(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios)
ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to The First Omen director Arkasha Stevenson and star Nell Tiger Free about the year’s best horror movie in a spoiler-filled chat.
The First Omen is now available to buy at Digital Retailers and to stream on Hulu. The prequel to The Omen arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on July 30
“When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Arkasha, I was so surprised when I found out The First Omen was your directorial feature debut because it’s so confidently shot. It has a great style to it. Obviously, you’ve done TV and shorts, but did anything surprise you about the full process of putting out this big feature film studio backed?
Arkasha Stevenson: Yeah [laughs]. Oh, yeah. Every day. Every day. It was like a baptism by fire. What’s so interesting is that this is, okay, I’m gonna tell you what Sônia Braga told me, when we had our first day on set. She goes, “Oh, we’re not making a movie. We’re making a reality, and we’re gonna live in that reality for four months, and then maybe a film will come out of that, but that’s like a souvenir of this reality.” When she said that, I was just like, my mind was blown and it kind of changed the way I approached the film where I was like,” OK, I think with TV, you really think shot by shot, and you’re doing the edit in your head.” TV’s so fast-paced, but I think with this project in particular, it was thinking about how does this image add to this world? And think more from like an almost atmospheric point of view and story point of view.
Nell, I love the relationship we see throughout the film with your character and then the young actress who plays Carlita. How was it working with Nicole Sorace and seeing such a young, talented actress that she is because you two have some fantastic scenes together?
Nell Tiger Free: It was a pleasure to work with her. She’s so kind and she’s so sweet and she’s very strong. I mean, she had to go through a lot of crazy stuff and it was a lot of pressure and very sensitive adult material for such a young actress. Sshe took it in her stride. I don’t think I ever heard her complain. She was so eager to learn and to watch and to like absorb. I think she grew every day into this formidable force. I think she’s gonna have an amazing career and I’m gonna be cheering her on every step of the way.
Steveson: Yes. We have our T-shirts.
Free: Yeah, our “Go Nicole!” T-shirts.
Arkasha, to be honest, when I first like heard about this movie, I was like, “Oh, just leave The Omen alone. We don’t need a prequel.” I wound up loving it, but when it comes to working on a franchise, there’s a give and take because, obviously, there’s familiarity and it has a fan base, but there’s also a protective nature. People love that film, and they don’t want it to be damaged. Thankfully, the receptions have been super positive for this, but how does that kind of play into your end as a creative when you’re playing in this field that was already established?
Stevenson: Yeah, I mean… Girl, me too, you know? I was terrified. When I first heard about the project, I had the same reaction you did. I was like, why are you guys doing that? And then I read the script and, and immediately, The Omen is usually from male POVs, right? It’s very masculine. So to reenter this universe through the POV of a young woman, I was like, “Oh, this is gonna be different.” This is going to be like, in a way, counter programming. I think the way that the two worlds were connected, The First Omen with the original 1976 Omen, was very clever.
I didn’t write that part, by the way. I’m not calling myself clever. That was already in the script. I just thought that was great because my biggest fear was upsetting horror fans. Like that’s a cardinal sin. Especially with horror classics from the seventies. I feel like you have to be particularly delicate with. So the way the script was already structured was you get to create your own thing and not step on too many toes, but then you’re going to naturally bridge into the original franchise. So, they set me up pretty well, I feel like.
Nell, I’ll get straight to spoilers because there’s a lot to talk about, but later on in The First Omen, we learn that your character was spawned by the Jackal. So on top of this crazy film, we also have this incest layer added to it. How was it grappling with just the horrors of Margaret’s own existence in your performance? What I really liked was you show this very quiet strength within her, where she’s gonna keep going and she’s gonna protect others because it would be so simple, and I feel natural, to almost shut down when you find out the true nature of your character.
Free: Knowing where Margaret came from and, and knowing her heritage, I think it was important to have like this low hum of like an animalistic strength to her that rears its head at certain points in the movie. I think Margaret’s character really is a woman becoming a mother against her will. So even though she didn’t choose it, she’s developing a very protective instinct, and it emanates and comes out onto Carlita. Then that carries through when eventually Margaret does become a mother at the end of the film.
I think she always had that protective bone in her, and it just gets exacerbated when she has a child, with or without her consent. So I think all of those colors of her was just so fun and interesting for me to play and for me and Arkasha to talk about and kind of understand and learn her as I went. But yeah, knowing her heritage and where she came from, it’s an unusual characteristic to play, which made it a very fun one to do
Arkasha. you made a really great point about the female point of view really helping the prequel feel fresh. I thought another element was that rather than just being purely focused on Damien’s birth, we’re getting to see more of the church and the secret sect that is going on.
But one thing that’s interesting about this series is that we had three Omen movies; it kind of petered out by the end. Sam Neill just gets stabbed. It is a very underwhelming end to the franchise. For the Antichrist, you kind of expect a bit more than what he accomplished. So when Damien’s end is almost underwhelming and doesn’t really amount to as much in the universe as maybe you would expect from that first movie, uh, how do you kinda grapple that with these films? Do you kind of feel like it almost undermines the prequel in a way? I felt like it was different enough. That it was own its own thing, but it’s a very odd situation.
Stevenson: I think you bring up a really interesting point. It’s something that we talked a lot about, because I think, just culturally, our fear in the devil has really diminished over the decades. He’s almost become this kind of pulp comic figure I feel like in film. So kind of really understanding what is frightening about The Omen franchise and what is frightening about this movie, I think really is that hell on Earth is man-made, and the horrors that we inflict on each other isn’t inspired by the devil, really. It’s really just our own, the darkness in the hearts of man. That’s what I think is so upsetting about this film is that, even if you took away the Satanic element and anything supernatural, it’s so upsetting and tragic that all of this violence and horror would be perpetrated by this institution that you’re told to trust and love and dedicate your soul to.
