The First Omen hits theaters April 5 with a solid R-rating. But that nearly wasn’t the case. Director Arkasha Stevenson makes her feature directorial debut with the prequel to the popular franchise and during an exclusive interview with FANGORIA, shares it was “a long battle” to land that R-rating. The content in question had nothing to do with gore, though. Rather, the culprit in the middle of this battle was: a vagina.
For Stevenson, this story is really about women’s body horror, much of it rooted in the reality of forced birthing and women’s autonomy (or lack thereof). Because of this, showing a woman’s body in a non-sexual manner was key to driving the horror home: “The horror in that situation is how dehumanized that woman is. This has been my life for a year and a half, fighting for the shot. It’s the theme of our film. It’s the female body being violated from the inside outwards. If we were going to talk about female body horror, we were going to talk about forced reproduction, and we have to be able to show the female body in a non-sexualized light. I’m very proud of this shot.”
Producers David Goyer and Keith Levine (Hellraiser, The Night House) backed Stevenson through the whole process. Levine reveals that the long battle for the R-rating involved a lot of discussion, but they kept at it: “We had to go back and forth with the ratings board five times. Weirdly, avoiding the NC-17 made it more intense.”
Goyer points to a bit of a “double standard” when it came to fighting the NC-17 rating: “The movie, by its nature, deals with female body horror, and I do think there’s a double standard. That was really interesting when we were negotiating with the ratings board. I think there is more permissiveness when dealing with male protagonists, particularly in body horror. That birthing scene is super intense, I also have three kids and have been at their births. It’s intense!”
While Stevenson ultimately shaved the shot in question down from roughly thirteen seconds to its final form, it sticks the landing: “There was a preview where I was sitting with the audience. The guy in front of me was eating M&Ms the whole time. Then that shot came on, and his mouth opened, and M&Ms just fell out.”
Levine and Goyer knew Stevenson was the one to take the reins on the project after she and writing partner Tim Smith pitched a bold, specific vision for the movie. Levine recounts the initial pitch meeting when he and Goyer first heard Stevenson and Smith share their vision for a scene set in a birthing clinic: “She just walked in and had a big, bold, incredibly vivid vision of what the movie should be. The version she and Tim came in with just pushed it and obliterated all that for us. We knew it would do all the things we were hoping the movie would do.”
On the other end of that pitch, Stevenson was nervous about how it might be received: “I’m not going to lie, it is pretty nerve-racking pitching that scene, thinking these guys will never go for that. But the whole time, Keith and Goyer were so supportive. I really wanted to work with these guys who aren’t scared off by that word. I think it’s a huge litmus test if people can say the word ‘vagina.'”
The body horror element is a cathartic exploration for Stevenson: “Exploring body horror in film helps me reconnect with my body, in a way. To have the opportunity to do that on such a big scale and push the boundary of that imagery was unbelievable.”
Co-writer Tim Smith adds, “I think there’s this preconceived notion of what people might expect from an Omen prequel. One of the big things we were excited to do was to kind of pull the rug out from under people’s expectations. To say, ‘Okay, I understand what this film’s going to be. It’s about a creepy kid.’ And then almost immediately subvert that expectation.”
Smith and Stevenson were both “raised by women who love” The Omen star Gregory Peck, adding another fun layer to taking on the legacy franchise. The script Goyer and Levine were working with immediately drew Stevenson in: “We were so excited about the script, it was already in such a cool place. I loved The Omen franchise, I grew up on it, but it is a story about men. When I opened the script and the main character was this young novitiate, I just thought, this is awesome. To be able to experience the paranoia of this conspiracy through a woman’s point of view, when I think we already are so forced to live in such a paranoid world, I was so ready.”
The incredibly realistic effects bringing the intense scene to life is the work of award-winning makeup artists Adrien Morot and Kathy Tse of Morot FX (The Whale). The prosthetic creations were so impressive that Stevenson says, “The effects started to make me question reality. They’re so beautiful.”
Making a feature directorial debut on a franchise film with a major studio is one hell of a way to do it. Stevenson shared her approach to dealing with the inevitable pressure accompanying the task: “I think getting down and dirty, getting lost in what you’re doing, is kind of the only antidote to the pressure and the fear. It was really nice because the studio made so much space for me to do that. They were just really open to all of our ideas.”
Having Goyer and Levine in her corner with the studio’s full support through the ultimately triumphant battle was inspiring for the first-time feature director: “It’s strange making a movie about forced reproduction and body autonomy right now. It’s really important to be talking about right now. It’s strange to be talking about it with Disney. It’s a surreal experience that feels extremely empowering. It feels like you’re traveling around with a really big hammer. It’s like Mickey Mouse is my bouncer. To have their support, I don’t even know how to put it in words. It’s beautifully surreal.”
The First Omen is in theaters April 5. Stay tuned for more with the filmmakers, and check out our list of all the new horror movies we’re excited to see this year.
