As Christopher Lee remarked in an interview in Leonard Wolf's "A Dream of Dracula": "I was always against the whole tie and tails rendition. Surely it is the height of the ridiculous for a vampire to step out of the shadows wearing white tie, tails, patent leather shoes and a full cloak". Lee said that he never watched any other performances of Dracula until well after making his films, and that when he got the first role with little time to prepare he "had to hurry off to read the book...[and played it fresh, with no knowledge of previous performances."