The First Omen with Nell Tiger Free & Insights into AI with Eric Yaverbaum

Join Kyle McMahon for a riveting discussion on Pop Culture Weekly as we explore the terrifying world of The First Omen and the fascinating intersection of artificial intelligence and public life. Nell Tiger Free graces us once again, sharing the spine-tingling details of her starring role in "The First Omen," while Eric Yaverbaum, CEO of Ericho Communications, sheds light on how AI poses new challenges for public figures and everyday folks alike. As we unpack the urgency for tech-savvy governance in the face of AI's unchecked progress, you'll be captivated by the conversation's blend of celebrity insights and the sobering realities of our digital future.


First up, Eric Yaverbaum, with his expertise in crisis management, reveals how the lightning-fast spread of information in today's digital age demands a preemptive strategy and why keeping up with current expertise is more vital than ever. His candid advice is a clarion call for adaptation in a world where AI continues to revolutionize our communication landscape.

Then, Nell Tiger Free offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her experience filming "The First Omen," highlighting the eerie allure of shooting in Rome and the unique challenges of embodying a character within the iconic horror franchise. Nell and Kyle have an in-depth look at the craft of filmmaking, focusing on the visceral impact of practical effects in horror cinema. Hear how actors navigate the intensity of their roles and the strategies they employ to differentiate their on-screen personas from their personal lives. The camaraderie on set, the adrenaline rush of scaring audiences, and the magic of movie-making come alive in this chapter. It's a conversation that celebrates the art of storytelling and the thrill of performance—essential listening for film aficionados and pop culture enthusiasts alike.

Kyle McMahon's Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don't Discuss is now streaming: https://www.deathandgrief.show/Chapter-One-The-Diagnosis-AKA-WTF/

---------------

Get all the Pop Culture Weekly podcast info you could want including extra content, uncut interviews, photos, videos & transcripts at: https://podcast.popcultureweekly.com

Watch celebrity interviews at: https://www.facebook.com/realkylemcmahon/videos
or Pop Culture Weekly YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@popcultureweekly

Read the latest at http://www.PopCultureWeekly.com

Follow Kyle on:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmacmusic
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/realkylemcmahon
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/kmacmusic
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/officialkylemcmahon
Website: .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, I talk once again with Nel Tiger
Free, this time all about herbrand new film The First Omen, and
I talk with Eric Yaberbaum, CEOof Erico Communications, about AI and how
it can cause crisis, not justin celebrities lives, but yours and mine.
You ready, let's go. Welcometo pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon

(00:23):
from iHeartRadio your pop culture news,views, reviews and celebrity interviews on all
the movies, TV music and pompculture U Crab Weekly. Here's Kyle McMahon,
nan Net Nana no net, Hello, and welcome the pop Culture Weekly

(00:44):
with Kyle McMahon. I of courseam Kyle McMahon, and thank you for
joining me once again to talk popculture. So in this episode, I
talk once again with Nel tiger Free, love her. We talk about her
brand new film The First, andI talk with Eric Yaverbaum, who is
CEO of Erico Communications. He isa best selling author of seven different books

(01:11):
and great guy, very very knowledgeableabout crisis, pr management, branding,
advertising, all of that. Andso him and I talked today about some
of the dangers of with AI andhow fast technology is moving. It's bad
enough as you know, not justa you know, you and me,

(01:32):
but a public figure that AI canbe used against us, you know.
And it's especially true for public figuresbecause there's so much video and photos and
info out there already about them.So I talk with Eric about you know,
what is going on and what dowe do about it? So,
without further ado, let's talk withEric Yaverbaum. So I am here with

(01:57):
Eric Yavbaum, CEO of Erico Communicationsand best selling author of seven different books.
Thank you so much for joining me, Eric, that's my pleasure.
I'm a big fan. Thanks forhaving me. Thank you. So you
are an expert and in what I'dlike to talk to you about today.
And you know, with the risein AI, with all of the potential

(02:19):
you know, bombs that could explodein a public figures career, especially today,
especially with the rise of AI,you are an expert in how to
maneuver around that, and you knowwhat to look for as a public figure
or and even just as the publicshould all this be a thing. Anyway,
how are you? I'm doing great. Hopefully nobody will use AI to

