Smile 2 director Parker Finn ‘totally’ cast Ray Nicholson as a nod to The Shining

‘Smile 2’ director Parker Finn "totally" cast Ray Nicholson to pay homage to ‘The Shining’.

The 32-year-old actor - who is the son of Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson - stars in the newly-released spooky sequel, and the filmmaker, 37, revealed he purposefully signed on Ray to pay tribute to his father’s 1980 horror classic.

The director told Entertainment Weekly: "I think I'm always trying to reference ‘The Shining’. With Ray, he auditioned for that role. The audition was so strong.

"Of course, Jack Nicholson is one of my favorite actors of all time. I love that Ray has very strong genes, and his smile, instantly, I was like, 'Oh my God, it's like looking at a young Jack.’

"What really struck me was how well he slipped into that venomous but charming character he's playing in the film. He could bring again that feeling of, I'm really, really anxious, but part of it is also tickling me."

‘Smile 2’ follows the pop mega-star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) as her life begins to unravel after a haunting smile figure takes the form of her former partner Paul (Nicholson) and torments her.

While Parker insisted he didn’t write the role of Paul specifically for Ray, the moviemaker says the actor’s casting ended up being a "wonderful kismet" that proved to be an advantage for the project.

The filmmaker added the similarities between father and son became more apparent when they began working on the picture’s gala scene, which itself pulls from the glowing hues seen in ‘The Shining’s' iconic bar sequence at the Overlook Hotel.

He explained: "Once we got to the gala, we planned all of those colors.

"As I was working with my costume designer, Alexis Forte, we started trying stuff on Ray for that scene, and as soon as we put what became the costume in the film on him, we were like, ‘Oh my God, this is The Shining. He looks exactly like Jack."