polish. However, by October 1959, Farrow had left the project over creative differences. Farrow later explained that in the context of Jesus's trial, Bronston wanted him to "whitewash the Jewish leaders, and lay blame entirely on the Romans. I refused to make these changes. I quit." Additionally, according to associate producer Alan Brown, he stated that "his script was not really a script, it was the Four Gospels put down, and Sam called me and said, 'I cannot even understand this, it's all Thee and Thou and everything else.'" In November 1959, Nicholas Ray signed on to direct the project. With set construction nearly complete, Ray then asked screenwriter Philip Yordan whom he previously worked with on Johnny Guitar (1954) to rewrite the script. Ray also explained, "I asked for him and made concessions to have him. They had asked me to write it. I didn't feel up to the responsibility; I am as impatient with the other writer on my own screenplay as with others." Yordan recalled, "I didn't want to go to Spain, but he asked me to just come over there for the weekend. The picture was called Son of Man. Terrible title, and someone had taken chapters of the Bible and sort of tried to make it play." He then recommended re-titling the script to King of Kings. Yordan wrote a new script in six weeks which Bronston liked so much that he encouraged him to stay in Madrid, in which Yordan later went to co-write the script for El Cid (1961). Throughout the writing process, Yordan felt he did not find writing the movie to be difficult, in which he argued that "Christ was a loner. He's not much different than my usual character. The Western character. It's the same character. The man alone." Furthermore, Bronston hired several Biblical scholars in order for the script to adhere to the Gospels, which included playwright Diego Fabbri and theologian professor George Kilpatrick, who wrote the books The Origins of the Gospel According to St. Matthew (1946) and The Trial of Jesus (1953). In March 1960, Bronston received approval of the script from Pope John XXIII, who met with the producer at the Vatican. Casting Several actors were considered to play the role of Jesus. In May 1959, it was reported that Alec Guinness had met with Bronston to discuss playing the role of Jesus. With Nicholas Ray