In horror sequel Smile 2, star Naomi Scott turns in a very physical performance as fictional pop sensation Skye Riley.

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Not only does she perform a number of energetic dance routines throughout the film, she also has to do all sorts retching, hyperventilating and convulsing as her body becomes increasingly controlled by the demonic spirit that serves as the franchise's antagonist.

Given how exhausting the performance looks, when RadioTimes.com got the chance to speak with her ahead of the new release, we asked if there was any one scene she'd marked out as a particularly challenging one when she first got her hands on the script.

"Do you know what's interesting is you can't always tell," she responded. "Like, sometimes in the script, I'm like, ‘Oh, that one's going to be tough', and then you're like, 'Huh, okay'. It was tough, but it wasn't like the… I thought it was going to be the toughest."

But she added that one scene that required her to film in a freezer really did present a major challenge.

"The stuff in the freezer, that's rough... you're like, in a freezer for like, four days, so you're just, like, getting... do you know what I mean?

"Everyone's going stir crazy. That was really hard. And I don't think I necessarily thought that that was going to be necessarily as hard as, like, some of the hospital stuff."

Skye Riley screaming in Smile 2.
Naomi Scott as Skye Riley in Smile 2. Paramount Pictures

"You can't always tell, you know, but that kicked my butt and all of it for kind of different reasons. But I think there's something about anything that has to do with hyperventilating I find can be quite hard because you get quite lightheaded, so heavy breathing and stuff… that can be quite difficult."

A few months ago, one of Scott's co-stars Lukas Gage revealed that he had been so freaked out by one of the scenes in the film that he threw up on set, so we asked Scott if she had had any similar experiences during filming.

But she responded that she had experienced rather a different emotion watching some of the gorier aspects of the film.

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"I just... I love the craft of things, and I love people being so good and amazing at their jobs," she said.

"And like, for example, our amazing special effects makeup artist Jeremy, when Lucas was, you know, his face was mangled... that's all prosthetics with kind of blood.

"And I'm watching on screen, and I'm going, 'Wow, this is beautiful.' You know, to me it's beautiful!"

Smile 2 will be released in cinemas on 18th October 2024. Smile is now streaming on Netflix sign up from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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