(02:43):
manipulate what I'm saying today exactly.Yeah. Well, first of all,
give me a little bit of yourbackground. You know, I've been running
agencies for forty years. In NewYork City, I ran an agency that
was rated as one of the bestto work for in the country when I
sold it to Wall Street. Workedin the on the transition team between Bush
and Obama, spent obamas first yearin the White House when I started the

(03:06):
agency that I'm running. Now.My spare time I write books. I've
written seven right now, awesome,and you seven of them all seven of
them have been best sellers. Soyour spare time hobby is also a pretty
cool gig itself. You know whatI always say to authors, because I
encourage everybody to write a book,don't quit your day job. There you

(03:28):
go. So what do you thinkof the state of everything? I mean,
it's hard enough being a public figurejust in general, and now you
have AI on top of that,where you know, somebody can type in
some prompts into their iPhone and youknow, now you have the president saying
something that he didn't say or whatever. Perfect example considering where we're out in

(03:53):
history, because we're literally making itright now with the presidential election coming up,
there's no guardrails. I mean,don't have rules yet. I mean
there's some, but not a lot. We're literally, you know, we're
literally building the plane while we're flyingit. And I've done a lot of
television interviews recently, and I said, if I wanted to, I could
take the interview, or they couldtake the interview literally manipulate exactly what I

(04:16):
said could spread all over the internetlike wildfire in a minute. How do
I get that all back in.One of the things I learned as a
kid in this industry is the worsttime to prepare. Elizabeth Dolp said this
to me. The worst time thatprepares when that you know, when the
river's rising, And you know,that's where we're at right now with AI,
at a very precarious time in allof history for us, all of

(04:41):
us who were watching anything to knowwhat's real and what's not. I recently
watched they showed me a clip ofObama and Trump playing one on one basketball,
and you know, I watched it. I watched the clip. I
knew it wasn't real. I mean, my eyes could see that, let
alone, that was unlikely they wouldbe playing one on one. And when

(05:02):
they showed me a clip that wasput together of the same exact video less
than a year later. I couldn'tit looked real. That's what happened in
less than a year. And thething about artificial intelligence is the rate at
which it's getting better, the velocityof which this technology is improving. We've
never seen velocity like this before.It's improving itself every single solitary day.

(05:27):
Wow. So is there a planin place to you know, do we
need legislation? Is there a legislationthere? Like, how do we stop
this? Is it a governmental problem? Well, yes, we need we
need legislation, we need guardrails,we need laws. We have none of
that. I mean, if youwatch the congressional hearings on social media,

(05:48):
one of the things that you wouldhave seen is that the people that are
asking the questions they don't they don'tunderstand technology. I think the wrong people
are asking the questions. We needa younger demographic policing and monitoring what any
of us say on any given day. And you know, again, we're

(06:10):
we're you know, we're we're we'rebuilding a plane while we're flying it.
There's there's nothing in place right now. I really hope that there will be
before the presidential election. Because there'sgoing to be some We got enough of
an issue with misinformation as it is. If you're a public figure, and
you know, we'll take you know, the most recent incident, you know,
with the royal family. But lookat what one picture turns into,

(06:33):
you know, an incredible conspiracy theorythat it's not you know, Kate Middleton
just wanted it. She altered herhand in the picture. And everybody knows
it's a fake picture. I meaneverybody, doesn't. You look at that
picture. Look look real to meand clearly a mistake to do anything like
that, especially when you're involved inthe middle of you know, all sorts

(06:55):
of rampant speculation. But you know, that's the world that we live in
now, and you know, Ido hope I strongly encourage, you know,
members of Congress to do something aboutthis, to make sure while we're
electing a president of the most powerfulcountry in the world, that we're all
getting as the most accurate information wepossibly can. And there's two things about

(07:18):
you know, AI, what weread, which is already you know,
what we read and who we cantrust, and what we see because if
you know, a picture can speaka thousand words, if a picture can
speak a thousand words. Imagine whata video can do, and imagine what
a video can do that's been alteredby AI that we cannot tell was altered

(07:38):
by AI. Yeah, you know, I I am. You know,
I'm no Ryan Seacrest or anything,but you know, I have a sizable
audience, and so I've always beencognizant of what I put into texts and
that sort of thing. Not thatI'm doing anything nefarious, but I'm just
worried that, you know, somebodycan screenshot that and who knows what they

