Farrow And Stiles On 'The Omen'

Co-Stars Talk To Harry Smith About Remake Of Horror Classic

(CBS)  In 1976, the movie horror classic "The Omen" became a box office sensation; 30 years later, devil child Damien is back in an updated version.

Julia Stiles, who plays mom to the devil, and Mia Farrow, who takes the role of Damien's nanny and protector, stopped by The Early Show Monday to talk with co-anchor Harry Smith about the film.

In the movie, Julia Stiles' character plays a mom who has trouble conceiving. But after she got pregnant, something went wrong in the maternity ward.

"The movie starts after the scene in the Vatican where the priests are talking about the "Book of Revelation" and the coming of the Antichrist. My character has gone through a terrible miscarriage, and Liev Schreiber, who plays my husband, arrives at the maternity ward and is convinced to adopt a new child," Stiles explained, "who turns out to not be so good."

Asked if anything weird happened during the making of the movie, Stiles admitted that she is very superstitious and that she internalized everything while making the film.

"I had horrible nightmares every night. I would come home from the set. I think it was a way of getting psyched up for the film," she said. "But, the imagery in it is really powerful so I had a really hard time sleeping."

In the film, Mia Farrow plays Mrs. Baylock, who in the original movie came on very sinister right from the beginning. In the 2006 version, her character was introduced as a sweet and light nanny, though she turns out to be evil.

"Yes, but if you come on that way, who would hire the nanny in reality?" Farrow said.

It turns out the two co-stars were doing a play together, when Farrow was cast for the role.

"We were doing a play … when Julia was already cast," Farrow said. "But they called me. And they called me and John Moore asked me to be in it and was telling me how excited he was. And he's a young filmmaker. He has a version that he sees it for today's audience and boy is he right. And then he said Julia Stiles is in it. I said 'Oh, she's in the next room.' He said 'What are you talking about?' I said 'We're doing a play.' "

Farrow, who starred in the horror classic "Rosemary's Baby," says working on "The Omen" was a very different experience. In "Rosemary's Baby," her character was innocent, while Mrs. Baylock is one of the perpetrators.

"It was fun, I have to say," she said. "It was a really fun — I loved being in Prague. I loved working with Julia again. I loved John Moore, and Liev, and just the circumstances of, it was a fun — it was a fun role. A juicy, fun role."

Asked what she thought of the finished product, Farrow said: "You know, people are loyal, some people are loyal to the first version, which I recently saw. And this is so much better. I don't know if this is politically incorrect to say but it packs such a wallop and is so much more fun than the first one. Yeah."

"I think if you're a fan of the original, we definitely kept moments that are really memorable," Stiles added. "And then expand upon others. Obviously you have to update it for a modern audience. So it's actually even more relevant I think today."

The film opens on Tuesday, on the ominous date 06-06-06.