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A screenplay crafted by Anthony Shaffer and starring Christopher Lee and the lead actor should have been an ideal venture for director Robin Hardy during the filming of The Wicker Man more than half a century ago.

Even though today it is celebrated as an iconic horror film, the extent of turmoil it brought the production team is now revealed in previously unpublished correspondence and early versions of the script.

The Storyline of The Wicker Man

The 1973 film centers on a devout policeman, played by Edward Woodward, who travels on an isolated Scottish isle in search of a missing girl, but finds mysterious pagan residents who deny the girl was real. Britt Ekland appeared as the daughter of a local innkeeper, who seduces the God-fearing officer, with Christopher Lee as the pagan aristocrat.

Creative Tensions Revealed

However, the working environment was tense and fractious, according to the letters. In a letter to the writer, Hardy wrote: “How dare you handle me like this?”

Shaffer had already made his name with masterpieces like Sleuth, but his script of The Wicker Man reveals the director’s harsh edits to the screenplay.

Extensive crossings-out include the aristocrat’s dialogue in the ending, originally starting: “The child was but the tip of the iceberg – the part that showed. Don’t blame yourself, it was impossible for you to know.”

Beyond the Creative Duo

Conflict escalated beyond the main pair. A producer commented: “The writer’s skill was marred by excessive indulgence that impels him to show he was overly smart.”

In a note to the production team, Hardy complained about the editor, the editing specialist: “I don’t think he appreciates the theme or approach of the film … and feels that he has had enough of it.”

In one letter, Christopher Lee described the film as “alluring and enigmatic”, despite “having to cope with a garrulous producer, an underpaid and harassed writer and a well-paid but difficult director”.

Lost Papers Found

An extensive correspondence relating to the production was part of multiple bags of documents left in the loft of the old house of the director’s spouse, Caroline. Included were previously unseen scripts, visual plans, production photos and financial accounts, many of which show the challenges faced by the film-makers.

Hardy’s sons his two sons, currently in their sixties, used the material for an upcoming publication, called Children of The Wicker Man. It reveals the intense stress faced by Hardy throughout the making of the movie – including a health crisis to financial ruin.

Family Consequences

Initially, the film was a box office flop and, in the aftermath of its failure, the director abandoned his spouse and their children for a fresh start in America. Legal letters reveal Caroline as an unacknowledged producer and that Hardy was indebted to her up to £1m in today’s money. She had to give up the family home and passed away in 1984, in her fifties, battling alcoholism, never knowing that the project eventually became a global hit.

Justin, a Bafta-nominated historian film-maker, called The Wicker Man as “the movie that messed up my family”.

When someone reached out by a woman living in the former family home, inquiring if he wanted to collect the sacks of papers, his first thought was to propose burning “all of it”.

But afterward he and his stepbrother Dominic examined the sacks and realised the significance of their contents.

Insights from the Papers

Dominic, an art historian, said: “Every key figure is represented. We found the first draft by the writer, but with his father’s notes as director, ‘controlling’ the writer’s excess. Because he was formerly a barrister, he tended to overwrite and dad just went ‘edit, edit, edit’. They sort of loved each other and hated each other.”

Compiling the publication has brought some “closure”, Justin said.

Financial Struggles

His family did not profit financially from the film, he explained: “The bloody film has gone on to make so much money for other people. It’s unfair. His father agreed to take a small fee. Thus, he missed out on the profits. Christopher Lee never received any money from it as well, despite the fact that he did the film for no pay, to get out of Hammer [Horror films]. Therefore, it’s been a very unkind film.”