(07:59):
can turn it into. And now, of course you again, you can
go online and make me say somethingthat I didn't never said in the first
place. Is there any kind oftechnology that can I know, Adobe does
something with water marking, which Idon't know enough about how that works,
But is there technology that we coulduse as a standard to say this is

(08:20):
generated? Yeah, water marking isgood. And by the way, there
is rules have been put in placeby Facebook and by Google in anticipation of
all sorts of political advertising where itwill be watermarked. But that's just you
know, that's just Facebook and Google. There's a whole world out there of

(08:41):
you know, information dissemination that doesn'thave that rule in place. But yes,
water marking can let me Now it'slike you know, in the good
old days, the Good Housekeeping sealof approval, let me know if it
was approved by Good Housekeeping, itmust be good or consumer reports again the
old days. Yeah, watermarking canidentify something that's been generated by AI.

(09:05):
But we you know, we're seeingcommercials on television now that are generated by
AI. We're seeing all sorts ofthings spin around the Internet that are generated
by AI. And it's hard todiscern. If it was hard to discern
between fact and fiction, it's significantlyharder to discern between what am I looking
at that is actually legitimately filmed andwhat am I looking at that's been altered

(09:26):
by AI. So how does aperson just you know, a regular Joe
if I'm you know, browsing online. What are some tips that can help
me determine I'm looking at you know, ex. Public figure saying this or
this is something some guy you knowin a basement in some other country created

(09:46):
with you know, a free tool. Well, generally speaking, pretty much
like everything, if you have thepatience to do it, or if you
want to do it if you tryto source something in multiple places, is
you'll be able to tell when whenyou watch a you know, a clip
of you know, a news eventas an example, and you search that

(10:07):
news event in other ways and yousee it portrayed in two different ways,
you know, as a red flagsomebody one of those was changed. And
that's the best that you can possiblydo. And you know, we're in
an era now where if you wantaccurate information, you're going to need to
do that, especially if you're usingyou know, digital resources to get your

(10:28):
information, which the vast majority ofpeople are. And most people aren't reading
the newspaper, most people aren't watchingyou know, their television in the morning
anymore. They're getting all of theirinformation digitally, social and digital media.
That is the information dissemination landscape thatwe live in now. You've got to
check multiple places, and you've gotto feel really confident about the places that

(10:50):
you check being accurate. And whatabout for public figures, you know,
how can they do their best becausethere's there's not going to be a fool
proof way. What's the best wayto kind of you know, do your
best to to kind of contain somethinglike this, Well, the best thing
that you could possibly do is beprepared. Now, what is your plan?

(11:15):
What will you do when the videospreads all over the internet about you
that's not even anything you ever saidor a legit whatsoever. What is your
plan? Do you have something inplace? You know, in the old
days, when there was a inmy youth, I was well known as
being a crisis counselor. One ofthe things about being a crisis counselor I

(11:35):
always tell a story about you know, I represented or my agency did a
lot of multinational companies. I wouldget a heads up out of Stockholm,
just as an example. Oh,this terrible story just ran in Stockholm.
It'll hit the United States by Monday. We could work all week forty eight
straight hours all weekend long to preparefor when it hit the United States.

(11:56):
Now we have one second. There'sno time to prep The only time to
prepare your plan is in advance.Wow, And that's when people should be
consulting someone like you to have aplan in place. Correct, Yes,
everybody should be calling just me?Well yeah, yeah, I mean you

(12:20):
need to get professionals involved who haveexperience, And I use experience loosely because
this is really we're in the wildwild West right now. This is really
brand new, and the people thathave any depth of experience or few and
far between. But you want toget somebody to advise you that's had some
experience with this literal issue. Youknow, in the next year you're going

(12:43):
to find a lot of people thathave. But it's so important that when
you consult with anybody who has experienceddoing this, that they can show you
here's what happened with X y Zfamous person, Here's what we did.
Here's what we can do for you. Because it's complicated, it's changing every

(13:03):
single solitary day, and experts arefew and far between. I mean,
the thing about technology is for absolutelyeverybody, no matter how old you are,
the fact that technology is advancing inour lifetime. Every single solitary viewer
of this podcast will know. Yes, of course, technology has been advancing
my entire lifetime. The difference isthe velocity and the rate at which is

