Anger began filming "Lucifer Rising" in his typical fragmentary style. Beausoleil expressed frustration, asserting that Anger spent more time talking about the project than actually shooting any film. This early footage starring Beausoleil was instead used in a different film, "Invocation of My Demon Brother". One of these scenes featured Anton LaVey, leader of the Church of Satan and founder of the LaVeyan Satanist movement, whom Anger had met through the California occult scene. Beausoleil, however, thought LaVey to be "a fuckin' jerk". Anger was aided in the early phases of "Lucifer Rising" by the filmmaker Richard Patton, who was then residing on the top floor of the Russian Embassy. They developed a friendship, with Patton serving as lighting and camera assistant, later commenting that he learned much about filmmaking from Anger. Anger later noted that he had been frustrated with Beausoleil during the process, stating that "Bobby was fine, except he wanted to dominate. He wanted to direct the film. He was always making too many suggestions." While still in early production, Anger began to produce promotional items for "Lucifer Rising", commissioning a poster from Rick Griffin which incorporated an etching by Gustav Doré, "Purgatorio", depicting an eagle lifting up a human body wrapped in cloth. To earn money, he continued producing films for private collectors on the side, which were not released for public distribution.