A lot of inspiration came from looking at a lot of depictions and artwork of hell, of landscapes, of hell, and zooming in on these images of animal demons disemboweling humans and stabbing them with pitchforks or ripping their stomachs open. Then thinking about the violence that Margaret goes through. There’s having her stomach ripped open, but while she’s tied to a table, like there’s a one-to-one parallel there. There’s a very grounded reality to what we think of pictorially in our heads as depictions of hell.
So, Sam Neill should call me and we can resurrect that moment and redo it, but that’s not really the horror anymore. And I think you start to see that in Omen II and III, Damien is a politician, and the family owns Thorn Industries that is controlling the food for everybody in the world. They’re really saying something with that.
Free: Yeah. That’s cool. That’s probably a reason that Damien is depicted as a human. He presents as a human being. That’s because, I think, humans are the scariest thing on the planet.
Stevenson: That’s a really good point. There’s nothing supernatural about him.
That’s an excellent point. Nell, one aspect I really like in this film is that you’re not just giving birth to Damien, there’s a second child, which is a huge shock. What was your reaction when you read the script? Because that’s such an exciting change and opens a lot of angles potentially going into the future.
Free: It’s so funny to think about because I like to think I’m giving birth to a franchise.
Stevenson: Oh, I like that! I dig it.
Free: But it’s so funny because when you read it, and when we were making it, that felt like the big reveal. It felt like the big moment. But by the time you get to that point in the movie, everyone’s so exhausted. They’re like, “Oh my God,” but I think when I read it I was like, “OK, that’s really smart.” I thought it was really smart to have the female counterpoint of Damien and what that could be and what that represents. Does that represent good? If he’s evil, is that good? Is that it? There are so many different ways it could go and so many different things that she could represent, and she could be. At the end of the movie, we see her as this, as this adorable little girl, which is of course, Damien was an adorable little boy. We have no idea what capacity for power this this young girl holds. So yeah, I was really excited by that when I read it initially. It’d be cool to see what could go on with that.
Stevenson: Yes. Hint, hint.
I’m so sold on seeing this continue. Arkasha, I wanted to ask about just the little coda at the end because it’s funny to think about what goes on in the film, but Father Brennan, when he comes back, he almost seems like Nick Fury. It’s like he is recruiting them for the Damien Initiative. It’s ridiculous in the best of ways. How was it filming that post-teaser?
Stevenson: Yeah. Our Avengers post-credit scene. Exactly. It was so important for us to show that 1) Margaret survived and 2) That she had cobbled together this family and was taking care of all these girls trying to get over this trauma, and that they were doing quite well. And then also to show that Brennan is still alive.
Our production designer said, “Oh, this should be so peaceful until Brennan shows up, so let’s have it be snowing.” And I loved that touch. It was fake snow, but I fell for it. I feel like it had a very magical Christmas moment to myself.
Free: We were just frolicking through the trees, me and Arkasha.
Stevenson: It was lovely. And Nell with her gun.
Free: The heaviest thing in the world.
Stevenson: It was. It was the heaviest, I’m so sorry about that. I’m so sorry. Yeah, it was delightful. Is that an appropriate answer?
Free: It is delightful.
Nell, you mentioned that even though Margaret became a mother, not by choice, that we are seeing those kind of instincts kick in. So, if we do get a sequel, what would you be most interested in exploring about her journey as a mother and where she goes from there?
Free: I mean, I’d be really interested to see the journey of the child she bore. I mean, we know what eventually goes on to happen to Damien. This other child? We have no idea what her trajectory could be. I think it would be interesting to see Margaret grapple with having one child that represents good and the other that represents bad or maybe they’re both bad, and how she would handle that as a mother.
I think that’s a pertinent question anyway because it’s very often it happens to you — mothers who give birth to people that can be innately bad. Is there still a mother’s love? I’d love to see what Margaret’s relationship with Damien would be like. Because as we see at the end of the movie, The First Omen, where she has an opportunity to kill him and she can’t bring herself to do it. Is it a mother’s love that’s stopping her from doing that? Or is it, even though this thing represents evil, it’s a child.
It’s a cool question. What would you do? I’m John Quiñones and what would you do? Have you ever seen that? [Laughs] But yeah, so that was a very long-winded way of answering your question. But I would just be interested to see that as like a mother, how she grapples with what she’s created.
Yeah, I’d love to see that too. Arkasha, rewatching the film, I was really impressed with just what a tight two hours it was. How was that editing process? Was it much longer initially? How was it getting down to the two-hour mark?
Free: There was a 10-hour director’s cut [laughs].
Stevenson: Well, it didn’t help that the full frontal vagina shot lasted a minute long. I was just like, let’s make this a short film. Yeah, it was very long. It was almost three hours. But I just really loved all of our characters and I felt like there were so many side stories going on with all of our characters that I really indulged myself in the director’s cut.
But I think what was really lovely is really getting to focus on Margaret’s story. I think that when you walk into an Omen prequel, you expect it to be a creepy kid movie. And really it’s much more inspired by Repulsion. It’s about this one woman’s journey. So once you thin it down to that, I thought it was much more powerful. And then I loved nuns peeling potatoes and that lasted for like 10 minutes.
Free: That was great.
Stevenson: But people were like, you’re crazy.
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