The Omen (1976)
Plot summary
Directed by: Richard Donner
Starring: Billie Whitelaw, David Warner, Gregory Peck, Harvey Stephens, Lee Remick
Ambassador Thorn (Gregory Peck) adopts an infant boy under somewhat secretive conditions. After a strange suicide at the boy’s 6th birthday party, Thorn slowly realizes, through various clues, that his adopted son “Damien” is in fact, the son of the Devil.
Factual error: In the cemetery, the skeleton of Gregory Peck's son is far too big to be that of a newborn, which it is supposed to be.
kh1616Trivia: Richard Donner was originally wary of sending the script to Gregory Peck. Combined with the original ending, in which Robert kills Damien, and the fact that Peck's son had recently committed suicide, Donner thought offering the film to him was distasteful. But to Donner's surprise, Peck agreed relatively quickly to do the film.
Cubs FanQuestion: How could Damien's mother be a jackal? That has always thrown me for a loop and I could never understand why they'd do that unless it was for entertainment purposes. I mean, I know it's Hollywood and all but that's just too far-fetched.
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Chosen answer: The idea wasn't entirely Hollywood's. The antichrist is sometimes said to be "born of a jackal. " Jackals are mentioned in the Bible, and some interpretations consider them a symbol of something that is "not of God." In the movie, it means that the kid was scary as hell, literally.
Hobbes