‘First Omen’s’ Akasha Stevenson fights to keep haunted birth scene alive

first omen It’s a prequel 1976 classic moviesets the days before Damian is born and he will be antichrist. Along with the actual birth of Damian himself, the film also featured another childbirth scene, one that nearly got the film into trouble with the Motion Picture Association of America before its release.

The film opens with Sister Margaret (played by Nell Tiger Free), who is just getting used to life in an orphanage, seeing a hallucination of a woman giving birth. During this time, a demonic hand emerges from a woman’s birth canal, earning the film an NC-17 rating in the eyes of the ratings board. (Movies receiving this rating tend to diminish their theatrical prospects.) The original rating surprised director Akasha Stevenson, even more so when she realized what specifically the scene was that led to the rating.

“[We have] This is a full frontal shot of the vagina as a hand begins to penetrate.It’s this… picture of the vagina that gets tagged every time,” she told pack. It was “really frustrating” to deal with the MPAA’s dilemma, even more so when they realized the scene would have been approved if “the labia were no longer in focus.” That was a real Joker moment for Stevenson, who called it weird because “we had a lot of gore and violence. We had a demon’s penis. […] I was like, “What’s going on?” It frustrated me so much, and it gave me more motivation to keep fighting them. “

Eventually she decided to start the filming by inserting her hand through her vagina, which she said was “already violated.” In her opinion, concessions to MPAA would have resulted in more graphic scenes because you would see “the skin being stretched and it would feel more painful.”

Free admitted that the process of filming the scene was divided between actually working with the actor playing “the mother” and just looking at the red dot on the camera. It wasn’t until the ADR stage that she saw it in “all its sticky glory,” and she loved it. “I was cheering in the booth,” she laughs, “and I was like, ‘Fuck yeah!'” In the context of the entire film, she noted first omen Despite its dark subject matter, it “deals with very topical and very difficult things.” “[We do] We’re not trying to spoon-feed you anything. We don’t even want to force our opinions on you. “

As for Stevenson? She’s glad the studio supported her throughout the ordeal. “[We have] vaginas in disney movies, [and] It feels great. “

first omen Now in theaters.


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