Naomi Scott joins the growing collective of do-it-all talent with impressive accolades across all creative disciplines. Besides acting, Scott is also a singer-songwriter (her album comes out next year), she starred as the titular Jasmine in the live-action remake of “Aladdin” and co-founded a production company with her husband in 2020. Her latest accomplishment? Aside from, well, all of the above, Scott put her literal blood, sweat and tears into the making of “Smile 2”, a psychological horror where the full breadth of Scott’s talent was on display from singing, dancing and acting to co-writing and producing, highlighting her impressive range and first foray into the nuanced world of horror.
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Have you ever been to Hong Kong? What are you looking forward to when you visit?
Yes, over 10 years ago I visited for 2 days – I brought my dad with me! I haven’t really had the chance to discover it. I’m very excited to return as an adult. When I’m in a new place, I want to understand everything about it. There’s a lot of the history of Hong Kong that I can’t wait to explore. I think you just get that also, just by meeting people and understanding a little bit about the nuances of different areas, and how different types of communities have come together.
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Are you personally a fan of horror films? What genre would you like to do next?
I didn’t grow up watching horror movies at all. As an adult, I was able to appreciate how horror uses story and narrative to be subversive in terms of what it’s talking about. It’s an incredibly clever way to tell a story and allows us to explore darker parts of humanity that are harder to talk about in just a straight up depiction. Some of the best creative visuals came from horror movies. “The Shining”, “Suspiria”, “Rosemary’s Baby” and so on. These are all just peak cinema. Classic horror films are some of the most referenced visual pieces ever.
I like the absurdity that horror allows. I think it’s a beautiful genre. Of course, it runs the gambit to the version of it that has the most goriness and that is a valid form of entertainment too. But every genre has a spectrum and so does horror. I think it’s been a little bit under-appreciated in terms of what it’s capable of and how elevated it really can be.
Between singing, dancing, acting, co-writing songs… How did you juggle it all in “Smile 2”? What is the hardest part about wearing so many different hats? What was the best part?
The best part is the collaboration and the freedom to have ownership over the character and to have a director who is a huge collaborator. What was helpful was there were also a lot of things in place that were being built out and fleshed out before I got there. The hardest thing is the movie itself features a large portion of just me and has very intense scenes. There was never a relaxed day. I’d think, “Okay, I got that out of the way.” But then the next thing on the schedule might be something harder for your body and for your energy. The most difficult thing was just the exhaustion of that high intensity performance and maintaining that throughout the shoot.
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How do you make sure to save space to take care of yourself while working on a project so physically and emotionally taxing?
I don’t take anything home with me. I have an amazing husband who was doing everything for me. I was doing all the health stuff – the winding down, the teas, meditation, even word wheels. If you want it to feel real, there’s an element of immersion you have to be in. But I’m the sort of person that, when you call cut majority of the time, I’m just me again. I don’t even stay in the accent. I need the moments of levity in between. Otherwise it’s just rough on everyone.
You also have a production company that you started with your husband. Can you tell me more about this?
My husband and I started a production company in 2020 called New Name Entertainment. It was born out of both of us wanting to follow our curiosity. How can we be additive to the creative process of making something? It isn’t a vanity project – we really wanted to synthesise who we were in terms of our identity and what we wanted to say. We began by helping people through financial aid as it pertains to drama school or accessing certain courses. For actors, people who want to produce, people who want to direct, writing – all of these different things in and roles in our industry, sometimes, especially when you’re from a lower socio economic environment, those barriers to entry are a little more elusive.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Probably from my mum. She always says “be quick to listen and slow to speak.” I’m really bad at that. The reason it’s the best advice is probably because it’s the most apt advice for me.
If you could, what would you tell your younger self?
Learn another language when you have the chance. Practice the piano. Just enjoy life. I feel like I would have told my teenage self to “just chill out a bit.” Lean into your uniqueness. Lean into that creativity. No one can be you. Just go for it.
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Did you always want to be in entertainment growing up?
I actually wanted to be an archeologist. I used to go into the garden and bury things, and then pretend to discover them again. I just thought it was the coolest thing. Maybe it all comes back to acting, because I was going into the garden and pretending to have made this incredible discovery, although I was all by myself.
Tell me more about your album coming out this year.
I just love writing and making music so much. To make music with people that I think are incredible is such a privilege. I wanted to create a soundscape, as opposed to just writing songs with just a guitar and a voice. It’s a little bit more of a world building which came from the music I grew up listening to, and the things that are nostalgic to me. I started this project three and a half years ago. I was around 27 years old and had a bit of a quarter life crisis. Mine was around this idea of getting married very young. There wasn’t anything intrinsically wrong in my life. It was more that life had just happened, and I hadn’t mourned the other versions of where my life could have gone.
I was watching “Master of None”, and the character started reading Sylvia Plath. It’s about a fig tree and how all of these different figs represent different versions of her life and how her life could have gone. She’s so fearful of making a choice that she starves to death. I just thought it was such a poignant and very apt description of our generation and decision paralysis. There’s just so many things we want to do and so many potential versions of ourselves that we find it hard to be content with our life. That’s what I started to write into. And then I met a few of my collaborators and was able to actually build out the sound that I wanted. And my executive producer, Lido, is incredible. I just love him.
Sound-wise, it’s what I listened to on my dad’s Windows Media Player growing up. There’s a kind of soulful ‘80s vibe, and then you’ve got everything from a little bit of Phil Collins, Kate Bush, Whitney, MJ and so many others. It’s definitely nostalgic, but it’s soulful, spooky and a little bit ethereal. I haven’t actually spoken about it yet, but I’m very excited about it, and I just can’t wait to start sharing.
Photography: Greg Swales
Fashion Direction: Dena Giannini
Producer: Alexey Galetskiy @AGPNYC
Creative Producer: Marina Fairfax
Makeup Artist: Holly Silius @R3 MGMT
Styling: Foxla Chiu
Hair Stylist: Renato Campora
Manicurist: Eri Ishizu
Set Designer: Isaac Aaron
Tailor: Oxana Sumenko
Photography Assistants: Juliet Lambert, Michael Camacho, Toma Kostygina, Kinsey Ball, Ben Koffman
Fashion Assistants: Priscilla Ng, Carina Fischer, Leah Garcia & Allie Nixon
Production Assistant: Ivan Shentalinskiy
Makeup Artist Assistant: Natalie Tchokreff
Set Design Assistant: Matthew Banister
Tailor Assistant: Alena Fomicheva
Editor
Carina Fischer