(13:28):
changing, and it's faster and fasterand faster and faster. It's breathless to
keep up with. Yeah, it'sterrifying. And you know, as I
think about it, I think ofeven not just public figures, but you
know, custody battles and jaded loversand all. You know, there's all
kinds of ways that this could affecteverybody and anybody. Well, I mean,

(13:50):
you know, I grew up ina way. I was on real
TV for most of my career.I was in real newspapers for most of
my career, you know, beinga guy who was on tech television.
Anybody can have their own Facebook channel. Now this is one example. Yes,
every single solitary one of us shouldbe thinking about that. I mean,
from pedestrians to corporate America and everythingin between. If I want to,

(14:15):
you know, a listener or reviewor wants to start with one of
your books, what's the one yousay? You would say, start with
this one. First, none ofthem. Don't read any of them,
They're all out of date. Tosecond I write, and I mean,
this is the same thing. Thisis the issue with you know, expertise
and who do you trust. Imean people I don't know. Fifteen years

(14:35):
ago, twenty years ago, theycame to me because I was a quote
unquote social media expert and they wantto pay my agency to give them social
media advice. And what I wouldtell people when I talked about this on
television all the time. Is anyadvice that I can give you will be
out of date By the time Ifinished my sentence that was then what about

(14:56):
now? What you will see isa lot of new re sources coming out,
And then the question becomes is Idid a book once it was called
Digital at Speed. I couldn't writeit fast enough. It was out of
literally to significantly make that more challenging. People who play in the AI space

(15:18):
and play and work in the AIspace are the people that you're you know,
you're going to want to go tothe resources the bet like by the
time this particular podcast airs, whateverI tell you about the best place to
go will be out of day.You need to look for very, very
current and relevant examples of how peoplehave successfully dealt with AI issues. That's

(15:43):
who you want to go to,and that's the type of thing that you
should check out. Literally. Unfortunately, and this is coming from a guy
who's written you know, I'm writingmy eighth book. I've been in this
business forever. You can google me. You'll find a million things about me.
I'm telling you, don't come tome, don't need any of my
books. The day that you havea problem, find somebody who knows what
they're talking about and has really relevantexperience that's current. Awesome, Eric,

(16:08):
thank you so much for speaking withme. I look forward to talking to
you again as this progresses. Youknow, I think, as you said,
in a day, it'll be awhole nother thing. But in a
year, I'm curious where we'll be, and hopefully there'll be some regulations around
it. We will be a yearfrom now, me and you won't even
have to talk to each other,just a podcast without speaking. Who knows

(16:32):
this is going to be changing rapidlyand it's certainly worth keeping your eye on.
Awesome, Eric, Thank you,I really appreciate it. Thank you
so much for having me honored tobe on your show. I'm a big
fan. Thank you, Eric Yavorbaum. Hit up Eric's website Eric ya V
E R B A U M dotcom Eric Yaverbaum dot com and you can

(16:56):
get all the goods from Eric's agreat guy and a brilliant mind. And
by the way, he literally wrotethe book Public Relations for Dummies. Literally.
All right, thanks Eric, Sowe're going to take a quick break,
pay the bills from our amazing advertisers, and we'll be back with Nell

(17:18):
tiger Free talking the First Omen seein sixty. All right, welcome back
to pop Culture Weekly. Thanks forhanging out with us and supporting our advertisers,
who of course support pop Culture Weeklyand me bringing you awesome content with
awesome talent. So next up isNell Tiger Free, who was such an

(17:38):
immensely talented actor. I love herso much. I've talked to her.
I believe this is like the ninthtime. Well we'll have to get the
exact numbers, but I believe thiswill be her ninth time on the show,
making her the number one most frequentedguest on Pop Culture Weekly, because
you know, we did four seasonsof Servant and I interviewed them every season

(18:00):
for that and then the premieres andthen on site interviews and all of that.
So yeah, that's really exciting.I love now and I love that
she is number one. This timeshe is starring in the first Omen,
which if you didn't see my review, you can go to popculturewekly dot com

(18:21):
and check it out or podcast dotPopcultureweekly dot com and check it out.
And I love this film obviously.The Omen is a classic iconic horror movie
came out in nineteen six seventy sixand is beloved by horror buffs everywhere,

