Exorcist II: The Heretic with the idea of directing a sequel, explaining that "every film has to struggle to find a connection with its audience. Here I saw the chance to make an extremely ambitious film without having to spend the time developing this connection. I could make assumptions and then take the audience on a very adventurous cinematic journey." Linda Blair agreed to reprise her role of Regan MacNeil for "Exorcist II", but refused to wear demon make-up (a double was used for the brief flashback scenes depicting a demonic Regan). Max von Sydow was persuaded by Boorman to reprise the role of
The Exorcist (film) or "semi-subliminal". In an interview in a 1999 book about the film, "The Exorcist" author Blatty addressed the controversy by explaining that, "There are no subliminal images. If you can see it, it's not subliminal." The editing of the title sequence was the first major project for the film title designer Dan Perri. As a result of the success of "The Exorcist", Perri went on to design opening titles for a number of major films including "Taxi Driver" (1976), "Star Wars" (1977) and "Gangs of New York" (2002). Lalo Schifrin's working score was rejected by Friedkin. Schifrin had written six