The First Omen
Summary
The First Omenis a prequel to the 1976 horror classicThe Omenand sets in motion the consequence of that flick . The eerie narrative follows Margaret as she begins accomplish her vow to serve God and the Church by moving to Rome and working in an orphanage . Although strange occurrence lead off to permeate her living , conduce Margaret to question her faith , a deep secret set her on a blue path than she ever could have imagined .
The Omenfranchise has always been focus on Damien and his story , and he will still take on an integral role inThe First Omendespite not being as prominent . The First Omenserves as a precursorto the tragedies that blossom out in the domain ofThe Omen , which has kept Damien ’s origins a mystery up until this point . Arkahsa Stevenson has left her mark on both the franchise and the repugnance genre with her secure feature article directorial introduction , almost make the picture an NC-17 military rank because of her desire to search consistence revulsion through childbirth .
The chills of the Omen dealership are returning in The First Omen , and there are already plenty of exciting update about the terrifying prequel .
Screen Rantinterviewed Stevenson about the manyconnections to the originalOmenand how she bug into the horrors of high society today . Stevenson also praised star Nell Tiger Free ’s performance and teased more story to severalise in the existence ofThe Omen .
The First Omen Answers The Long-Held Question: “Where Did Damien Come From?”
The Omenis an iconic horror movie concentrate around Damien , the antichrist , with a big dealership built around him and his actions after the events of the original movie . As a prequel , The First Omenwas the unadulterated jump - off head to answer where on the dot he came from . Stevenson was able to not only tell a singular story about this existence , centre on a complex distaff character , but she was capable to suffice a burning question and set up the master for new fans .
Arkasha Stevenson : I think what was so wonderful is having [ The Omen ] ending , because I cogitate the biggest question that people have when they see The Omen is , where did Damien issue forth from ? And so once you have that answer and you ’re dovetail into the 1976 variation , that gives you all of this literal the three estates to play with , which was really important to us , to create this new universe and also explore this character Margaret , who I think when I first show the script , I was so excited to explore this novitiate .
And she ’s a very complex character , and because we ’re telling the story all through her point of persuasion , it was really significant to fetch people into her internal landscape painting and get them to have it off who she was so that when she start to fall apart , you realise what was chance . And so I felt really lucky to be capable to have all that real acres to play with .
Image via 20th Century Studios
Free has the difficult chore of delving into heavy emotional and forcible scenes , bringing to life the themes of bodily self-reliance and trust through her execution . She carries the aroused and repulsion weighting of the movie on her shoulders , and an of import part of selling that is get the audience to engage is her humanity and exposure . If Margaret is n’t someone the interview connects with and rootage for , thehorror ofThe First Omenwouldn’t oeuvre .
Arkasha Stevenson : We screw that Margaret , just in world-wide , is run to be in every scene . She ’s going to be on set every day , and it ’s going to be quite a boulder to dribble . So finding somebody with that durability and then also the world power to be vulnerable constantly was really important . And then we met Nell , and she ’s such a powerhouse , and there was such a gut feeling that this is Margaret . And then Nell , you met her , she ’s just a beautiful somebody to be around .
Immediately you just go down in love with Margaret , because Nell brought a lot of her lovely personality to Margaret . She ’s very endearing and very relatable . There ’s this import where she ’s in her novitiate outfit , and she ’s trying to stand very still and look in the hallway . Then she just slip , she gets a little embarrassed , and tries to cover up . For some reason , that moment was so adorable and made her such a human . Nell just made Margaret such a human right off the bat .
Image via 20th Century Studios
While repugnance is one of the most successful genres in Hollywood , many of these yield are infamous . Stories of strange occurrence and potentially real hauntings permeate these spaces , withThe First Omenbeing no exception . OnThe First Omenred carpeting , Free shared a telephone number of foreign natural event on set . Stevenson explained that she believes opening oneself up to the realities of horror leads to unknown upshot .
Arkasha Stevenson : People ask this , and I feel so stupid , because I recall I was so tunnel - visioned that the devil could have been properly behind me with his pitchfork , and I would ’ve just been like , " Action . " I opine I was so in the universe . You do hear whisper of stuff afterwards , and when you ’re agreeing to be part of this reality , you have to believe in it . I think that when you believe in it , you receive it in .
I think that Ralph , for example , Ralph Ineson , because there was some of the unusual things , like he was attacked by a dog the day before our rehearsal . We were waiting for a minute , and then somebody call in and said , " He ’s in the hospital . " I was like , " Oh my God , please recount me that dog-iron was n’t a Rottweiler . " Yeah , I think his Uber got lost on the way to the drome and accidentally get him past the church where Father Brennan in the original is murder . Just very strange little coincidences that I heard happen to other people .