(18:41):
and it's a classic film, youknow, it really is supernatural horror horror
film that was directed by Richard Donnerand released by twentieth Century Fox. The
original Omen actually received mixed reviews fromcritics, but it was a huge commercial
success, and it grows like seventymillion or something at the box office,

(19:06):
sixty two million at the US boxoffice alone, becoming one of the highest
grossing films of the year, andof course that's like huge numbers in today
dollars, so and it ended upgetting actually two Oscar Noms and one for
Best Original Score. It also,of course spawned a whole franchise with Damien
Omen two, which was released innineteen seventy eight, then Omen three,

(19:30):
The Final Conflict in nineteen eighty one, Omen four The Awakening in nineteen ninety
one, and then a remake ofthe original Omen was released in two thousand
and six. And by the way, if you go to podcast dot Popcultureweekly
dot com, you can get afull guide to all the OMEN films in
the franchise and you know, linksto buy them and just get caught up

(19:53):
before you watch the new one.And now the six film, right,
yeah, the sixth film. Thefirst omen is out and it is so
so good. It is a prequeland obviously, as I said, it
stars Nel Tiger Free, who Ilove and New stars as Margaret Dano,

(20:18):
who is an American that is sentto Rome to work at an orphanage as
she prepares to take the veil toofficially become a nun. Father Brennan is
also featured in the film. He'splayed by Ralph Inoson in this one,
who is a priest who warns Margaretof a conspiracy that he believes is going

(20:41):
on within the church. It isso good. It is like, it's
very moody in its cinematography. Thescares are really great. It's like not
just jump scares, but kind ofthat creepy feeling, you know what I
mean. The soundtrack is absolutely wildlyincredible. The sound design is incredible,

(21:07):
and it's I really love how it'slayered, like there's so many threads going
on that are it's just wonderfully written. It's moody and atmospheric. There's so
many twists and turns. Nell isabsolutely phenomenal. And it leads right into
the original Omen. So let's jumpright into my interview with the amazing Nell

(21:30):
Tiger Free. So, first ofall, once again, now thank you
for joining me on iHeart. Ireally appreciate it pleasure. So this time
we are talking about the First Omen, which I saw a screener of and
I am obsessed with it is Yes, I love it so much. It's

(21:51):
like it's so good. It's moody, and it's atmospheric, and it's like
world building. You are amazing.It's just it it's like edge of your
seat and it's horror and it's justall the things that I love it.
I really do love it. Thankyou so much. That's all our carsh
Stevenson. Yes, yes, sotell me about you know, you are

(22:12):
obviously the star of the First Omen. Why did did this project speak to
you? I mean, I'm avery big horror fan. I taught the
original Omen when I was around eleven, so, you know, discovering what
the character's journey is and who shebecomes in the story of the Omen,

(22:33):
it just felt like the most excitingthing in the world for me, to
be honest, And when I readthe script, I was felt like almost
a sense of relief because I waslike, this is before I was attached,
and I read it and I waslike, look, even just coming
as a fan, I love whatthey've done with the movie. And even
if I'm not a part of it, I hope I am, like I
didn't know yet, and even ifI'm not a part of it, like
I'm just something I'd really want towatch. So I was very happy when

(22:56):
I got the phone call. Yeah, and then going and you know,
actually filming and going into production.You know, it's a big franchise.
It's the Omen, the original TheOmen is such a iconic horror film,
beloved by so many, not justhorror fans, but film fans because it's,
you know, such a big movie. Once you finally got to set,

(23:18):
were you like, oh wow,this like I'm in the first Omen.
Yes? Truly, truly, Yes, we actually hit the ground running
quite intensely. We the first scenethat we shot for The Omen, which
was which I just called seam oneone seven because that's how I remember in
my head. It's the scene whereI'm in without giving a spoiler, of
Brennan's apartment and that whole sequence.It took us like three days to get

(23:42):
the whole sequence, which is alsomy audition scene, which was a big
one. So like we started withlike a very emotionally taxing piece and it
was a great way to do it. It was like a massive icebreaker between
the cast and the crew and everyone. It just felt like, you know,
a baptism of fire if you will, at the beginning. And you

