Last night I took in John Moore’s remake of the 1976 semi-classic The Omen, starring Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles in the Gregory Peck/Lee Remick roles of parents unwittingly raising the spawn of Satan. And while the vagaries of film publicity forbid me from telling you if it might be, say, spectacularly awful, I think I have clearance to share some of the playful back-and-forth Moore (right) shared with critics after the film, when a panel discussion about cinema’s religious fixation took over the always civil Walter Reade Theater.
Moore shared the stage with moderator Brian Rose–a film professor at Fordham–and University of Texas end-of-days guru Michael White. The filmmaker seemed articulate enough, and for a while, anyhow, he was doing just fine stating his motivation for remaking Richard Donner’s thriller. “I would posit the idea that unless God walks into this building right now, that all religious belief is speculative,” Moore said. “And that’s something that interested me greatly in the story because it requires what would–in a religious, free society–be a massive leap toward believing in the unbelievable. In a film like this and a story like this, I find that the anxiety and the plot become quite believable. And that interested me.”
A man spoke up from an exit aisle on the side of the theater. “I have a question.”
“Yes?” Rose said.
“Are you from New York, John?”
“No,” Moore said. “I’m Irish.”
“Why do you think it was OK to use an image of 9/11 to manipulate the audience’s emotions for your horror movie?” He was referring to two brief replays of planes crashing into the World Trade Center early in the film.
“Well, I didn’t manipulate. The response that an individual has isn’t necessarily up to me. But I believe–” The man responded unintelligibly before Moore continued. “Can I answer the question, or do you want to come up here and take the microphone?” he said. “Because I can see your anger, sir. I can see it from here. But let me answer the question you asked me. What happened on 9/11 was a world event. I understand that it’s particularly sensitive to New Yorkers, and what happened on 9/11 deeply affected me also. I happened to be in America when it happened. And it left a lasting impression on my mind, and the impression that I had was that we were in a very dark time, and it seemed to me to be the beginning of a very dark series of events. And that’s why I put it in the movie.”
Rose jumped in. “Well, speaking of that, maybe–”
“It’s a good thing the movie is such a piece of shit that nobody is going to see it,” the man shouted.
“All right, sir,” Rose said, waving his arm as the man walked out of the theater. “Professor, I think you can address the thing: Why–”
“You know what?” Moore interrupted. “You want to come back and actually finish your thought? Or do you want to just be like most thugs? Make your statement and leave before anyone has a chance to talk about it?”
By that point, the man returned. “All right, John. What else do you want me to say?”
“Well, could you expand on why you think the movie is a piece of shit?”
“I’m watching it, and I’m seeing you use something that hurt a lot of people to manipulate our emotions. That’s what I think you were doing.”
“All art will manipulate your emotions.”
“What’s that?”
“The point of art is to manipulate and stimulate emotion.”
“I don’t think the movie’s art. I just don’t think so.”
The man continued, but Moore replied over him. “You have an opinion, but I’d like to posit the idea that what happened on 9/11 was a global event, and believe me, as an Irishman, it’s in the movie to signal to you that I felt it was a dark and evil a moment as you might have felt on that day.”

Omen is the Future of Man: Director John Moore joins moderator Brian Rose (right) and Michael White for a chat Tuesday at the Walter Reade Theater (Photos: STV)
Whatever. Rose eventually wrested control back, but a few moments later Moore revisited the issue of The Omen as a window on human self-destruction. “The story had to play out now,” he said. “But the ideas are very old and new. And it does transcend tradiotnal Christian or Catholic religion: The notion of the end of mankind is a trans-faith notion. For me, obviolusly, the plot takes it tenets from tenets of fabled Christian teaching on the end of the world. But contained therein, what I was certainly aiming for was to put the spotlight on the idea–and I think maybe some some of the imagery I used will upset some people–the idea I was trying to spotlight was that ultimately it’s self-inflicted. The end of the world is something that will be brought about by mankind. … Christianity doesn’t have a patent on the notion that evil will be our doing and that it will indeed be manmade.”
Another viewer soon called Moore “disingenuous,” and yet another brought up the value of tying in The Omen‘s release with that other pop-religious suspenser on the immediate horizon, The Da Vinci Code. “Sir, I think what you are suggesting is that the studio is cynically riding a wave of religious fervor to cash in,” Moore said. “Wow. That’s never happened in Hollywood, has it? Look. My friend. I’m sure they did think about green-lighting a movie like this with the advance knowledge of all the cinemagoing phenomena of The Da Vinci Code. All I can do is try to do my best to try not to make a cynical movie.”
You be the judge, gentle reader, when the film gets its oh-so-spooky 6/6/06 release date. I doubt I will be able to summon any deep reactions that audiences will not deduce for themselves from a 30-second TV spot, so I think it is time to move on to dreading Lady in the Water or whatever other embargoed psychic burdens summer promises.

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