Image via 20th Century Studios
The First Omen Leans Into The Mythology Behind The 666 Birthmark
The First Omenis an opportunity to cut into further intothe world ofThe Omen , with iconic characters riposte and homages to the original motion-picture show . It also opens the door to the God Almighty explore elements of traditional knowledge and mythology that they are especially invested in permit Stevenson to dig into a specific interrogation she ’s been obsess with since she was a child .
Arkasha Stevenson : I think it ’s exciting , because sealed graphic symbol from the original that belt down up in our film . So you ’ll see Spiletto again . Obviously , the world needs more Gregory Peck in it . So we ’ll have a Gregory Peck second . Also just for me , as a kid , I was always really haunt with the 666 nevus . It ’s really fun to explore that mythology - or it was for me while making this film .
Horror has many subgenres and taps into genuine fears that permeated high society at the clock time of the movie ’s creation . The Omenleaned into the repugnance surrounding religion and opinion exercise into mass by the Church . WhileThe First Omentaps into that as well , the doubtfulness of women ’s bodily autonomy is at the center of this story . It ’s a story that could only be told impactfully by a distaff director , especially with how Stevenson incline into the organic structure horror of birth andnearly gain an NC-17rating for her depicting .
Image via 20th Century Studios
Arkasha Stevenson : I think what is really exciting is that more and more women are getting into the repulsion space , and I ’m very interested in torso horror . I think when you ask the head of where does Damien come from , that means you ’re inherently telling a tale about birthing and about the female body . So , getting to research body revulsion as it pertains to the female body was really exciting . I suppose explore that more through just this lens of vestal fearfulness and not glorifying it or fetishizing it . There ’s a mountain to be done there .
Horror taps into communal reverence , with religious horror often point the dark sides of institutions and depravity , as well as the horror drill into many citizenry throughout their childhood by those very institutions . WhileThe First Omendoes indeed lean into this fear it also reflect another origination without outright highlight it . With Margaret ’s bodily self-sufficiency being a burden vista , the pic is commenting on the argument regarding corporeal autonomy that has been a on-key biography or destruction disputation throughout the United States , but through the electron lens ofThe Omenuniverse .
Arkasha Stevenson : We wanted the moving-picture show to be referential to not just the content , but the style and the spirit of the 1970s repugnance films that are so tight and devout to all of our kernel . But I mean what we desire to do was modernise it through the contentedness that we were verbalise about . I think the reason why the original Omen was so successful was because it was talking about social anxieties .
It was talking about this suspicion in institution and say-so , and also this distrust of a younger generation that was come up through the counterculture . I guess we wanted to also apply this film as a way to evince communal fears , because I think that ’s what the horror writing style is for . It is a real communal experience and playfulness to have really intense dialogues through the genre . So I think it felt very relevant and apposite to make this film right now .
“There’s So Many Questions And So Many Adventures” To Explore In The Omen Universe
The First Omen , it seems , was sparked by one interrogation left unanswered in the original 1976 movie : " Where did Damien come from?“The Omenuniverse has deep lore and uncounted other questions that could be explored , opening the door to further expanding this universe .
Arkasha Stevenson : Oh , there ’s so many questions and so many adventures . I palpate like in The Omen world , it ’s hard to work on a film and not conceive about all these tangent stories . So yeah , there ’s a wanderer entanglement in my brain . I really go for that The Omen franchise keep on expanding , because it ’s one of my favorites .
The Omenwas helm by directorRichard Donner , who is well bed for hisSupermanmovies , which he made afterThe Omen . Stevenson is no stranger to the superhero musical style , having directed an installment of Legion , a serial place in the macrocosm of Marvel ’s Mutants , which beg the question . Would she return to this genre ? Many repugnance music director have brought their unique visual modality and love of the genre to the world of superheroes and Stevenson ’s voice could be a great addition to this musical style , particularly with the DC Universe kick off soon and Marvel bringing Mutants to the vanguard .
Arkasha Stevenson : I ’d have to really conceive about that . I think that I really bed the repulsion literary genre . It ’s very meet for my personality , also . I have it off the story of a woman come washed-up . So I suppose anything in that kingdom I feel very easy with .
About The First Omen
When a new American woman is beam to Rome to begin a life of service to the church , she find a iniquity that causes her to interrogate her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of malevolent incarnate .
condition out our otherThe First Omeninterviews here :
The First Omenhits theaters on April 5 .
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The First Omen is a repugnance film from film director Arkasha Stevenson that acts as a prequel to the 1976 photographic film The Omen . The film follows a young charwoman who kick the bucket to Rome to become a conical buoy but start to interview her organized religion after encountering a terrific dark that aims to engender an evil corporal .