(24:03):
know, I wasn't used to somany cameras at once, and I was
getting used to just everyone around us, and it just Yeah, there was
definitely a moment where there was likefour cameras on me at once, and
I was like, oh, thisis serious stuff. You had mentioned that
you had seen the Omen originally whenyou were eleven. Did you feel like

(24:27):
for me, especially as you beinga horror fan, the same with me.
I feel like, you know,now you're a part of that legacy
or a part of that franchise andit's such an excellent, you know,
chapter into the series. Were youalso like kind of fangirling at like,
you know, I am now apart of a film, that film franchise

(24:48):
that I've loved since I was eleven. Oh, my god, absolutely absolutely.
I don't think at any point elevenyear old now whilst watching this film
thought that one day, you know, I would be a part of it.
It's just like even like a conceptI would have been able to grasp
at the time. Yeah, whenI when I knew I was going to
do this movie and knew who mycharacter was and what it was going to

(25:08):
be, I just kind of,like I keep saying, I just geeked
out. It's like the best wayI could describe it. It's like it's
such a strange thing to wrap yourhead around when it's something you know,
like such an iconic film from solong ago, where you just it feels
so removed from you, as likesomething that you can like revere and and

(25:30):
you know, admire and look upto you. And then being able to
become a part of it was genuinelyit was a real like pinch me moment,
especially doing it on the with aarKasha. I mean, it was
just kind of like this is thedream. Yeah. Yeah. As a
as a horror buff and as aeven you know, as a film buff.
For me, I cannot wait foreverybody to see it because it's so

(25:52):
good and it's you know, sucha such a great entry not into the
franchise, but into horror in general, and I love the world building that
was done. I felt, youknow, very It's one of the reasons
that I love Servants so much,is one of my favorite series ever,
is because Night did such an amazingjob with this world building where I felt

(26:12):
like I lived down the street fromthe you know, the Brownstone in Philly.
This is similarly. It's well thoughtout. You know, I felt
immediately with the opening scene like I'mokay, I'm here and I'm in it.
I'm trying to be as spoiler foras possible, but I really did.
And for you as an actor,obviously you're doing tons of cuts and

(26:34):
scenes and you're going out of orderoften and that sort of thing. But
do you still get to feel thatlike, Wow, I'm in this world
that's been created or as an actor, are you like kind of because it's
so cut up and stuff in production, does that take you out of that?
No? Actually, that's a reallygood question. It was such an

(26:55):
immersive experience making this movie. Youknow, we were in Rome, and
the longer we spent in Rome withlike the content that we were making them
more it kind of like induces thisparanoia because there's statues in so much religious
iconography, and it felt like theywere watching us for a while, and
like, you know, it kindof induced this. There's a little bit
of this like paranoid state for ineverybody because we'd been living with it for

(27:19):
so long, and like ninety ninepercent of what you see us doing,
we're on location. We're actually there, we're doing those things. And if
it was very rare that we wereon the sound stage, but even if
we were, Arkasha made sure thatthe atmosphere felt exactly like it should be
in the scene. So like youknow, there's a in the ending,
we're in these catacombs for like weshot it over like six or seven days,

(27:41):
and we're in this room where youknow, it was a giant dome,
so you couldn't hear your own voicebecause of the echoes, and there
was fire, and it felt likehow it felt like it translated the way
that you saw it. That's howit felt, and it always felt that
way. There's a particular scene whereI come out of the car and that

(28:03):
you know, there's something happens.I don't want to say. I was
shot at four in the morning andwe were all, you know, running
on empty, but and it justeverything just lent itself to make it feel
like we were living this thing.And it's a really helpful thing performance wise
as well. When you feel likeit's almost inescapable in the best way possible,

(28:23):
that's awesome. And it comes acrossthat way, you know, as
a viewer, I mean it.I love that you're saying that, because
it feels like it. You know, I wondered how much was the movie
magic, but you're saying that,you know it was there for you too,
and I love to hear that.Yeah, everything was tactile, you
know, even all of the specialeffects, that all of it, none
of it's CGI. It's like prettymuch one hundred percent, it's all happening.

