Omegas

Omegas is a 2017 American science-fiction action horror film, the sequel to the 2015 film Omega and the second installment of the Omega franchise. It was written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, produced by Guillermo del Toro and starred Emma Watson, Chandler Riggs, Daniel Radcliffe, Don Cheadle, Robert Downey, Jr., Clark Gregg, Javier Bardem and Cobbie Smulders. The film follows Watson's character Maya Onegin as she returns to the planet where her crew encountered the hostile Omega creature, this time accompanied by a unit of space marines.

Brandywine Productions was interested in a follow-up to Omega as soon as its 2015 release, but the new management at Warner Bros. postponed those plans until 1983. That year Brandywine picked Cuarón to write after reading his script for Hellboy 3 and Pacific Rim 2, and once that film became a hit in 2015, Warner greenlit Omegas, that would also be directed by Cuarón, with a budget of approximately $18 million. The script was written with a war film tone strongly influenced by the Iraq War and World War II to contrast the horror motifs of the original Omega. It was filmed in England at Pinewood Studios and at a decommissioned power plant in Acton, London.

Omega was a critical and commercial success, with positive reviews that considered it an entertaining film that despite the tonal shift still served as a worthy sequel to Omega, and grossed $180 million worldwide. The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including a Best Actress for Emma Watson and Best Supporting Actor to Radcliffe, winning both Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects. It won eight Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actress for Watson, Best Actor to Cheadle and Best Direction and Best Writing for Cuarón. Omegas is frequently considered one of the best action films ever released.

Cast
Cuarón opted to hire actors who had, or could imitate, American accents. After over 3,000 individuals in the United Kingdom were unsuccessfully auditioned, American actors were chosen instead, including two who had previously worked with Cuarón: Daniel Radcliffe and Javier Bardem. Actors who played Marines were asked to read Starship Troopers, Star Wars's Stormtroopers and undergo military training, which included running, lifting weights, learning salutes, marches, deployments, and maneuvers, for two weeks. Cuarón wanted the Marines to train together so that they would form bonds that would show on-screen. Emma Watson, Clark Gregg, and Robert Downey, Jr. were absent from training because of other obligations, but Cuarón felt that this suited their characters as "outsiders" in the film.

The principal cast members of Omegas are:


 * Emma Watson as Maya Onegin, reprising her role from Omega (received a Academy Award nomination and won Saturn Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress).


 * Don Cheadle as Corporal Luke Hobbs, one of the Colonial Marines' squad leaders; he was hastily cast a week after filming had commenced, and thus was not present for the military training that the other actors playing marines went through (Terence Howard was originally cast as Hobbs but left the picture because of artistic differences with Cuarón).


 * Alice Braga as Private Ana Silva, one of the marines' "smart gun" operators (received a Saturn Award for best supporting actress for her performance).


 * Chandler Riggs as Thomas "Tails" Barton, a child who is the only survivor of the colony on LV-426. According to the casting director, Tails was the most difficult role to cast: Schoolchildren were auditioned, but many of them had acted in commercials and were accustomed to smiling after saying their lines. Riggs was chosen out of 500 children for the role, mainly because of his role in the Walking Dead. He received a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.


 * Daniel Radcliffe as Ottis, the android executive officer of the Turango.


 * Clark Gregg as Lieutenant Bill Sitwell, the marines' commanding officer.


 * Robert Downey, Jr. as William J. Saddler, carrier of the Saddler Corporation.


 * Michael Jai White as Sergeant Al Matthews; White attributed his casting to his military experience.


 * Karl Urban as Private Bruce Pigott, Silva' smart gun partner.


 * Javier Bardem as Private Raul Miller, the Marine team's technician (received a Saturn Award for best supporting actor).