Oh, isn’t he the cute little devil
The demonic stare of Damien Thorn in the new movie “The Omen” may send chills down viewers’ spines.
But to Marty Davey, the mother of the first-grader who plays the Antichrist, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick‘s glare is familiar.
“That’s the same look he gives me when I tell him he has to go brush his teeth,” Davey says.
Seven-year-old Seamus is making his film debut as the child demon in the remake of the 1976 horror classic, which also stars Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles and Mia Farrow.
In the movie, Seamus’ blue eyes and pale skin – evidence of his Irish heritage – contrasts with his brown hair dyed black, adding to the otherworldly effect.
But Seamus, whose glowering image is featured in ads and trailers for the movie, is a happy, talkative child who says he is “really shy” and a little afraid of the dark.
He loves soccer and skateboarding and attends J M Hill Elementary School in East Stroudsburg, Pa., where he calls gym and recess his favorite subjects.
The son of two actors, Seamus had his first role when he was a month old, portraying a crack baby in a pitch for a TV pilot.
By age 4, he was a seasoned pro, acting in Marriott Hotel commercials and appearing as a boy with chocolate on his face in an episode of HBO’s “Sex and the City.”
“This is just our business,” says Davey, who took Seamus with her to auditions in New York when he was a baby.
The family lived in New York City before moving to East Stroudsburg five years ago. Davey says they were looking for an area with a small-town feel, and her sister has a summer home in Wind Gap, Pa.
His father, James Fitzpatrick, says Seamus had had two callbacks for “The Omen” when director John Moore asked if he could go to Prague, where the movie was filmed, for a screen test.
During the test, Fitzpatrick says, Seamus slowly swung on a creaky swing, and when Moore called his name, looked right down the lens into the camera.
Fitzpatrick, who was watching the monitor, says the image gave him the chills. Moore was so impressed with the take, he used it as the teaser-trailer for the movie.
Seamus says maintaining the “Damien stare” was one of his harder tasks.
“I had to stare and stare at the camera,” he says. “I couldn’t blink.”
He also recalls filming the final scene in 40-degree weather, when sprinklers and fans were used to simulate a storm.
“The only hard part was when it was raining,” says Seamus, who wore a neoprene dive suit under his pajamas for the scene. “It was so cold.”
Davey says she and her husband have no qualms about the movie’s subject matter.
“Those in the business know it’s so much more fun to play the bad guy,” she says. “It’s just a movie. Once they break it down, it takes the mystery out of it.”
The birthday bunch
Singer Vic Damone is 78. Actor-singer Jim Nabors is 76. Jazz musician Chick Corea is 65. Sports announcer Marv Albert is 65. Singer-guitarist Brad Delp (Boston) is 55. Drummer Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) is 55. Actor Timothy Busfield is 49. Blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd is 29.