‘Smile 2’ Star Ray Nicholson On Being Inspired By Father Jack Nicholson: “My Hero”

We’ve seen this smile before … sort of.

While on the red carpet for the forthcoming Smile 2, the follow-up to the Sosie Bacon-led horror film about a grinning harbinger of death, star Ray Nicholson was asked about his approach to the genre and how fans have likened the smile on his character’s poster to that of his father Jack Nicholson‘s deranged smirk for the seminal Stanley Kubrick film The Shining.

“We’re very different people,” the actor told Deadline at the premiere. “I was born in 1992, he was born in 1937. The things that affect me don’t necessarily affect him. Obviously, I love him. He’s my inspiration. I ate dinner with him every night. I studied it, that’s how I learned to be a human being. So, of course we’re gonna be kind of similar.”

But Nicholson, whose credits include Licorice Pizza and Promising Young Woman, admitted he isn’t sure he wants to go toe-to-toe with dad’s repertoire. (And who would? With three Oscar wins and a slew of iconic films in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Chinatown, Terms of Endearment, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, The Departed and Something’s Gotta Give.)

“As far as talking about it, if he ever did tell me something, I probably wouldn’t investigate it for myself because I’d be like, ‘You’re the best, of course, that’s right,’ and it might not work for me,” Nicholson said. “I love him. He’s also my hero. I’m the luckiest kid in the world.”

Smile 2, releasing in theaters Oct. 18, unfolds as global pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) contends with the inexplicable and escalating effects of dealing with a haunting smiling figure that follows her wherever she goes. The Paramount sequel also stars Rosemarie DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Raúl Castillo and Dylan Gelula.

See the clip of Nicholson on the carpet below: