New
York
(Reuters):
Mia
Farrow
has
come
full
circle
by
giving
birth
to
Satan's
cinematic
spawn
nearly
four
decades
ago
and
now
returning
as
the
anti-Christ's
on-screen
nanny
in
the
remake
of
the
horror
classic
The
Omen.
The
waif-like
star,
now
61,
is
revisiting
the
genre
that
launched
her
career.
In
1968,
when
she
was
23
and
married
to
Frank
Sinatra,
she
starred
in
Roman
Polanski's
hit
Rosemary's
Baby,
about
a
young
woman
afraid
that
her
neighbours
have
a
satanic
plan
for
her
unborn
child.
The
Omen
stars
Liev
Schreiber
and
Julia
Stiles
as
the
unsuspecting
parents
of
a
demonic
boy
named
Damien,
while
Farrow
reinterprets
the
evil
nanny,
Mrs.
Baylock.
Even
before
The
Omen's
release-today
when
the
numerical
date,
6-6-06,
evokes
a
number
long
tied
by
folklore
to
the
devil-debate
over
the
merits
of
John
Moore's
remake
of
the
1976
film
has
hit
the
Internet.
Moore,
in
a
recent
meeting
with
reporters,
said
he
had
to
update
the
characters
with
more
depth.
Damien's
mother
Katherine
Thorn
(Stiles),
who
knows
her
child
is
strange,
now
suffers
openly
from
postpartum
depression
while
the
wicked
Mrs.
Baylock
(Farrow)
appears
kind
and
gentle.
Casting
Farrow
as
the
caretaker,
replacing
the
nanny
who
leaps
to
her
death
at
Damien's
birthday
party,
was
''pure
fantasy,''
Moore
told
reporters
in
New
York.
He
recalled
how
people
told
him
to
forget
it,
that
Farrow
would
never
agree.
Farrow,
for
her
part,
told
reporters
she
''seriously
questioned''
the
role,
since
she
''loved
to
be
scared
by''
the
original
character,
played
by
Billie
Whitelaw.
But
Farrow
accepted
Moore's
sweeter
version
of
the
nanny
after
he
explained
that
the
original
nanny's
bad
intentions
were
too
obvious.
''It
might
have
flown
30
years
ago,
but
it
wouldn't
fly
today,''
Moore
said,
commenting
on
the
parents
handing
their
child
over
to
a
mean
and
mysterious
caretaker.
''He
used
the
word
'angelic',''
Farrow
said
with
a
smile.
''So
I
began
shining
up
my
halo.''
An
early
review
on
Web
site
www.horror.com
congratulated
Moore
on
''walking
the
fine
line
between
faithfulness
to
the
source
material
and
a
nod
to
the
new
guard
of
horror
fans
who
demand
a
little
extra.''
The
new
film
is
very
close
to
the
original,
except
that
modern
tragedies
are
employed
to
suggest
the
New
Testament's
apocalyptic
Book
of
Revelation
is
coming
true,
and
that
the
anti-Christ
is
on
his
way.
There
are
allusions
to
modern
events
such
as
the
Darfur
crisis,
the
Iraq
war,
the
2004
tsunami
and
the
events
of
Sept.
11.
''I'm
posing
the
notion
that
now
more
than
ever
...
failure
to
act
against
the
evil
that's
being
perpetrated
on
a
daily
basis
could
result
in
a
falling
into
the
precipice
of
evil,''
Moore
said.
Leading
man
Schreiber
linked
the
revival
to
a
similar
mood
in
the
late
1970s
as
in
the
present
time.
''I
don't
know
if
it
has
something
to
do
with
the
end
of
the
Vietnam
War
and
civil
conflicts
and
what
was
going
on
in
the
country
politically,''
he
said.
''But
I
certainly
think
there
are
some
parallels
that
could
be
drawn
with
2006.''
Paul
Dergarabedian,
president
of
box-office
tracker
Exhibitor
Relations
Co.
offered
a
more
practical
explanation,
saying
that
young
moviegoers
enjoy
seeing
films
they
know
of,
but
are
too
young
to
have
watched.
So
for
a
studio
such
as
Twentieth
Century
Fox,
which
owns
The
Omen
rights,
a
remake
can
be
easy
money,
he
said.
The
story
is
there.
The
name
is
familiar.
What's
more,
it
can
revive
DVD
sales
of
an
old
film
that
died
long
ago.
When
Warner
Bros.
re-released
The
Exorcist
in
2000
with
extra
footage,
it
pulled
in
39.7
million
dollars
domestically,
on
top
of
the
165
million
dollars
it
grossed
in
1973.