SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains extremely mild spoilers for Smile 2 . If you have not yet seen the film and don’t wish to know anything about it prior, proceed at your own risk! Smile 2 is a movie jam packed with a lot of horrifying surprises ( we’re still processing that absolutely bonkers ending ), but one of the early ones in the film isn’t of the scary variety. The very first scene introducing protagonist Skye Riley has her featured on a talk show, but it’s not just any talk show: it’s The Drew Barrymore Show .
It’s a particularly fun cameo from the actor-cum-host given her history in the horror genre, and I learned how it came about earlier this month during an interview with Smile 2 writer/director Parker Finn. I asked the filmmaker about Drew Barrymore’s surprise cameo in the new horror movie earlier this month during the pre-release Los Angeles press day, and he explained that the idea came about as part of an effort to conjure what he referred to as “credibility” for the story’s lead character. When the audience meets Skye Riley at the start of the story, we are meant to recognize her as an established, world-renowned star – and that’s something you can simply sell by having her be interviewed by a well-known real-world talk show host.
In Finn’s words, I really, in building this pop star of Skye Riley played by Naomi Scott, wanted to lend credibility to the character and sort of blur the lines between reality and fiction and .
