Nell Tiger Free, queen of terror; Here are the details about the premiere of ‘The First Prophecy’

If there is someone who has made it clear that a look or a posture of his, added to a good camera movement, can provoke terror in the viewer, it is Nell Tiger Free, a 24-year-old British woman who achieved international fame by starring in the suspense series and psychological terror Servant —produced by M. Night Shyamalan— and who will now be seen as the protagonist of The first prophecyprequel to the 1976 horror film The prophecy which, headed by Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and Harvey Stephens, proposed the existence of a child who embodied the antichrist.

It was a matter of time before women dominated the horror genre. Unfortunately, it took the rest of the world to catch up to what is so blatantly obvious, which is that women know very well what is scary and it is a good thing that we are expanding the presence of women in horror films, Well, before they were only shown running with their breasts out or being prey to someone who wants to cut them in half,” Nell Tiger Free told the British edition of Total Free.

At just 24 years old, Nell Tiger, who lives up to her last name thanks to her feline, mutable character and has the ability to provoke tenderness with wild tendencies, has made a name for herself in the industry over these 12 years. years of career.

His beginnings occurred at the age of 13, when he was part of films such as Broken o Mr. StinkHowever, its big leap came when David Bennioff and DB Weiss casted for Game of Thronesin which she played Princess Myrcella Baratheon, only daughter of King Robert Baratheon and Queen Cersei Lannister.

Thanks to Game of Thronesdirector Nicholas Winding Renf signed her for the series Too Old to Die Young and from there he got a direct pass to star Servant. And this last project placed her as the current queen of psychological horror, so it is not surprising that she is now the protagonist of one of the most emblematic horror sagas in cinema that, with The first prophecyadds five films.

I’m a bit geek. I really love horror movies, I love them maniacally. When I was little I would escape to my neighbor’s house and we would watch horror movies that she had on DVD. Then I watched some movies that people uploaded in parts on YouTube, so there I was, watching clip after clip of the saga of The prophecy that of It. My experience with The prophecies “It was, as it surely has been for many people, fantastically disturbing and I enjoyed how horrible they made me feel and many of those images drilled into my head as I was growing up and now I am part of this universe, which is incredible,” he told Evolution of Horror.

For the first time in the history of the saga, which commemorates 48 years of existence, The prophecy It is starred and also directed by women. Behind is Arkasha Stevenson, an American who with this story makes her debut as a director of a feature film, having behind her a series of short films and episodes of television series related to horror, such as Pineapple, Channel Zero o Vessels.

Thematically some of the content is quite sensitive for women. The conversations that are happening around the world about specific things that a woman should or should not choose about her body are quite current and that also leads us to talk about there being a woman in charge of a film, which should be normal and should be an issue to which men also join, because together we must move forward and support these issues. So I can only say that Arkasha Stevenson is fabulous telling this story and she knows very well how to do it,” Nell said in promoting the film.

Set in the early 70s, The first prophecy centers on Margaret (Nell Tiger), a young American, who is sent to Rome to begin a life of service in the Catholic Church. Little by little her tranquility and her faith are disrupted when she discovers a conspiracy within the church that eagerly awaits the arrival of the son of the devil.

The first prophecy prepares the ground to know the origins of that sinister child, called Damián, born with the mark of 666, which alludes to the son of the devil.

The film completes its cast with Ralph Ineson, Sonia Braga, Bill Nighy, Maria Caballero, Tawfeek Barhom and Andrea Arcangeli.

THE WOMAN BEHIND THE FIRST PROPHECY

48 years and four films passed—or five since in 2006 a remake— so that a woman could join the saga of The prophecy. Arkasha Stevenson, who has dedicated part of her early life to horror projects, makes her debut as a director of a feature film thanks to The first prophecya film that serves as a prequel to The prophecy from 1976 and which tells the origins of the antichrist.

I feel extremely honored and proud to be part of a franchise that I grew up with and that has a very special place in my heart. Being able to expand the universe of The prophecy and being able to do it through a woman’s point of view is a dream. Men and women are free to express ourselves and create, however, I think that women become afraid of what people want from us, whether intellectually or physically speaking, so one of the things that I feel proud is that this story has a very feminine perspective and women are not fetishized,” Arkasha Stevenson said in an interview with Excélsior.

The graduate of the American Film Institute’s Directing program is not the only woman who leads this horror franchise that in the 70s earned a place in film history along with proposals such as The Exorcist o Rosemary’s baby. Nell Tiger Free goes hand in hand with Arkasha.

We fell in love with her Servant. She has a lot of power in front of the camera and when we met her, we immediately knew it was her. Nell brought Margaret to life completely and it is not an easy role at all, it demanded a lot emotionally, mentally, physically and psychologically, and she was able to embrace all of that during the 45 days of filming. She always showed us a big smile despite the demanding nature of some sequences, it’s incredible,” she explained.

In addition to making her debut as director of this feature film, Stevenson, who before directing worked as a photojournalist and camerawoman for Los Angeles Timeswas also part of the writing team.

I was very lucky! A friend of mine gave me the outline of the script to read and at the same time I was having meetings with someone from the studio. It was all very surprising, because suddenly my friend and colleague Tim Smith and I were working on the script and seeing where this young novice was going to end up in a saga that had been purely masculine. We think the script fit the original 1976 version in an elegant way and from then on everything fell into place. I was very lucky and it was a very fun trip,” explained the director who in 2015, with her thesis Vesselsabout black market breast augmentation procedures in the trans community, won the Iris Award in Spain.

ARKASHA STEVENSON

• Director of Indian descent.
• He studied Journalism at the University of North Carolina
• He began his career as a photojournalist in Los Angeles Times.
• He started directing short films and television series.
• Her debut as a film director occurs with The first prophecy.
• She is the first woman to direct one of the horror saga films. The prophecy.

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