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“Smile 2” actors Naomi Scott, Ray Nicholson and Rosemarie DeWitt on continuing movie’s eerie legacy
With Halloween just around the corner, “Smile 2,” the highly anticipated horror sequel, is ready to hit theaters.
Following the success of the original, which grossed $200 million globally, “Smile 2” continues the eerie story of a deadly curse passed on after witnessing someone’s death. This time, the movie follows pop superstar Skye Riley, played by Naomi Scott, as she battles the pressures of fame, a traumatic past and the madness brought on by the curse.
“She is going through a lot that I think people can relate to in an very unrelatable context,” Scott said. “I think she feels isolated. She feels like people are looking at her, but not seeing her.”
Director Parker Finn shared how his childhood in the Midwest shaped his love for horror.
“I was a movie-obsessed kid growing up in like, gloomy Northeastern Ohio. It always kind of feels like Halloween there,” Finn said.
The relationship between Skye and her mother, played Rosemarie DeWitt, was layered, thanks to Finn’s writing.
“Parker wrote this really nuanced script that could almost play like a drama. It was really skillfully laid out,” said DeWitt.
Ray Nicholson, son of the legendary actor Jack Nicholson, plays Paul Hudson, Skye’s boyfriend.
In one memorable moment, his sinister smile in the film drew comparisons to his father’s famous performance in The Shining. When asked if his father had given him any advice on the genre, Nicholson replied, “My dad and I don’t talk that much about acting… I think it’s important for me to find my way.”
He added, “My mom says, ‘Ray, you were such a beautiful boy, and then you started to look like your father.'”
Finn also spoke about the significance of sound in Smile 2.
“I love to try to avoid what we might think of as typical horror sounds … I want it to feel fresh and different, so it can get under your skin,” he said.
“When you go to see a horror film in theaters, it’s a communal experience,” Nicholson said. “You don’t want to be scared alone.”
“Smile 2” is distributed by Paramount Pictures, which is part of CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global. “Smile 2” hits theaters on Oct. 18.
Health officials said Saturday they have confirmed the first U.S. case of a new form of mpox that was first seen in eastern Congo.
The person had traveled to eastern Africa and was treated in Northern California upon return, according to the California Department of Public Health. Symptoms are improving and the risk to the public is low.
Mpox is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes smallpox. It is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals.
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of mpox in Africa that was spread through close contact including through sex.
More than 3,100 confirmed cases have been reported just since late September, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority of them have been in three African countries – Burundi, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Since then, cases of travelers with the new mpox form have been reported in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom.
Health officials earlier this month said the situation in Congo appears to be stabilizing. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated Congo needs at least 3 million mpox vaccines to stop the spread, and another 7 million vaccines for the rest of Africa.
The current outbreak is different from the 2022 global outbreak of mpox where gay and bisexual men made up the vast majority of cases.
CBS News
China school knife attack kills at least 8, wounds 17, days after fatal car attack killed dozens
Eight people were killed and 17 others wounded Saturday in a knife attack at a vocational school in eastern China, and the suspect — a former student — has been arrested, police said.
The attack took place in the evening at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in the city of Yixing in Jiangsu province, police in Yixing said in a statement, confirming the toll.
This was the second incident of fatal violence in China in a matter of days.
Earlier this week, a 62-year-old man killed 35 people and wounded more than 40 more when he rammed his small SUV into a crowd in the southern city of Zhuhai. The suspect was discovered in the car with a knife, with wounds to his neck thought to be self-harm injuries, according to the police.
Police said the suspect in the knife attack was a 21-year-old former student at the school who was meant to graduate this year, but failed his exams.
“He returned to the school to express his anger and commit these murders,” police said, adding that the suspect had confessed.
In Yixing, police said emergency services were fully mobilized to treat the wounded, and provide follow-up care for those affected by the attack.
Violent knife crime is not uncommon in China, where firearms are strictly controlled, but attacks with such a high death toll are relatively rare.
In recent months, there has been a spate of other attacks.
In October in Shanghai, a man killed three people and wounded 15 others in a knife attack at a supermarket.
And the month before, a Japanese schoolboy was fatally stabbed in the southern city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong.
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