Exclusive: Glen Mazzara Talks Resurrecting The Beast in Damien
Television has quickly become the go-to spot for quality horror-themed entertainment based on huge cinematic properties like The Evil Dead, Psycho, and of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal; and now a direct sequel to The Omen is waiting in the clawed wings with “The Walking Dead’s” Glen Mazzara unleashing the Anti-Christ upon the small screen.
We caught up with Mazzara, who had the following to say about his upcoming show “Damien.”
“We wanted to go back to the original film,” says Mazzara. “We spent a lot of time talking about tone. The writers, directors, the whole production team and I just took our time to make sure we got the right feel… the look of the original film… the pacing… and the type of horror that The Omen brought. What’s beautiful about that 1976 production is that it feels like it takes place in our world. I didn’t want to have to rely on something that had a tremendous amount of visual effects… or inter-dimensional doorways, spells, witchcraft, and stuff like that. I wanted every one of the deaths in our show to be plausible in some way. That’s where the creepy factor comes in. I want to tease out the horror throughout the entire series just like the source material. Not just horror, but also part psychological thriller.”
In terms of why TV and not just another feature film…
“With television, we can really take our time and let the story unfold. I describe this show as being: ‘A man’s search for God leads him to the Devil.’ I really want the audience to sympathize with Damien and truly understand his plight… that way when he possibly fully develops into who he is supposed to be, the audience has taken that journey with him. That’s what I think makes horror exciting… when the viewer leans in and takes part. If you were to do this as a feature, you would end up sacrificing character to both plot and bigger story points. ‘Damien’ is very much grounded in character, and there’s no better place to do that than on a cable TV show.”
Having already seen the first five episodes of the show, we can tell you that there’s some pretty graphic violence involved in it. So, did the network weigh in with any restrictions?
“A&E has always been very supportive. They are behind this show in a very big way and have some amazing plans to launch it. I’ve been REALLY happy with the support from both the studio and the network. In terms of violence, from past experience you know what’s gratuitous. We knew what the line was. There were some things we tried in which we asked ourselves, ‘Can we go this far out?’ Once something goes from the page to the screen, things come together in a very natural way. There are moments in the series, particularly in Episode 5, that are gonna shake people up. That’s a good thing. Damien has been living in our world as a war journalist. He sees horrors all around him every day. He sees people suffering in our world at home and abroad. His profession gives us an opportunity to explore some real-life horrors that are going on right now. We didn’t want the apocalypse to just feel like a theoretical supernatural event that’s just coming down the road… there’s a lot of pain and suffering going on right now. Today’s world. Damien finds himself right in the middle of all of it.”
Mazzara continues, “Damien’s a war photography because it ties back to the photographer in the original film (Jennings, play by David Warner). That character captured photographic evidence of the supernatural. I started thinking about the photography in that film, and I liked the idea of Damien going out into the world… trying to find his place… yet, there’s all of these horrors happening around him. He’s trying to be compassionate, but in all actuality he’s immersing himself in the evil. The evil in our world. As we started working on the show, the idea of photojournalism started to become more and more relevant. We start our story in Syria, and at the time I don’t think any of us really understood the migrant crisis there until we saw that photograph of that toddler on the beach… that was something that really drove home the idea that Damien is the type of war photographer that would take that picture. That made us feel that the story we are telling was more relevant and more important today. The fact that Damien has this career that makes him feel like he’s more connected to the world around us… around the audience… that was really surprising for us all. Damien is, unbeknownst to him, feeding his blood lust, and that gives us a layer of reality that few shows ever have.”
On the show, Barbara Hershey plays Ann Rutledge, a woman so profoundly evil and focused that she more than gives Billie Whitelaw’s 1976 portrayal of Mrs. Baylock a run for her money. Mazzara went on to discuss working with Hershey.
“When we cast Barbara, we had only written the first episode and were working on the second script. I wrote her a fan letter and asked her to consider the material and basically let her in on my vision for the show. We had a conversation soon afterward, and we were all incredibly lucky that she signed on. Barbara is without a doubt one of the hardest working actors I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. She’s a pro who goes over every single line of dialogue and asks questions. She’s so generous and so committed to this. Working with her has been the highlight of my career.”
High praise indeed! And Mazzara adds, “As far as her character goes, there’s a line in the original movie when Mrs. Baylock arrives and she tells the Thorns (Gregory Peck and Lee Remick), ‘The agency sent me.’ I started thinking to myself, ‘Who is that agency? Is it just a nanny agency, or does she mean something else?’ That one line from the film set me off thinking about this character and her storyline… it really gave us a lot to play with. It was SO MUCH fun to really pull on that thread. We love writing for her. What she brings to that character has actually added a lot to the writing process. We have a lot of dialogue with her, and we get a lot of feedback from her in a very healthy way. She has some great ideas. She’s helped us find layers to the character that maybe we didn’t think of.”
On just how many seasons Mazarra has in mind to tell the story and whether or not he has an end game…
“When I originally sold the show, I wrote up a series bible for multiple seasons. I don’t want to say how many yet. We do have an end point in mind, and we have a hell of a story to tell. This is a tale with a definite beginning, middle, and end. Nothing is being made up on the fly. We have a definite direction. That being said… you constantly find things, develop things, etc. That’s the beauty of working on TV. The production comes to life, and you find the show more and more as it goes along. The story we’re telling here comes from the original material along with some things that I am interested in and how I see this character. Hopefully the audience will respond and we’ll have a few season to tell the whole story.”
“Damien premieres on March 7th, when it debuts immediately following the Season 4 return of “Bates Motel.”
About “Damien”:
“Damien” follows the adult life of Damien Thorn, the mysterious child from the 1976 horror film The Omen, who has grown up seemingly unaware of the satanic forces around him. Haunted by his past, Damien must now come to terms with his true destiny — that he is the Antichrist. The saga begins when Damien, an acclaimed war photographer, returns home to New York after experiencing a traumatic event while on assignment in Syria. Strange occurrences and flashbacks plague him, and he is then forced to confront his true identity.
“Damien” stars Bradley James (“Merlin,” “Homeland”) along with Oscar® nominee Barbara Hershey (“Once Upon a Time”), Omid Abtahi (“Better Call Saul”), Megalyn E.K. (“House of Lies”), Scott Wilson (“The Walking Dead”), David Meunier (“Justified”), and Robin Weigert (“Sons of Anarchy”).
“Damien” is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios for A&E Network. Glen Mazzara (“The Walking Dead,” “The Shield”) serves as writer and executive producer via his 44 Strong Productions. Ross Fineman, who developed the project alongside Mazzara, executive produces through his company, Fineman Entertainment. Pancho Mansfield also serves as executive producer. Golden Globe® and BAFTA Award-nominated director Shekhar Kapur directed and executive produced the first episode.
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