Does anyone know...
...where I can get an exact replica of Joan Hart's coat? I'm asking for a friend.
shareI have no idea whether it was intentional or not, and I also have no idea why, but I found that really funny!
shareYou get me.
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MovieChat Forums > Damien: Omen II (1978) Discussion > Does anyone know...
That red coat, was one of the reasons, why the original director—Mike Hodges—got canned. The producers felt it was all wrong for the character, yet he went ahead with it anyway. I am pleased that Hodges did, because it adds to the cautionary element of the film and the preceding omens. I wonder if Don Taylor had not replaced him, if the film would still be as enjoyable. The reboot of THE OMEN-06', used the color red, symbolically.
As for the coat, I would say email Fox studios in the US and they may link you to some costume designer for the film.
I think Mike Hodges wanted to make a serious film on par with the first Omen. I believe it was 20th Century Fox that wanted to churn out a sequel as fast as they could hence bringing in Don Taylor and taking major cuts to the script. There is a pdf file on the Omen Online (Omen Chronicles website) of the Part II script. It is worth a read.
That's interesting about Joan Hart's coat.
Did Mike Hodges ever speak about his time as the director for the film?
That's interesting about Joan Hart's coat.
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The dvd commentary by producer Harvey Bernhard, is interesting. He appeared to have some resentment\scorn, directed towards Hodges in the commentary. It was creative differences of course and he specifically comments about the red coat and how Hodges was asked not to use it. When Joan shows up in the coat, if I am recalling correctly, he has a 'my gawd', type of attitude towards it. I think Bernhard was disappointed with the box office result for this entertaining sequel—which I prefer to the original—and they spent about twice as much on it. Not sure if it shows though.
Can't answer your question on Hodges thoughts, about his time on OMEN II; but apparently, his methods were too slow. Some of his scenes, are still in the picture. Here is a quote, from an interview with Lance Henriksen.
FANGORIA: How did you get the role of the Sgt. Daniel Neff?share
HENRIKSEN: I auditioned for it, and I instantly got along really well with the original director of the film Mike Hodges. I really liked Mike! I remember he and I sitting in a hotel lobby, looking through pictures of paintings that he wanted to use for DAMIEN: OMEN 2. I knew about his films like GET CARTER, and I always knew he was a great director and very personable guy, but the weird thing is he got fired from this movie. To be honest with you, it really pissed me off. In fact, I was ready not to do the movie! I was ready to quit!
After Mike was fired, I had a week before we started shooting and the new guy they bought in, Don Taylor, was, as far as I’m concerned, more like a traffic cop! He was like a clumsy non-artistic stunt man who was supposed to be directing! I also don’t think Don really liked me at all, but he was stuck with me because Mike had already hired me. So that atmosphere of mutual disdain was on set while we shot my scenes.