In Richard Donner‘s The Omen (1976), a 59 year-old Gregory Peck played Robert Thorn, the U.S. ambassador to England, and Lee Remick, who was 40 or 41 when the film was shot, played his wife Katherine. Remick may have seemed a bit too old to be getting pregnant and raising a young son, but her age wasn’t a stopper. Peck certainly seemed too old to be embarking upon fatherhood for the first time, but this was balanced by the fact that he was completely believable as a high-level diplomat at the summit of his career . In John Moore‘s Omen remake (20th Century Fox, 6.6.06), these characters (i.e., they have the same names) are played by 38 year-old Liev Schreiber and 25 year-old Julia Stiles, which makes them seem too young. Except Schrieber’s Thorn is apparently not the London-based U.S. ambassador but an assistant to the ambassador who suddenly elevated into power when a vacancy opens up, so to speak. This is how I understand it, at least. If anyone knows better, please advise.

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