SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Smile 2,” in theaters now.

Parker Finn, the writer and director of the 2022 horror hit Smile and the just-released film Smile 2, has taken one of the most iconic horror ideas of recent years and made it even bigger for the sequel. In this chapter, troubled pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins to question her reality as she is haunted by increasingly disturbing and violent images. Finn spoke along diversity about making a film about a music superstar, the haunting ending and what future sequels might look like.

How did you come up with the idea for “Smile 2”? It’s a completely different story than “Smile.”

I wanted to see if I could surprise the audience with what we would do for the sequel. I wrote and directed the first film that ever existed. At that point I had no plans for a sequel, and I think sometimes they are made for the wrong or cynical reasons. If I were to ask the audience to give me their time again, I would try to offer something unexpected and fresh. The first month I was thinking about ideas. I ended up discarding everything I could think of because I thought, ‘It’s coming too fast.’ It’s too obvious that it’s a place to go.”

I needed to be able to give this story a character that I could invest in thematically and emotionally and that would offer something new to this story, to this world. This idea for this character of Skye Riley, this mega pop star, hit me like a lightning bolt. It felt like a gigantic swing that certainly no one would have imagined, and it was such a fascinating world to me: this idea of ​​someone so famous and public, who is always expected to play this role and with in which he has to greet the world with a smile despite everything that is going on behind the scenes.

I looked at some of these demigoddesses that we raised: what is the real human there? You know, Taylor Swift can’t be Taylor Swift all the time. It felt like an interesting place to start. Plus, I didn’t want to put it in dark, dingy basements or in spider webs or anything like that. This world of a pop star is glamorous, it’s glittery, it’s shiny, it should be fun. I thought, “Can I represent this world authentically and yet still make it sound tonally quite cold and unsettling?” Unsettling and very isolating and lonely?” That felt very powerful to me as a starting point.

It was reported that the budget was increased by $11 million compared to the first film, but “Smile 2” feels even more epic in scope than that amount allows. How were you able to provide such a decadent glimpse into the world of pop stars while directing a film with a modest budget?

One of the biggest challenges of the film was, “How do we do this?” When I pitched it to Paramount, I think the first thing they were amazed at was the swing. But the next question was, “How are you going to make this happen?” They had my back and supported me, which was incredible. It was important to me to build credibility with this pop star and his world, so we took it very seriously. I didn’t want it to feel tacked on or happen on the sidelines. It was part of the story: This is her life, this is her world. I found it such an interesting experience to engage an audience.

A few things about how we did this – first of all, I brought back the same creative team from the first film. They’re all incredible artists, but we’ve also become close friends and collaborators and have this shortcut, so to speak. It’s strange to say about a studio horror film sequel, but this was truly a passion project for all of us. We knew we would be pouring 10 gallon film into a 5 gallon bucket. So the question was: “How can we use the resources we have very cleverly?” Do “It’s about being incredibly specific and having a very strong plan. I’m kind of an obsessive prepper when it comes to getting a handle on the film. We knew we were going to get past that barbed wire, but we’re really happy with how we did it.

It moves quickly, but at one point it sounds like one of the characters is saying, “This is going to ruin the tour.” Was that an intentional reference to a certain real-life pop star who recently got into trouble?

We made this joke a lot on set. It’s not the line Exactly that, but I’ve already seen the memes and I think it’s great that people picked up on that.

This movie goes into spoiler territory and has such a wild ending. Do you think everyone at the last Skye Riley show is now infected with The Smile?

I think you are asking the right question.

In this film we learn a little more about the demon’s backstory. If you film more chapters, will you delve deeper into the story?

I certainly have all these thoughts and considerations surrounding The Smiler and they help me use them in the film. I love the fact that it’s incredibly specific, unique and personal to everyone it interacts with because it’s designed to get into the crevices of a character’s brain and feast on the worst things in their head. Everything we learned about it in the first movie might make us realize, “Oh, that was just a version of that where she interacted with Rose (“Smile” protagonist), and that’s for Skye.” Yes, it gives that through line, but she has some new tricks up her sleeve and things we didn’t know about her.

When it comes to things like mythology in horror films, I often feel like less is more, especially when it comes to supernatural things. Firstly, I’m much more interested in the characters’ story. I love the things that happen at night, but I want to use this supernatural impetus to explore human horror and inner psychological things. But I also find that sometimes when you start to explain it too much – you give it a name and an origin – the entire audience starts to denigrate it. I think the fear of the unknown is much scarier, but I also think it’s worth handing out breadcrumbs to bring an audience along. They’re little treats that I can eat on the go, which I love – but when I answer a question or close a door, I want to make sure I open two more.

Have you thought about what a third film might look like?

I’m happy to be the first to deliver this to the world. I think there are a lot of exciting paths it could take, but for me, from 10,000 feet and looking at what “Smile” is, I would want to make sure that if there were more stories to tell , which would be the case again, doing things in unexpected ways and continuing to push the boundaries like we did from “Smile” to “Smile 2.” I love the idea that each thing could get crazier, crazier, more unhinged than the last, and at some point we’d be like, “How on earth did we get here with ‘Smile’?” For me this feels really exciting. I want to make sure that every time we come back it’s something worthwhile.

They are tasked with writing and directing a remake of the 1981 cult classic Possession. What can you say about your vision for this film?

It’s definitely still early. I’m incredibly excited about it. “Possession” is one of my favorite films of all time. Here’s what I want to say: The intention is to make something that both honors and celebrates the original, but it’s a spiritual successor that I’m trying to bring into dialogue with the first film. I hope to have all the ferocity, teeth and art mania of the original. We don’t do anything with it that is safe or disinfected. It will be for people who love the original. I’m making this film for him.