(28:47):
It's all there, which is awesomeand something a lot, you know,
especially as a horror buff, notsomething that has always done today.
You know, a lot of CGIhas done a lot in horror, and
you know very much so with theeffects. The practical effects reminded me of
those like real you know, kindof gritty seventies eighties practical effects films,

(29:08):
which was also a treat as ahorror buff, you know, totally.
Yeah, it was an ode tothat as well. I think it was
trying to keep with the original inthe seventies where they didn't have access to
the same sort of technology that wehave now and everything had to be practical.
But you know, with this film, I think it was important that
there was an element of nostalgia withoutit feeling like, you know, like

(29:30):
anything was borrowed too heavily or aKasha was great at that and that was
all the Carsha's bag. But like, yeah, having these physical practical effects,
I think it keeps it keeps tonallywith the original OMEN and it's just
kind of like an ode to that. Yeah. Yeah, for you,
you know, as you're doing thefirst OMEN, as you're reading it,

(29:52):
you know the script for me verymuch, so it's an edge of your
seat, you know, like I'mall in immediately. As you know,
as I mentioned earlier, do youget that same Do some of that get
lost as you go through? Likeyou know, I'm assuming the shoot was
at least a few months, didyou say seven months or something? We're
there for around four and a halffour four and a half months, So

(30:14):
do you lose that as it goeson or are you able to be as
an actor like stay all in,because I imagine some days you're like,
I don't want to be in thislike dark place today, or are you
able to pull it and be likeall right now, you know what I
mean, let's just dive all inor how do you handle that mentally,
especially with something that's kind of dark? You know, yeah, it was

(30:37):
really dark content. I think theway that you handle that is just like
keeping some levity in your personal life, like even just you know, something
I leant on to give me somesort of separation is that, like,
you know, Margaret has a differentaccent than I do, and things like
that, where you can kind ofswitch back to yourself and like shed the
skin a little bit. Luckily forme, I find that pretty easy thing

(30:57):
to do, is to separate thecharacter from myself. I think, I'm
whatever. The opposite of a methodactor is just kind of just let it
go and let it live there andthen come and put the skin back on
the next day. Yeah, andyou know, the content was really dark,
but the energy was lovely, andlike the environment was lovely. The

(31:18):
people we all lent on each otherso much, like I cannot even explain
to you that the love and therelationship I have with our cast show.
It was like we bonded because somuch because we made this crazy thing together.
And you know what, like carshsays, we took a lot of
big swings, and there were lotsof moments where I was like, Okay,
this is either going to be reallygood or really bad. Let's hope.

(31:41):
Let's hope for the best and hopefullyit's the former, but you know,
I'll let people decide. And yeah, it never felt too strenuous for
me because I just I always reallybelieved in what we were doing, so
I wanted to go there and goto those places in my head. Yeah,
I love that, and like Isaid, it comes across that way.

(32:02):
I just I was always kind ofcurious, you know, even with
like Servant, where you're you're dealingwith heavy material. So it's cool to
know, you know that you're ableto, you know, when you wrap
for the day, like Okay,I'm nell and I'm gonna text my friends
or you know what I mean whatever, going to go for the for a
drink with the nun that was inthe corner of my room. That's kind

(32:25):
of the thing, Like, youknow, it's kind of the thing like
Ishta who has a very specific andterrifying role in the movie is like one
of my closest friends. It's justlike you separate characters from person and you
all go get a drink afterwards.Yeah, how wonderfully weird. Your job
is jobs and you get paid forit, which was awesome. It's like

(32:49):
the dream, you know, toget paid to love or to get paid
to do what you love is alwaysso incredible. Yeah, I'm really enjoying
like the concept of the moment ofbeing paid to just terrify people. That
is such a satisfying feeling. Areyou I would think you're a scream queen
now right. I don't know.I don't know if I've yet earned that

(33:10):
ty stile. I might have toget a few more under my belt,
but it's something I'm working towards.Okay, all right, And are you
like you're like you're totally going tobe doing more horror film. I hope.
So. I mean, I'm happyto try anything, or it seems

(33:30):
to be the place where I feelmost comfy at the moment. You know,
I think it would be more challengingfor me to do like a Rongkong
or something no one's getting decapitated today. No, I think I would be
quite a polarizing thing to be happysmiling all the time. But you know,
never say never. I'm just always. I'm just interested to see.
To be honest, I don't knowwhat I'm doing next at all. I'm

