Fresh from a four-season run on Apple TV+ show Servant, Nell Tiger Free is now coming to the big screen in her first leading movie role in The First Omen.
The horror prequel sees Free play Margaret, a young American woman who is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church. However, what she uncovers there is anything but holy as she stumbles on a conspiracy to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.
"When you do a feature, especially one of this nature, it's so contained because you have a certain amount of days to get this done, and you have to go on this whole trajectory pretty quick. You have to get comfortable and familiar with your character almost immediately," she explained of the differences to filming on Servant.
"With this film, I think the first scene we shot is the one in the hotel room with me and Ralph [Ineson], which is very near to the end. It was literally the first day, and so they throw you in right in the deep end, and you really need to know your stuff."
Once you experience The First Omen and Free's performance, you'll know that she definitely knew her stuff.
Ahead of its arrival in cinemas this Friday (April 5), Digital Spy sat down with Nell Tiger Free to talk about working with director/co-writer Arkasha Stevenson, filming the wildest scenes, the R-rating battle in the US and comparisons to Immaculate.
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Whenever there's a movie that's connected to a classic movie that people really love, there's always extra scrutiny from fans. Was there any hesitation in taking on this role as a result of that?
Nell Tiger Free: I don't think there was any hesitation for me. I think it was something I was really excited about. It felt like such a big challenge.
On the page, it didn't read as intense as it actually ended up being. It read really well, but it's impossible to actually really understand what you're going in to do until you're there, and doing it. I'm always up for doing some freaky, weird stuff. I certainly got to do that in this movie.
As first lead roles in movies go, it's certainly a unique one.
For sure [laughs].
Arkasha was making her feature directorial debut here as well. How was it working with her? Was it like you're in this together because it's such a big thing for both of you?
So much so. It really felt like she kind of just carried me through the whole thing. I felt like I was just metaphorically clinging to her the whole time – and physically as well. I say it all the time: I'd really jump in front of a bullet for that woman. She's just the most fabulous person, and a genuine, real friend now.
She's so talented and wonderful. She made everybody on that set want to work harder. She made everybody want to throw themselves into it. And I think that comes out in everyone's performances. The whole cast were so committed, and were so up for doing anything.
99% of that was because we all wanted to show up for Arkasha because she showed up for us every single day. She never slipped, not once, and she just went for it. She had so much to do. She always gave us 110%. I just love her so much.
As you've alluded to, Margaret goes through a lot in this film, to put it lightly. When you first read that script, and you were coming to filming, was there a particular scene or sequence where you just felt like you wanted to get banked and out of the way?
Those are the scenes that I'm desperately excited to do, genuinely. Those are the ones that I'm looking forward to the most and they bookmark the movie as well. There's story-driven moments and establishing moments, which are all beautiful. It's all fun to do.
But the really core, big pieces, that's when you really get to sink your teeth into it, and have fun with it as well. The most intense scene in the film was probably my favourite one to shoot, to be honest.
I have a feeling I know what you're referring to – your one extended take. How many times did you actually have to do that?
The first take, I think, was around six or seven minutes long – a continuous take – and then we did it one more time and it was, again, six or seven minutes long. So we did it just two times, all in one, didn't cut.
I had Arkasha on the side of the camera with me, and she just let me do whatever I was doing, which I still don't know what that was. She just let me do what it was. If she wanted me to keep going, I would just hear her going: "Keep going, keep going".
I would stay in it, and would just kind of hear her above my very loud head noise that was going on there. But that was definitely my favourite moment to shoot.
There's also another scene that Arkasha has already been talking about having to fight for an R-rating in the US.
I think I know the one you're talking about [laughs].
It's so important to the themes of the film. Are you excited to have those reactions from people who are going to watch it? They're probably not going to expect something quite like that.
Yeah, absolutely. The reaction in the audience, in the theatre [at the premiere], was fantastic. It was amazing. It was exactly what we wanted.
I think it's an important frame in the film because, weirdly, that one frame kind of encapsulates the whole movie for me, and what Arkasha is saying, and what we're saying.
It's important to desexualise women's bodies sometimes in the name of art. That's totally fine. It doesn't always have to have some sort of sexual undertone. I thought that that was just brilliant, and kind of ground-breaking and ballsy, and only Arkasha could pull that off in my opinion.
Because this is a prequel, there's plenty of throwbacks, not just to the first Omen, but the entire series. For you, do you think there's a perfect way to watch these films? Would you recommend people rewatch The Omen, and then go and see The First Omen, or the other way around?
I don't know. What's nice about watching the original Omen, and then coming back and watching The First Omen, is that it's fun to see all of our nudge, nudge, wink, winks and nods to the original. You get a kick out of the fact that we've gone back in time, and revisited this thing that everybody loved watching so much, which was the original.
I think that order is best. But if you're a new fan, and you're just coming into the universe, and you don't have an attachment to the original Omen, then yeah, I think it would be great to watch The First Omen and then the original – and also in the theatres, because it's the best way to see it, I promise you.
We have recently had Immaculate come out, which tackles similar themes, and is bringing back this kind of religious horror that we haven't really seen for a while. Why do you think that is or is it just a case of coincidence?
I don't know. I think it is genuinely just a coincidence. But also these things are very topical about what women can and can't do with their bodies. It's a conversation that's been going on for a very long time, and it's come back to the forefront again.
Those elements are in hundreds of different films. It's just that these two thematically do seem to be quite similar.
But do you know what I think is fantastic? I think it's fantastic that there's so much more female-driven horror films, and we've got another fantastically talented actress – not saying I'm a fantastically talented actress – but I'm saying a fantastically talented young actress in Sydney Sweeney, who's at the forefront of this horror film again.
Considering this was your first lead film role, is there a particular lesson you're going to take from doing this one that you'll bring into a future lead film role, or any other roles that are coming up next?
It depends on what I do. I don't know if there's much I could take from this one if I were to do, like, a romcom, per se [laughs]. I don't know how much of this performance I would lean on for that. I don't think it would work.
It depends. If I go on to do another horror piece, then yeah. I'm sure that things that I've learned from making this movie will definitely lend themselves there.
But I'm always learning everything. I'm kind of just existentially learning about my life, and myself, on every film that I do. I think hopefully I'm getting older and wiser, but I'm not sure. I'll let you know. I'll let you know in a few years [laughs].
What are you hoping that the Omen fans will get from this when it comes out in cinemas this week?
I hope they just get a real kick out of it, to be honest. I really just hope people have as much fun as I did, sitting in that theatre, and watching it with all the people that I love, and all my friends.
It's just such a good time. This is pure entertainment. It really, really is. I hope that people who really loved the original of The Omen, not that it's exclusive for those people, but they see that everybody who made this film really cared about paying homage to the original, and keeping it in the same tone, and thematically the same.
It's also fun to see a story that's been, you know, sleeping for so long, and reawakened with a little twist of modernity, and all of us running around in nun's habits, trying to scare you. It's a lot of fun.
The First Omen is released in cinemas on April 5.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
