Smile 2 star Naomi Scott 'dove in head first' for 'intense', 'physical' shoot

Watch: Naomi Scott and Parker Finn discuss Smile 2

Naomi Scott knew exactly what she was getting into when she signed on to Smile 2, the upcoming horror sequel about a pop star cursed by a malevolent, smiling poltergeist.

“I remember reading the script and being like, ‘Every day is going to be intense’,” she tells Yahoo UK. “I relished the challenge. I was really excited to get in there and do hard things.”

In Smile 2, the actor —best known for her roles in Aladdin and Charlie's Angels— plays Skye Riley, a singer modelled on the likes of Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and FKA Twigs. Riley is put through the wringer after being cursed by an evil spirit that takes control of her friends and makes them smile a twisted, frightening grimace.

Even before the film’s release, Scott’s portrayal of Riley had been singled out on social media as the film’s highlight. But portraying someone in constant distress took its toll: "It's quite physical. When you’re going through panic or crying or hyperventilating, you're tired at the end of the day.

“For me [on set], it was about conserving energy, trying to figure out, how to quickly ramp up into an emotional state that is efficient for time, because I'm doing that a lot. And then it was just trying to be truthful in the moment. Like anything, you're just trying to do your best.”

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To portray Riley, Scott has to learn choreographed sequences. “The singing and the dancing part, for me, was fun – it was almost like a treat,” she says.

“It's like, okay, now take a break from screaming and crying, now let's go dance for 10 hours. I enjoy all of it to an extent, but that’s more like the fun part. And I didn't have time to overthink it. I just dove in head first.”

Director Parker Finn, who created the Smile series, can attest to the work Scott put into the role – and just how much he put her through.

”It was a very exhausting, but very rewarding film to make,” he says. “I wanted to create [for the audience] this whole mixture of intense anxiety and stress as we're on this downward spiral that both the character and hopefully the audience are feeling at the same time.”

“And Naomi is incredible. She has this really uncanny X factor, this gravitas that's believable as this mega pop star. But she's also capable of these incredibly raw human moments as she's hitting rock bottom.”

Smile 2 will premiere in cinemas October 18.