• June 12, 2006
• Vol. 65
• No. 23

The Omen's Liev Schreiber

By Michelle Tan

Onscreen, He's Raising the Antichrist. Offscreen, He's the Lucky Devil Dating Naomi Watts

For the record, Liev Schreiber gets freaked out by horror movies. So what possessed him to star in a remake of The Omen, due in theaters on (gasp!) 6/6/06? "I don't have to watch it," says Schreiber, who also appeared in all three Scream movies. "I'm drawn to characters dealing with conflict, and things don't get more conflicted than raising the son of the Devil." Aside from Lucifer, Schreiber, 38, chatted with PEOPLE's Michelle Tan about the other key players in his life—Shakespeare, his mom and girlfriend Naomi Watts.

BREAKING THE CURSE
According to Hollywood legend, the 1976 production of The Omen was haunted by incidents that included lightning striking star Gregory Peck's plane and the death of an animal trainer. But Schreiber isn't superstitious. "I did a stunt and I fell into a cast-iron fence and fractured a rib," he says. "Everybody was like, 'Oooh, curse of The Omen!' I was like, 'No, but can I have an ice pack, please?'" He's just as fearless onstage: This summer, the actor—who won a Tony last year for Glengarry Glen Ross—will star in a New York City production of Macbeth, Shakespeare's famously jinxed play.

WICKED GAMES
Between takes, Schreiber helped 6-year-old Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, who plays Damien (see box), unleash his inner demons. "Most of what Seamus had to do was fight, bite, kick or scream. So we'd play games where he'd beat up on me," says Schreiber. While "playing the father of the Antichrist is not a huge endorsement for having children," working with Seamus "did bring up those latent feelings of wanting to be a father."

LIFE WITH NAOMI
Schreiber's next movie is The Painted Veil opposite real-life love Naomi Watts, 37, whom he started dating last spring. Like her boyfriend, Watts is no stranger to horror. "The Ring scared the pants off me," he says. As for that other ring—a 5-carat sparkler Schreiber reportedly bought Watts, he says, "That is Naomi's. She has some jewelry of mine but not that." And those wedding rumors? He's keeping mum.

MOTHER KNOWS BEST
When he isn't listening to Jay-Z or Missy Elliott, the Manhattan-bred actor practices Bach's "Goldberg Variations" on the piano. He credits his mother, artist Heather Milgram (who divorced actor Tell Schreiber when Liev was 4), for his "eclectic tastes." "I grew up with a constant barrage of classical music and movies that were black-and-white," says Schreiber, who also has mom to thank for the nickname "Huggy." "When I was little I may have been bored sick, but I'm grateful to her now."

• Contributors:
• Courtney Rubin/London,
• Natasha Stoynoff/New York City,
• Oliver Jones/Los Angeles.

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SEAMUS DAVEY-FITZPATRICK, 2006 Making his film debut after a career in commercials that started when he was 1 month old, the newcomer is "an engaging, active, bright kid," says Mia Farrow, who flew paper airplanes with her young costar onset. "He's very affectionate." But those cuddly qualities vanished as soon as director John Moore cried "Action!" "When this kid stares into the camera, you feel genuinely chilled by him," says Moore. "If he doesn't end up an actor, he'll be an amazing poker player."

HARVEY STEPHENS, 1976 Since originating the role of Damien, Stephens, now 35, traded the spotlight for a quiet life in Kent, outside London, where he owns a chauffeur business. But the sinister sequence 666 still haunts him, with car repair bills and restaurant tabs often adding up to the Devil's digits. Even the birth of his daughter Gracie May, who turns 3 this month, caused some panic. "She was due on the sixth day of the sixth month," says his wife of four years, Emma. Luckily, "I was late."