(33:50):
like consumed in the Oman verse atthe moment. Yeah, yeah, but
we'll see. Yeah. I thinkI think, in my opinion, you're
a scream queen already. I mean, you did such a great job with
with Margaret, and speaking of youwere talking about accents. I probably sounded
like a crazy person as I wasleaving the screening room, but I was
you were at one point You're likehello, and I'm going to butcher it

(34:14):
and embarrass myself, but you knowyou're like you were like, hello,
Hello, gorgeous or something. Doyou know what I'm talking about? Hello
gorgeous? That was pretty good.Do you when you're doing accents, do
you find it hard to turn off? Like, and this kind of goes

(34:37):
with what you were saying with thecharacter at the end of the rap or
the end of the day. Butbut I feel like when you are,
you know, doing a character thatis not in your native accent, uh
is it hard to kind of turnthat part off too, because I feel
like that's more like a thing thatyou know, you're doing it for so
many hours a day, specific thingor is that just kind of like the

(35:00):
rest of it for you. It'sjust kind of like the rest of it,
to be honest, that accent iskind of a helpful tool because it
lets you just immediately slip back intoa character. It just gives you such
of separation between you and them.And to be honest, I haven't done
an English accent in this on screenfor I think seven years now, wow,

(35:21):
So I'm just used to it.I feel like acting Nell as American
now, I was just kind ofhoping for the best and plots along next
to her. That's kind of howI feel. American Nell has all of
that, all this, you know, all the good stuff, and ELL's
just in a constant state of panic. I don't even know what I sound
like anymore, to be honest,if this is my real accent, genuinely,

(35:50):
it's so funny. Do you.And again I'm trying to be as
spoiler free as possible. Is thereroom for more entries in the omen the
universe? I hope? So Ihope. So I think, you know,
there's so many new characters in thisfilm that we introduce, and you
know, an any films following couldfollow any of their trajectories and you know,

(36:12):
go to anybody's perspective. So Ithink that there's definitely room. It's
open for it. Well see howthis one goes. Look, I don't
think there's going to be a problemat all. This is such I'm like
is screaming from the rooftops about theFirst Omen. It is coming out this
week or today or whenever, dependingon when you're watching it or listening.

(36:36):
But now, thank you so muchfor speaking with me once again. I
actually think this makes you the gueststhat I've had on the most now,
because there was like four seasons ofServant, plus we did the Red Carpets
and all that, so it waslike eight, you know, eight different
times with Servant, and now thiswould be nine. Yeah, that is

(36:57):
an absolute honor. I have tokeep that honor. I'll come on as
many times as you'll have me.Of course. Thank you, it's yours.
Thank you so much, Nell.Congrats on the film. I can't
wait for everybody to see the FirstOmen. Thank you, Nell. Tiger
free love her. She is sucha delight. She is so talented,

(37:22):
and she's so much fun too.I got to hang out with her at
the rat party for After I'm Sorry, the premiere party for the Final Servant,
Final season of Servant. She isso much fun, She's so down
to earth, such a ball.She's hilarious and so talented, and I
am loving that she keeps on justshooting up higher and higher and hire in

(37:45):
the entertainment business. It's well deserved. Such a great person, all right.
So you can get my full reviewon Popcultureweekly dot com of the first
Omen. I guess sound dyslexic.There. You can get my full review
the first Omen up on Popcultureweekly dotcom, And like I said, check
out the guide to the omenfranchise onpodcast dot Popcultureweekly dot com and get yourself

(38:13):
all caught up if you want.Before you go and see the first Omen.
It is so good. I wantto know what you think about the
first Omen and what you think aboutthis episode. Hit me up on socials.
I'm on Instagram and Facebook and YouTubeand TikTok and everywhere else. Hit
me up and let me know whatyou think. It's either at KMAC Music

(38:34):
or Kyle McMahon or Popculture Weekly,one of them. You'll hit me somehow,
you guys find a way to sendme hate mail, send me some
love mail too, and maybe I'lljust feature your hot take on the show.
All right, I'll see you nextweek. I love you. We
thank you for listening to pop CultureWeekly. Here all the latest at popcultureweekly

(38:55):
dot com. Jaymian, j heedMe, you are coming to pe Me
and pie Crass