The prophecy is clear, the signs unmistakable: Armageddon is upon us. On 6 / 6 / 06, the omen is revealed...and our darkest fears are realized.

FEARS: What attracted you to picking up this remake?

John Moore: The lack of good material out there is shocking. In the Hollywood and general media, people accuse Hollywood of simply roiling out another remake ñ ìWhat the hell is wrong with Hollywood and why canít they just come up with something?î Studios donít write scripts! There is a genuine lack of good material. There is a dangerous new genre of self-aware derivative material, there really is. There are films like ìHostelî and even argue that some of the Tarantino films are dangerously unserious. Itís so tongue-&-cheek and disposable.

What attracted me to THE OMEN is that itís a damn good story. Itís a bit like asking an actor if he wants to do ìDeath of a Salesmanî or ìMacbeth.î No actor in his or her right mind goes, ìWell, thatís been done before I donít want to do that!î Everyone wants a shot at the title, like a kid watching a racecar driver who wishes he could be in that race. Thatís why I wanted to do it, plus there was a small but definite opportunity to do what we did at the start of the movie.

FEARS: As you mention, an actor makes a choice in picking a role. Why did you choose THE OMEN over some other great text?

John Moore: I think part of the reason is that I could contextualize the story.

Look, when you are young and stupid, as I was once young, you make dumbass angry young man movies ñ the world has gone to hell! As a filmmaker you are always trying not to do that. You want to comment but not be so ugly, raw, and stupid.

Here comes THE OMEN, and you get a moment to really finesse an idea, and to say something. There are very few vehicles in Hollywood that are going to allow you to say something. Get ready! There is a rash of scripts, and Iíve read about 30 of them, based on the war in Iraq that is about to be vomited upon us. Most of it is bad because it isnít finessed, and it is not finessed because there is very little contemplation behind it. Where THE OMEN is a lean racehorse of a story. You know it works, and thatís why I was attracted to it.

Fear of failure is a great motivator. With THE OMEN there was less of a chance to completely screw it up because the story is so good. The other side of that coin is that you get beat up for doing a remake.

FEARS: THE OMEN raises the question of evil in the world. Many literary greats, like Arthur Machen, suggested, ìit is easier for a bad man to go to heaven than it is to be a truly evil man.î A truly evil man needs to work at it 24/7. Having said that, what does your version of THE OMEN say about evil and what does it reflect about your beliefs?

John Moore: THE OMEN works both as a piece of entertainment and a metaphor. Obviously, Damien represents the collective failure to act against evil. It also implies complicity for evil to succeed.

On the other hand, the less sophisticated hand, there is just a lot of bad stuff being done be a lot of bad people. Itís quite easy and effective to pint to things that are happening in the world and say, ìYou want to know what evil looks like, well thatís it!î I guess that film tries to make both points, but itís somewhat scholarly or stiff opening. It tries to show you the bigger question. Then it allows the fable to play out against that.

FEARS: I totally get the irony of casting Mia Farrow as Mrs. Baylock, Damienís nanny, but what was your feeling on casting her in the role.

John Moore: The whole ìRosemaryís Babyî fun of it all is really for film lovers. First and foremost, itís Mia Farrowís acting ability that makes it so good. I think if she was just okay in the role I donít think people would be so delighted that itís her. The fact that she gives a home run performance, because she is so damn good, and you can see how much fun she has with the part.

FEARS: Did you talk a lot about the role?

John Moore: We had just one idea that we kept coming back to, the idea of deception. We decided to make her look as if sheíd been handed down from God to the Throns. So it was all about that deception. When you think about it, if she were anything but absolutely beguiling and nice to Katherine, sheíd fire her ass. That wouldnít fly now. Thirty years ago a strict nanny type was credible, but not now. So we decided weíd have to do something about this and we decided to make her constantly credible.

FEARS: In being credible, I was impressed with the way you stuck to the original script and you kept the visual elements very realistic, as opposed to like in the 70ís where youíd see a dog with glowing red eyes.

John Moore: I knew weíd blow it if we tried to get too clever. With all the tools that are available to use today we could have done some spectacularly gory deaths. When you break it down, THE OMEN is a series of set pieces about death. What I noticed that they all have in common is that theyíre all very primeval ñ impaling, beheading, hanging, etc. There is a rule going on. No one gets shot or strangled by their I-Pod cord. Whatí brilliant about that is that it suggests the eons old nature of whatís been going on. That this guy has been trying for a long time and uses his tools of perceived coincidence to achieve his means. We consciously didnít want to go Hollywood on it.

FEARS: Yours is the first fictional film to use footage of the World Trade Center tragedy.

John Moore: What about the film about flight 93? Thatís fiction!

FEARS: But you had to expect you would catch a little bit of heat over using that footage?

John Moore: Certainly! Youíd be very naÔve to come to New York, and not be mind full of your ìPs and Qs,î and rightly so. I did wonder about it for a long time. A lot of people told me why couldnít you just put Rwanda in there, or something else.

FEARS: True enough, because he just focused on that and not any of the other images you used to show suffering around the world.

John Moore: I guess what it comes down to is that all politics are local. Still, the reason I used that footage was because on going failure to interrupt what happened on 9/11 as part of something and continuing to believe that it is part of a singular event, an act of singular evil, is dangerous I think. It has to be contextualized! The failure to do that has driven this great nation towards a dark precipice.

FEARS: Is that easier for someone to see who comes from outside the United States?

John Moore: Iím going to tell you something thatís dangerous. Non-Americans love America more than Americans. Let me explain the context of that. We want to come. We desire it, rather than living that on a day-to-day basis. Itís why American works. When it works great thatís why it does.

I can certainly understand the point of view that I donít know the feel of 9/11 like New Yorkers do. Iím simply wasnít there. I was on the west coast when it happened. It was just as shocking and gut wrenching.

FEARS: As an Irishman, youíve had the chance to work with some of the great Irish filmmakers, how do you feel theyíve influenced your work?

John Moore: I wish it did more! I wish I were a better Irish director. Itís fascinating, because Jim Sheridan couldnít care less is thereís a camera on sit. Itís incidental to him that thereís a movie camera on set. He is so singularly focused on storytelling, working with actors, and script. Certainly in his earlier films his guys need to tap him on the shoulder to remind him that they need to roll film. He would get so involved with an actor, especially when he saw something that was so good.

I donít know if youíve ever met Neil Jordan, his work is incredible but he is so introverted. He would say things like, ìYou know! You knowÖ and I want toÖ you knowÖ itís poetryÖ you know!î Again, fascinating for a guy who you would think that directing is not a good career for someone with that personality. Heís so intense I think actors are drawn towards him. With Jim, heís drawn to actors and storytellers.

FEARS: Where do you see yourself?

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