In memoriam, Richard Donner
D irectors will tell you that working with hotshot actors maybe tough but working with kids is the toughest. When Harvey Stephens was cast as Damien in "The Omen" (1976), he was only 5 years old. Because Stephens was so young, director Richard Donner found that the best way to direct him was to provoke genuine reactions before the camera. For example, when Damien is angry at being taken to church, Donner got his peeved facial expression by shouting to Stephens off camera, "What are you looking at, you little bugger? I'll clobber you." In the closing scene, Donner used reverse psychology on Stephens, telling him, "Don't you dare laugh. If you laugh, I won't be your friend." Naturally, Stephens wanted to laugh, and he instead smiled directly into the camera. Donner used similar tactics in The Goonies (1985) as well. The whole cast claims that director Richard Donner had one key direction for the kids in any scene where something dramatic took pla...