The Exorcist (film) shot that obscured his face, as Friedkin felt that Vandis's face would be connected with his previous role in the Woody Allen film "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)". Vandis had previously played Milos Stavros, an Armenian shepherd who was in love with a sheep. Warners had approached Arthur Penn, Stanley Kubrick, and Mike Nichols, to direct, all of whom turned the project down. Originally Mark Rydell was hired to direct, but William Peter Blatty insisted on Friedkin instead, because he wanted his film to have the same energy as Friedkin's previous film,
Annie Lanzillotto in Medical Anthropology. As a freshman at Brown University in 1981, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease and in 1982, created the Group Independent Study Project, "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Cancer But Were Afraid To Ask." This project was funded with "Odyssey Grants" in education for three years. Lanzillotto developed the curriculum with Dr. Stephanie LaFarge and Dr. James Crowley of Rhode Island Hospital. She studied at The American University in Cairo, Egypt, where she cross-dressed in order to complete her fieldwork of Schistosomiasis unfettered. In 1986, Lanzillotto received the Eva A. Mooar Award for the graduating