5 More Directors Who Were Lumbered With Actors They Didn’t Even Want

It simply did not matter that Vincent Price was one of the most well-known movie stars gracing planet Earth at the time, English director Michael Reeves had a vision for Witchfinder General and it most definitely did not involve The Fly sensation leading his picture.

Instead, Reeves was said to have had Donald Pleasence in mind for the role of Matthew Hopkins, the famous English witch hunter, but the feature's American co-financers, American International Pictures, were much more interested in Price taking up the leading part and pushed Reeves to cast the unmistakable presence.

Reeves would proceed to openly state to colleagues that Price was without a doubt not his preferred actor for the role, with the director even going as far as to snub the House of Wax face in refusing to meet him at Heathrow Airport before shooting.

Reciprocating the disdain sent his way by Reeves throughout the course of making the picture, Price would admit:

"Reeves hated me. He didn't want me at all for the part. I didn't like him either"

Despite all this bad blood, Price would still go on record to confess that the work he put into the performance of Hopkins seen in the 1968 historical horror was "one of the best performances I've ever given."