‘The Omen’: Fact or Fallacy?

“THE Bible says that the Antichrist will take human form,” says Bible scholar Nicolas Echevarria, “and be an agent of evil—like Hitler. It specifically states that he will initially appear to be a good man, physically attractive and charismatic, but in time his true intentions will be revealed.”
       In the upcoming thriller The Omen from 20th Century Fox, which opens worldwide on June 6, 2006 (6-6-6), director John Moore expounds on the signs all around the contemporary world pertaining to the facts—or fallacies—presented by various scholars such as Echevarria. Based on the 1976 classic film, like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby before it, The Omen galvanized audiences not only through its shocks and scares, but through the filmmakers’ storytelling gifts and its top-flight cast. The Omen became one of the biggest hits of the year.
       Director John Moore counts himself as one of the film’s many admirers. He also came to realize that The Omen’s exploration of evil is now more relevant than ever, and he was eager to take the reins of a new version of the story. “This has never been more apparent. In just the past four years alone, the world has been hit with devastating events—political, natural and man-made. One can’t help but notice a certain momentum,” says the director.
       The Omen retains much of the structure and themes of David Seltzer’s 1976 screenplay, but there are several important changes to update the story and characters. “The original film had a strong foundation,” says Moore, “but there were several opportunities to give the characters a more contemporary feel.”
       In the 1976 The Omen, Robert and Kathryn Thorn are a comfortable middle-aged couple, with Robert having had a long and distinguished career in government service. In the new film, they’re significantly younger. Producer Glenn Williamson notes: “We felt that by making Robert and Kathryn younger, they’d project the image of a couple on the ascendancy of their lives, both personally and professionally. While they’re educated and successful, they’re also young and working hard to make their career and marriage work. It adds to their confusion and shock when they begin to suspect, and then discover the truth about Damien.”
       “These are complex people, real people,” adds John Moore. “By making the characters more accessible, the audience must consider, ‘If a man this strong and relatable can fall, then it could happen to anyone.’”
       Early in the story, Robert makes a decision, purely out of love for his wife, which proves to be ruinous. John Moore says: “The film asks the questions: What would you do if you truly loved somebody? What would you do to make them happy? And what Thorn does—protect his wife from the devastation of a child lost at birth—is seemingly benign. People adopt children; it happens all the time. But from this “innocent” lie and his attempts to do some good, that evil is able to come into his life and into the world.
       “It’s a tragedy on an intimate scale, in how it affects his family,” Moore continues. “On a global level, Robert has opened a doorway to evil because he has, without realizing it, shaken hands with the devil.”
       Through his early commercial work and two previous motion pictures, Behind Enemy Lines and Flight of the Phoenix, John Moore is known for his distinct visual style, which is fully realized in The Omen. Moore, together with his collaborators, turns even the most innocent event, like a sunny child’s birthday party complete with clowns, carousel and puppets, into a nightmarish ordeal. A Sunday morning visit to church leads to an inexplicable burst of hysteria. And a child’s ride on a scooter puts his parents on a very dark path.
       “The Omen, photographically, is about light and dark,” Moore explains. “And within every frame there’s a struggle for light to win out over darkness.”
       Fact or fallacy? The Omen leaves questions to be answered as it opens locally on June 6 from 20th Century Fox.