Smile 2

For Drew Barrymore's cameo, Parker Finn 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 make her feel almost like she really existed in our world. And so I had this idea of introducing her on a talk show, but I was like, I want to do a real talk show." Drew Barrymore has been hosting The Drew Barrymore Show since 2020, and Parker Finn said he wrote the early scene with her in mind. He wrote to her, including the script pages, hoping that she might take the part, and he was delighted to get a yes. The writer/director continued: "I love Drew Barrymore and I wrote the scene and then I sent it to her and I also wrote a letter to her and she was so gracious and said yes, and it was it was such a like fun dream to get to work with her and to do that."

While the film takes place in New York City, when Skye and Gemma are driving out of the city to Staten Island, the very last part of the shot is with mountains in the background...clearly upstate NY where the movie was shot.

Featured in The Project: Episode dated 17 October 2024 (2024)