The First Omen birthing scene nearly earned the film an NC-17 rating

On April 5th, 20th Century Studios will be giving a theatrical release to The First Omen, which serves as a prequel to the 1976 horror classic The Omen (watch it HERE). The film stars Nell Tiger Free of the Apple TV+ series Servant, and will be hitting the big screen with an R rating for violent content, grisly/disturbing images, and brief graphic nudity. That’s a rating the filmmakers really had to fight for, as director Arkasha Stevenson revealed to Fangoria that there’s a birthing scene that nearly earned the film an NC-17 rating – mainly because it featured a thirteen second shot of a woman’s vagina. That shot had to be whittled down to secure the R.

Stevenson said, “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.“

The director had the support of producers David S. Goyer and Keith Levine as she fought to keep the vagina shot in the film. Levine confirmed that they had to take the film back to the Motion Picture Association ratings board five times before they approved of the amount of time the vagina shot appears on screen. He added, “Weirdly, avoiding the NC-17 made it more intense.“

Goyer added, “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!“

The First Omen has the following synopsis: 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.

Free is joined in the cast by Tawfeek Barhom (Mary Magdalene), Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Ralph Ineson (The Northman), and Bill Nighy (Living). Tim Smith served as executive producer with Whitney Brown and Gracie Wheelan. 

We first heard that a prequel to The Omen was in development way back in 2016. At that time, Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time) was in talks to direct First Omen from a script by Ben Jacoby (Bleed). Later The Conjuring writers Chad and Carey Hayes came on board to work on the script, and they were followed by author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl). The film ended up in the hands of Arkasha Stevenson – who has previously directed episodes of the genre shows Channel Zero, Legion, and Brand New Cherry Flavor. Stevenson rewrote the script with her writing partner Tim Smith, then Firestarter‘s Keith Thomas worked on it as well.

The Omen (1976) was followed by Damien: Omen II in 1978, Omen III: The Final Conflict in 1981, Omen IV: The Awakening in 1991, and a 2006 remake. So this is the sixth entry in the film franchise.

Are you looking forward to The First Omen? Does this talk of the birthing scene and intense vagina shot make you more or less interested in the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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