 Other directors that Warner had approached to direct the film  included Arthur Penn (qv) (who was teaching at Yale),  Peter Bogdanovich (qv) (who wanted to pursue other projects,  subsequently regretting the decision) and Mike Nichols (I) (qv)  (who didnt want to shoot a film so dependent on a childs  performance). The studio actually hired Mark Rydell (qv) but  Blatty insisted on Friedkin.