Christopher Lee, best known for playing Count Dracula in Hammer's horror films, reportedly resisted acting in one particular 1966 movie because he found its dialogue unpalatable. The dispute centred on the actor's belief that certain lines given to Dracula in the script were beneath the character and beyond what he was willing to deliver on screen. This episode illustrates the tension Lee often felt between the commercial demands of the horror franchise that made him famous and his own artistic standards.

Lee reportedly objected so strongly to the screenplay that he refused to speak some of the assigned dialogue, reportedly telling filmmakers "I cannot possibly say these lines." Despite his reluctance, the film went ahead as part of Hammer's ongoing Dracula series, with Lee continuing in the role that had defined much of his career since the late 1950s, even as he grew increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of the scripts.