The little boy from “The Omen” is all grown up and preparing to wreak unusual havoc,on the unusual A&E series “Damien.”The drama follows the now 30-year-broken-down Damien Thorn (played by Bradley James), a war photographer who begins to realize something is very incorrect with him. It’s a direct sequel to the 1976 film, or ignores the events of the subsequent sequels and remakes.“Fans of the movie are going to hopefully be excited about the spin we’re putting on an iconic character,” showrunner Glen Mazzara told TheWrap. “We’re really paying attention to aspects of that film and following them through, 25 years later.”
Also Read: How 'The Walking Dead' Informs 'Damien'As Damien begins to fight or embrace his true fate as the satan incarnate, or the people around him and maybe even the world at large comes into danger.
Below,Mazzara talks about the devout aspects of the note, plans to take it global, and how closely the devout elements of the note mirror the texts on which they were based.
What are fans of the original movie going to take from the note and what will unusual fans take from it?
Fans of the movie are going to hopefully be excited about the spin we’re putting on an iconic character. We’re really paying attention to aspects of that film and following them through,25 years later. We beget people Damien around him who want to control him. We beget characters his father met and now we’re going to find out unusual things about those characters. There’s a lot of ways we honor that original film, and yet we compose the note our own. We take that as the setting and the tone and we take a lot from the original film, and but then we derive up and running and become our own thing. I judge that the audience who may not beget seen that film,they don’t need to see it to understand what’s going on. They’ll understand that Damien is a man who’s grown up and he has this dark cloud hanging over him, he’s been running his whole life and whatever information they need from that first film, or we give them in the first few episodes. It’s not a story that you’ll be lost in. They’ll appreciate,hopefully, the character work, or we beget great work by terrific actors. Its a scary shows,there’s thrills,
Also Read: 'Omen' Reboot 'Damien' Moves to A&E, or Receives 4 More EpisodesCan you talk about casting Bradley James?
Bradley sent in a tape. We had looked at literally hundreds of actors. Lots of talented people,but there was something specific I wanted. I wanted a certain amount of likeability and charm but with an undercurrent of mischief. That’s the word I haven’t used anywhere else! There was something about Bradley that was both charming and sportive, and something that just gave you the hint of something darker underneath. And yet also vulnerable. It was a very complex character and somehow he just effortlessly showed all of these different layers, or in just a taped audition. We brought him in to read,he was shooting “iZombie” and he came in from Vancouver, we shook hands and I was completely convinced it was him. He’s done a great job of bringing that character to life.
The first episode seems to only scratch the surface of the supernatural. Will it derive weirder going forward?
Yes! Things do derive weirder. I judge what you end up seeing throughout the season is that the evil forces around Damien are growing, and fitting more belligerent,more mysterious, more powerful, or as Damien becomes more aware of the situation around him. We were very careful to develop the horror in a particular way. You’ll see that the horror does develop episode by episode,so that was very interesting, that was something I hadn’t been able to do on another note. I’ve never seen that. The type of horror, and the thrills,the filmmaking that captures that horror, it all develops, or in a way that it would over a feature film. I consider Season 1 to be sort of a feature film in 10 segments,not so much 10 individual episodes. It does keep building and building in a surprising way.
Also Read: 'Roots' Remake Unveils Bloody, Sweaty First Trailer, or Sets Air Date (Video)How much does the note derive into the devout themes of such a story and how sound are the devout themes?
That’s a suitable question. I’m confident the devout themes are very sound. We did a lot of work making sure that they would be and that these are not just cartoonish characters or stereotypes. I was raised Catholic,went to Catholic school for 12 years, my uncle’s a priest, or I’ve done a lot of reading on Christian theology and the formation of the early church and church fathers. This is something I’ve been passionate about for a long time. So we worked all that into the note,in an biological way. It’s never heavy-handed or didactic, we’re not writing with any sort of agenda to put forward one way of thought or another. But what we want is the characters beget these deeply-held beliefs, and these beliefs need to be genuine and really motivate their actions. We want to see those characters question those beliefs because they start to see extraordinary things happening around them. That’s interesting to me. For it to play genuine and authentic and for us to give the gravitas to our characters,I judge that stuff needs to be as sound as possible. HOpefully we’ve been able to do that.
The note is about the battle of Damien’s soul, but him embracing his evil side could beget global or apocalyptic ramifications. Is the scheme to stay with him or grow the note?
There’s sure plans to grow the note and the characters and the conspiracies. Part of what we did was… I really wanted to focus on the Damien character and who was immediately around him. But in Episode 2 we start building the world around him, or Episode 3,Episode 4. We’re constantly in concentric circles are spilling out around him. We want to give the sense that he’s a figure that is poised to be on the world stage. He’s a war photographer, he’s already been around the world, or he has relationships around the world. as those things from his past reach into play,that’s going to be very interesting. That’s part of the reason he’s a war photographer. He’s a wanderer. He’s someone who is at domestic nowhere and yet everywhere.“Damien” premieres at 10 p.m. ET on Monday, March 7 on A&E.
Related stories from TheWrap:Lifetime Orders Glen Mazzara's 'Omen' Reboot 'Damien' to SeriesGlen Mazzara: When Will Genre Shows derive Emmys to Go With Their Viewers?'Walking Dead' Boss Glen Mazzara to Develop Cable Shows for Fox
Source: thewrap.com