all I've seen on this film, I definitely believe in demonic possession ... We were plagued by strange and sinister things from the beginning." He said some striking visuals in the film had not been intended and could not be explained. Vercourtere, the special effects supervisor, also felt uncomfortable working on the film. "There was definitely a feeling something [bad] could happen," he recalled. "I felt I was playing around with something I shouldn't be playing around with." Concern among the production was significant enough that Friedkin asked Father Thomas Bermingham, the film's technical advisor (who also played Georgetown's president in the film), to perform an exorcism on the set. Bermingham instead blessed the cast and crew, believing that an actual exorcism would only make the cast more anxious. British film historian Sarah Crowther believes stories of the curse were partly disseminated by Warner's marketing department, which she believes was purposely courting controversy by releasing the film just after Christmas. "[They] spread speculation of the curse prior to release. It was an extremely hot topic in global media when it hit cinemas", she told inews.com in 2018, likening the curse to the elaborate marketing gimmicks employed by producer William Castle to stimulate viewer interest in his horror films during the 1960s. Blair told Kermode in 1989 that stories of the supposed curse may have circulated because it helped viewers deal with the movie. "They chose to see a scary film, and maybe they wanted to believe all those rumors because it helped the whole process", she said. "Maybe they wanted to believe weird things happened because it helped them to be scared." Crowther believes most of the aspects of the curse are really just the result of Friedkin's driving, relentless production over a prolonged period, which fatigued many members of the cast and crew. Blatty agreed, telling Kermode that Friedkin had started the "curse" story with an interview during production in which he blamed "devils" for the film's many delays. "But for God's sake", said Blatty, "if you shoot something for a year, people are going to get hurt, people are going to die ... these things just happen." In 2000, Blatty joked that "There is no Exorcist curse. I am The Exorcist curse!" when asked if the death of Blair's pet mouse was possibly due to it. Releases Theatrical Warners scheduled The Exorcist for release the day after Christmas