The First Omen star & director reveal “crazy sh*t” on cursed set

In an exclusive interview with Dexerto, The First Omen director Arkasha Stevenson and lead star Nell Tiger Free revealed all of the “crazy sh*t” that went down on the horror prequel’s “cursed” set. 

For context, The Omen — which dropped back in 1976 — was rumored to be one of the most cursed movie productions in horror history. We’re talking numerous mid-flight lightning strikes, bombings, and a random dog attack. 

If that weren’t terrifying enough, an animal trainer brought in to help the cast with the baboon scene was killed the very next day by a tiger. And, shortly after production, special effects artist John Richardson was involved in a car accident that decapitated his companion — in a similar manner to a grisly death in The Omen.

Due to its religious narrative centering on the Antichrist, many chalked it up at the time as some sort of sign from above. No matter what your beliefs are, there’s no denying those are some creepy coincidences – and the cast and crew of the upcoming prequel, The First Omen, experienced eerie goings on too. 

Elaborating on these moments, Arkasha told us: “Ralph [Ineson, who plays Father Brennan] had to be taken to hospital because a dog bit him. And Ralph’s the friendliest person in the world – he’s the last person to be bitten by a dog.”

And this wasn’t the only incident the actor was involved in. “His Uber driver taking him to the airport to come to set got lost. Ralph was sleeping in the car and when he woke up, they were passing a church – and it happened to be the church that the original Father Brennan gets killed at in the original Omen film.” What’s more, the church wasn’t even on the way to the airport. 

Arkasha went on to highlight a scene they were shooting at a round piazza in Italy. Despite having a great cast and crew on set, they kept stumbling on this specific scene. “We didn’t have time to really investigate so we just kind of shook it off and went to the next scene,” she added. 

“Somebody told us that the diameter of the piazza we were in was 666 feet. I wasn’t really thinking about all that stuff until that one moment, because it was just so strange. Nell never stumbles, so that was a weird coincidence.”

Not only did Ralph appear to get the worst of it but he also wasn’t the only member of his family to face The First Omen curse. As revealed by Nell: “Ralph Ineson’s daughter was shot a little bit in the film, and she was coming out to do it. And right before she came out, she was attacked by a flock of crows.”

The actress, who plays nun-to-be Magaret in the horror flick, went on to say that there was “lots of crazy sh*t happening,” adding, “I would be in my dressing room and have people knocking on the door, and I’d open it and there’d be no one there.”

“There was another time when Ralph and I were sitting outside the greenroom and I was just in a stare. You know, when you’re just staring at something and not even realizing you’re doing it. 

“I was honing in on his crucifix necklace that he was wearing around his neck, and just really focusing on it. In front of me, the crucifix part just snapped in half and fell from his neck. He’s a big guy, he doesn’t scare easily, but he was like, ‘Oh my god.’”

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, and Arkasha and Nell aren’t thinking too deeply about it. Although Nell joked about a way to make use of these experiences: “Whenever anything goes wrong in my life, I like to think it’s The Omen curse.”

The First Omen drops in cinemas on April 5, 2024. Until then, check out 12 more horror movies to get excited about in 2024. And you can also find out which new movies are heading to streaming this month.