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Few new horror movie releases have had quite the buzz surrounding them like Paramount’s Smile. The spooky season offering dominated the box office during its opening weekend, and the horror film was well-received critically, too. Fright master Stephen King even took notice of the jaw-clenching movie, and though he praised the movie’s twisted scares, he singled lead actor Sosie Bacon for giving a “hell of a performance” as the film’s real surprise. Well, someone else has joined the chorus of praises for Sosie’s performance — her dad and horror actor vet, Kevin Bacon.
The Friday the 13th actor was recently interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, and the conversation soon turned to his daughter’s brilliant breakout performance in Smile. The 64-year-old star, in addition to heaping praises on his daughter’s performance, revealed that he and his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick, had no idea Sosie was even interested in a career in acting until later on. Bacon said:
She’s great in the movie. She’s fantastic. We didn’t know she was really interested in pursuing any kind of an acting career. But when she finally, in her early 20s, decided that this is what she wanted to do, she dropped out of college and moved to L.A. and really started doing all the right stuff. Pounding the pavement, doing self-tape after self-tape, and studying.
You can almost hear the pride in the actor’s voice, as Bacon makes it clear that Sosie’s fantastic work in the horror hit is purely due to her hard work. And that hard work has paid off because Smile performed brilliantly in its second and third weeks, making it one of the most successful horror movies of 2022. With this sort of box office performance and praise, the Parker Finn-helmed production will surely be added to more than a few people’s best horror movie lists.
Even though Kevin Bacon knows how hard his daughter worked to get the part, The Stir of Echoes actor admits he wasn’t prepared for how good she truly is. Bacon says the insane stress levels of the movie don’t let up and would test any actor because it doesn’t present the typical place a character starts in most cases. The veteran actor continued:
When she got this part [in Smile], even knowing how hard she had worked, and knowing she was good, when I saw the movie I was just really taken aback with, not only with how great she was but also how hard that role was, because it’s one of those parts where there is no break. Usually, you start out and the character’s pretty happy for at least, you know, 15 minutes or 20 minutes before everything becomes horrible. But that’s a movie where the stress level is [insane]. I was very proud of her.
Kevin Bacon has been starring in scary movies either as a helpless victim or a sinister villain since his debut in Friday the 13th. So the kind of praise the actor is leveling at his daughter is well-founded.
In Smile, Sosie Bacon plays a therapist who witnesses a bizarre and horrifying event in her office and soon becomes terrorized by haunting, smiling figures. As a result, she must confront her traumatic past or fall victim to it. It’s a premise that could easily fall on its face if the audience doesn’t believe the lead star’s performance. But based on the movie’s success, it would appear that Bacon’s lead role has resonated with audiences, and all the praise she’s receiving from her famous father and more is more than warranted.
There’s still time for you to catch Sosie Bacon’s heart-pounding performance in Smile, as it’s still playing in theaters. If you’ve already seen it, check out what other upcoming horror movies sure to make you shiver in the near future. And for all other movie releases, check out CinemaBlend’s schedule of upcoming movies to start planning your next visit to the cinema.