to cast Max von Sydow instead of Paul Scofield, who Blatty had wanted. "He portrays great spiritual quality on film." At a play, Blatty and Friedkin ran into Lee J. Cobb, who was cast as Lt. Kinderman. Two priests were cast. Father William O'Malley had become acquainted with Blatty through his criticism of the novel. After Blatty introduced him to Friedkin, they cast him as Father Dyer, a character O'Malley had considered clichéd in the novel. The Rev. Thomas Bermingham, the Georgetown professor who assigned Blatty to do the research on demonic possession that later informed the novel, took the role of the university president. Cast sheets in The Hollywood Reporter and a Warners press release, list British director J. Lee Thompson as a member of the cast early in production. It was suggested that he would be playing Dennings, whom Shirley MacLaine says was based on him as he had directed the 1965 film John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!, which Blatty had adapted for the screen from his novel, but Jack MacGowran got the role instead. A later cast listing adds Mary Boylan and The Rev. John Nicola, one of the film's technical advisors, in small roles. Greek actor Titos Vandis, cast as Karras's uncle, covered his face with a hat, as Friedkin felt audiences would associate him with his role in the recent Woody Allen film Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). Friedkin reportedly cast Vasiliki Maliaros as Karras's mother after encountering her in a Greek restaurant. Direction Warners had approached Arthur Penn, Stanley Kubrick, and Mike Nichols to direct; for various reasons they were turned down or turned it down. Blatty recalled in 2015 that one director wanted to set the film in Salem, Massachusetts, which he rejected because he considered the contrast between the worldly nature of the capital and the supernatural aspects of the plot to be essential to the story. The studio finally hired Mark Rydell to direct, but Blatty insisted on Friedkin as he had been impressed by The French Connection. He also knew Friedkin, who had critiqued his Darling Lili screenplay over lunch before production. Blatty also appreciated that at a meeting with Edwards, Friedkin had been extremely frank about the shortcomings of a Peter Gunn script. Blatty saw Friedkin as "a director who can bring the look of documentary realism to this incredible story,