they live in another state." Cast Production Development Producer Samuel Z. Arkoff purchased the rights to the novel by Jay Anson, which was a commercial success upon its publication in 1977. Anson himself wrote a screenplay based on his work, but the script was rejected by Arkoff, and screenwriter Sandor Stern was assigned to write an entirely new script. Initially, the film had been conceived as a made-for-television film. Casting Brolin was hesitant when first offered the role of George Lutz. At the time of his casting, the script was unfinished, so Brolin obtained a copy of Anson's novel. Brolin read it until two o'clock in the morning. He had hung up a pair of his pants in the room earlier and during an especially tense passage of the book, the pants fell to the floor. Brolin jumped from his chair in fright. Convinced that the material would make an effective film, Brolin agreed to star. Kidder was cast in the role of Kathy Lutz after her breakthrough performance as Lois Lane in Superman the year prior. Filming The on-location scenes of The Amityville Horror were filmed at a private residence in Toms River, New Jersey, which had been converted to look like the 112 Ocean Avenue home after authorities in Amityville denied permission for filming. Exterior scenes were also filmed in Toms River and Point Pleasant Beach. Local police and ambulance workers played extras in the film, and the Toms River Volunteer Fire Company provided the rain during several scenes. Indoor shots were filmed at the MGM studio lot in Los Angeles, California. The film shoot was widely publicized in national media when the studio attempted to concoct stories of "unusual" occurrences on the set (not dissimilar from what was claimed to have occurred during the filming of The Exorcist). According to Brolin, he and Kidder were both asked by the studio and the press, "'Is there weird stuff going on?'... and we were looking for stuff now. We'd have liked to tell them, 'Oh yeah, you wouldn't believe the stuff that happened yesterday—my lunch fell off the table in my lap.'" Music Lalo Schifrin's score for The Amityville Horror was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score, but lost out to the score for A Little Romance by Georges Delerue. It is sometimes claimed that this score was the one rejected in 1973 for The Exorcist,