Smith said he "wanted a director who had never done a historical. That way I knew we could minimise cliches and the possibility of someone simply repeating, imitating what went before." Clive Donner, then best known for "What's New Pussycat?" was hired in September 1967, and Michael Killanin became associate producer. Donner said he wanted to make the film "because of the inherent youth problem which is so close to our so-called youth revolt; turning the destructiveness of youth into constructiveness. Like so many students today, he advocated peace, but at the same time proclaimed violence in order to redo the world."