The First Omen Producer Keith Levine Talks Honoring Original Film

Keith Levine explains the process of working "within a piece of IP or a franchise."

By Jamie Jirak

The First Omen opens in theaters tonight, and the film takes place before the events of The Omen, which was released back in 1976.  The new film stars Nell Tiger Free (Servant, Game of Thrones) as a young American woman who is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church when she encounters a dark conspiracy. ComicBook.com recently spoke with producer Keith Levine, who opened up about honoring the original film. 

"It's making sure that we are honoring that essence, that what made the original great, is not absent from what we're doing," Levine explained. "Whenever we work within a piece of IP or a franchise or something that has a preexisting fan base, for the most part, we always talk about what are the core tenants of what makes this great. Why do people come to this in the first place? And we kind of distill it down and make sure those things are first and foremost present in what we're doing, which sounds like a no-brainer, but sometimes these brands or these projects or these franchises get passed to people who want to do away with that stuff and want to start afresh."

"But I think especially for fans, and especially for Omen fans and for people who've had fandom for 50 years, I think they want to be welcomed in and they want to have people, I think, shepherding the process who kind of feel the same way they do," he added. "And so that's who we are. We have an affinity for it as well. So the same way I think that fans want to see certain ideas, we just make sure we're honoring what made it great to begin with."

You can watch our interview with Levine at the top of the page. 

ComicBook.com also spoke with director Arkasha Stevenson and star Nell Tiger Free about their love for the original The Omen. 

"Oh, it was totally simple and easy, right? No stress," Stevenson joked about directing her first feature. "No ... I mean, actually I had so much support and it was just a lot of fun. I am a big Omen fan, so this was just kind of a dream come true. And we got to shoot in Rome, so ... you're so distracted by everything and how fun it is to make this film that this stress kind of wears off."

"I think that the reason that the original is so impactful is because of the character development and the really grounded nature of the relationships, but then also how the horror is executed," Stevenson added. "I think that the cinematography is very egoless, which really allows everything to feel real and to lose yourself in it. And so that was something that we really wanted to bring as much as possible to this film. And I think with Margaret's character, Nell did such an incredible job making her real that you want to spend time with her and get to know her so that when her psyche starts to shatter. You're with her." 

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"Not gonna lie ... A little bit of pressure," Free half-joked when asked about leading a movie in such an iconic franchise. "I love the original. I mean, who doesn't? Especially if you're a horror fan. I mean, it's kind of like a horror fan's bread and butter, in my opinion, is The Omen. So coming into it, I was like, 'I better get this right, or I'm going to be into serious trouble because I am one of them.' I know how intense horror fans can be. We can get really mad if something is not handled correctly. It's like, 'Hang on a second, specifically, this is supposed to be like this actually.' So I was like, 'Okay. I have to really bear all of that in mind and hopefully appease the community.'" 

The First Omen lands in theaters on April 5th.

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