IN 2020, PARKER FINN DEBUTED HIS SECOND short, "Laura Hasn't Slept", about a young woman who seeks the help of a therapist after suffering a series of nightmares. Not only did it scoop the Special Jury Recognition Prize at the South By Southwest film festival, but the word got out that this was something special. "It just started spreading around town like wildfire," Finn tells Red Alert. "And then people started reaching out..."
Smile is not only Parker Finn's first studio film, but his first ever feature, such was Paramount's trust in this promising up-and-comer. And while Smile isn't exactly a big-budget, a full-length remake of "Laura Hasn't Slept", it's certainly a riff on it.
"While I'd been in post[-production] I'd had this idea for a much bigger movie, one that used the short film as a springboard," he reveals. "There are threads of DNA from 'Laura Hasn't Slept' running through Smile."
Anyone who's seen the trailer for Smile will already know how soul-freezingly scary it looks. A doctor is haunted by visions of smiling people, but not the kind that puts a spring in your step or that Katy Perry or Justin Bieber ever sang songs about.
This story is from the October 2022 edition of SFX UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 2022 edition of SFX UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Spooks Ghouls & Freaks Fools
WITH ITS ECLECTIC cast, broad comedy and supernatural farce, Rentaghost was a mainstay of BBC children’s TV from the late ’70s to the mid-’80s and like nothing else.
LOST IN THE SHADOWS
THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS OF INTERDIEW WITH THE DAMPIRE DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF LESTAT, LOUIS, CLAUDIA AND WHERE THE ANNE RICE UNIVERSE IS HEADING
NINE LIVES
ON SET FOR THE FINAL SERIES OF INSIDE NO 9. STEVE PEMBERTON AND REECE SHEARSMITH REFLECT ON THE TYRANNY OF THE TWIST
NOA'S ARC
CAESAR'S STORY MAY BE DONE AND DUSTED, BUT AS HIS CREATORS RICK JAFFA AND AMANDA SILVER TELL US, THERE'S STILL PLENTY OF TERRAIN TO EXPLORE IN - KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
TICKET TO RIDE
DIRECTOR BEN CHESSELL TAKES THE TARDIS BACK IN TIME IN HIS TWO EPISODES
SERVING FACE
HAIR AND MAKE-UP DESIGNER CLAIRE WILLIAMS ON NEW LOOKS
BABY BOOM
The TARDIS lands on a spaceship. It was very, very hard to shoot. We used real babies! I like to do things that I’ve never done before and sometimes that’s quite hard, with such a long career as mine.
BOXING CLEVER
DOCTOR WHO IS BACK AND THIS TIME IT'S TAKING OVER THE PLANET
WELCOME HOME
THE CREATIVE MINDS BEHIND THE LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION OF THE FALLOUT GAME SERIES EXPLAIN THEIR ORIGINAL TAKE ON BETHESDA'S POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD
MONSTERS INC
THE TITANS UNITE IN HOT COLLAB GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE
