The First OmenStar Nell Tiger Free Says Her Dad 'Nearly' Fainted Seeing Her Horror Movie (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Nell Tiger Free on March 26, 2024.Photo:Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Nell Tiger Free’s parents got quite the scare seeing hernew horror filmThe First Omen.

“My mom does not like horror films — she’s very, very squeamish — so she had to sit next to me at the premiere,” says Free. “And I swear to God, I think I have nail marks in me. She was gripping onto me so tight the entire time.”

As for her father, Free explains that he “fainted” during her birth (“He’s a diabetic. He needed to sit down and have a Mars bar. My mom was like, ‘Really? Right now, while I’m giving birth? Seriously?'"). SeeingThe First Omen, he “nearly” fainted as well, Free jokes.

Free, also known forGame of Thrones, says her mother “cannot handle ever watching anything bad happen to me.”

“I’ve had to have a lot of bad things happen to me on screen. I’ve been shot in the head, I’ve been burned alive, a lot of stuff,” she says. “So with this one, especially in those final scenes, she was really struggling with it.”

Nell Tiger Free in “The First Omen” (2024).Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

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Still, her family has been “so supportive and lovely and wonderful, as they always are.”

Even her horror-avoidant friends were able to make it throughThe First Omen, which is a prequel to the 1976 classicThe Omen.

“It’s my favorite genre, to be honest with you, horror is. I’m always trying to make my flatmates watch horror films with me, and they’re not horror fans,” says Free. “They actually came to the premiere and they were like, ‘We’re doing this out of love for you,’ but they really enjoyed it, which is good news.”

Nell Tiger Free in “The First Omen”.Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Does anything scare Free in real life? “A lot” does, she admits, including clowns.

She says, though, a mantra she learned from her dad, who calls her the nickname Noodles, keeps her feeling courageous every day.

“When I would get nervous when I was little,” says Free, “my dad would always be like, ‘Be fearless, Noodles. You’re fearless.’ He made me repeat it often, and say, ‘I am fearless.’ I find myself with that being a little bit of a mantra, like I’m trying to convince myself that it’s true.”

The First Omenis in theaters Friday, April 5.

source: people.com