Perhaps as a result of how badly Ellen Burstyn had been injured during the filming of "The Exorcist" (1973), Lee Remick declined to perform the scene where Katherine Thorn is pushed over the bannister by Damien and his tricycle and subsequently falls to the floor. She was purportedly offered extra money to perform the stunt, but still declined. Ultimately, a stand-in was used, together with a rig with a mattress on top of it for Lee to kneel on whilst clinging to the bannister. The fall was performed "in-camera" with a section of the floor built up against a wall, which she could be "dollyed" into to make it look as though she was falling.