A new curse is born from an unsettling grin in Parker Finn‘s Smile.
Sosie Bacon stars as protagonist Dr. Rose Cotter, a doctor who finds themselves haunted by an eerie grin after witnessing a traumatic event at her workplace.
Ahead of the film’s release in theaters this weekend, Bloody Disgusting spoke with Bacon about starring in a horror movie and her horror faves.
Smile introduces Rose as a dedicated professional working extensive hours in a hospital’s emergency psych unit. When asked about the preparation that went into her character’s career, Bacon said, “I read a lot about emergency psych units and what they’re like. Because that’s something that is not very common knowledge, it is a place where people go first. Then they’re typically sent out to different floors, whether they’re physically injured or need to go inpatient somewhere else or outpatient. Imagine an ER Which is such an intense, painful place to be in, and then it’s an ER for psychiatric things. It’s intense. We usually have that typical psych ward thing in movies where people are screaming or knocking things over or whatever. This felt much more like a run-of-the-mill ER kind of vibe, which is exactly what it’s like. It’s not all Shutter Island; you know what I mean?”
Sosie Bacon and Kyle Gallner star in Paramount Pictures Presents in Association with Paramount Players A Temple Hill Production “SMILE.”
Bacon was also surprised to discover just how physical the role would become during production. She explained, “I was throwing myself all over that place. There was a lot of throwing myself. It was definitely a lot of bruises and then a lot of shallow breathing. It was funny; when I was watching it, watching her try to calm herself down with her breathing, I wasn’t trying. My breathing was not killing it that whole time. I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, good luck. You’re doing a good job calming yourself down with this crazy breathing.’ It was physical being scared for that long because it’s sustained. That’s hard on your body, I think.”
That physicality added a new appreciation for horror, especially creating them. “Hell yeah. I’m impressed with people that have done them. I mean, I always was because I could see how difficult that would be. But yeah, it is really, really hard. I’m not trying to be ‘Wah-wah, it’s so hard to a horror movie.’ But yeah, it’s hard physically and emotionally. You have to be in a really dark place for a long time. It’s hard to kind of pull yourself out of it. So yes, mad respect for everyone.”
Bacon, the daughter of actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, comes from a family of horror movie lovers. When asked about horror movies that shaped her love of the genre, she answered, “What scared and terrified me the most had to have been Halloween because my brother made me watch it when I was eight. You know what was the scariest movie I think I’ve ever seen? Another one I watched way too young is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Which I think psychologically is similar to Smile, weirdly enough. I know they’re so different, but the psychological part of that, which is, I think, probably the most disturbing thing about just watching any movie. The Ring also scared the out of me.”
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