How “The First Omen” Got Away with That Shocking Vaginal Birth Scene After 'Battle' for R Rating (Exclusive)

"That shot was so intensely important to us. That's the theme of the movie," says director Arkasha Stevenson

NOTE: The following contains spoilers for The First Omen, in theaters now.

In a movie full of shocking moments, it was a scene involving a vaginal birth that almost singlehandedly landed The First Omen a harsher NC-17 rating.

"There's a lot of graphic imagery in this film, but it was just that frontal shot that was the battle, and how long and what could be in focus and what couldn't be in focus," director Arkasha Stevenson tells PEOPLE.

The scene in question? Midway through the film, novitiate Margaret, who is stationed at a nun-run orphanage in Rome before taking the veil, witnesses a pregnant woman being restrained as she's forced to give birth. While screaming for help in the operating room, the woman delivers a non-human, unholy creature.

For the final theatrical version, the sequence includes a three-second close-up shot of the vaginal birth, which was originally about 13 seconds long before compromises were made in the editing room after several back-and-forths with the Motion Picture Association.

"It's not supposed to be the vagina that's scary in that scene; it's supposed to be what's happening to the female body," explains Stevenson. "But I think because it's so rare to see that image, people find that that is confronting."

The filmmaker says, "That shot was so intensely important to us. That's the theme of the movie, this woman's body being violated from the inside out."

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Stevenson, who says the studio was supportive of her vision for the scene, says she "knew we could not shy away from the imagery" since the film's subject matter deals with "forced reproduction and sexual assault."

"We also couldn't let the body horror be dehumanizing, gratuitous, and it couldn't be fetishized," she adds. "It was really important for us to show female anatomy, show what and who we are tearing up in these images."

Ultimately, The First Omen received an R rating for "violent content, grisly/disturbing images, and brief graphic nudity."

Actress Nell Tiger Free plays Margaret, the innocent nun-in-training who witnesses the shocking scene (and later has her own disturbing forced-C-section moment).

"Weirdly, that one shot encompasses the whole thing that this movie is. It's female body horror," says Free, 24. "It's important that we desexualize, sometimes, women's bodies. It doesn't always have to be there for that purpose and that reason, and this shot is exactly that."

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"Childbirth is not a pretty sight, it's not a pleasant thing," she adds. "Obviously it's a pretty grotesque thing to witness, but it's also beautiful and fascinating, and that's what our bodies are. So it is not gratuitous nudity for the sake of it. It's there because Margaret had to see that, and we had to see that, to know exactly what that visceral reaction was that she was having to it."

Says Free, "There's no smoke and mirrors with it. It was, 'Here you go, this is exactly what this is. Enjoy."

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The First Omen is a prequel to the 1976 Omen classic that starred Gregory Peck. As Stevenson explains, that film was "speaking to very specific cultural fears and anxieties of the time," so her installment tackles today's issues.

"This very much is speaking to a lot of communal fears about what's going on with the female body right now and body autonomy," she says. "It was a perfect story to express those fears in, because the big question you have coming out of The Omen is where did Damien come from? So it's inherently a story about birth and possibly forced reproduction. It was really important for us to look at this film through that lens."

"I think it was perfect timing. Everybody was so supportive," says Stevenson. "There was no hesitation going down that road, which was extremely empowering as a filmmaker."

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