camera between us, and we couldn’t even see each other. The camera was literally between us, and so there’s that feeling where you always wish you could do it to each other. Obviously in this instance, it was such a brilliant use of camera work, that worked so well in the movie. But we were like, ‘We want to do more scenes together, where we can actually interact! That would be fun!’ Because he’s just got such a great energy, and he really just brought his A-game, while also being a great energy on set. That’s kind of a dream when you’re doing all that you’re doing.

MH: You did such a great job in this, and it was your first horror movie. Would you want to do more in the future?

NS: It’s all filmmaker for me. It’s all who I’m collaborating with. Not the genre—it could be anything. Any genre. It’s just who I’m working with.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

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