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A screenplay penned by the acclaimed writer and starring a horror icon and Edward Woodward could have been an ideal venture for filmmaker Robin Hardy during the filming of The Wicker Man over half a century ago.

Even though it is now revered as an iconic horror film, the extent of misery it caused the production team is now uncovered in previously unpublished letters and early versions of the script.

The Storyline of The Wicker Man

The 1973 film centers on a puritan police officer, portrayed by Edward Woodward, who travels on a remote Scottish island in search of a missing girl, only to encounter mysterious pagan residents who deny the girl was real. Britt Ekland appeared as an innkeeper’s sexually liberated daughter, who seduces the religious policeman, with Christopher Lee as the pagan aristocrat.

Creative Conflict Uncovered

But the creative atmosphere was tense and fractious, the documents show. In a message to Shaffer, Hardy stated: “How dare you handle me this way?”

Shaffer had already made his name with masterpieces like Sleuth, but his typed draft of The Wicker Man reveals Hardy’s brutal cuts to the screenplay.

Extensive crossings-out include Summerisle’s lines in the ending, originally starting: “The girl was only a small part – the visible element. Don’t blame yourself, it was impossible you could have known.”

Beyond Writer and Director

Tensions boiled over outside the writer and director. One of the producers wrote: “Shaffer’s talent was marred by excessive indulgence that drove him to show he was too clever by half.”

In a note to the producers, the director complained about the editor, Eric Boyd-Perkins: “I believe he appreciates the subject or style of the film … and feels that he has had enough of it.”

In one letter, Lee described the film as “appealing and mysterious”, despite “dealing with a talkative producer, a stressed screenwriter and an overpaid and hostile director”.

Forgotten Documents Uncovered

A large collection of letters relating to the film was among multiple bags of documents left in the loft of the former home of the director’s spouse, Caroline. There were also previously unseen scripts, visual plans, on-set photographs and budget records, which show the challenges experienced by the team.

The director’s children Justin and Dominic, now 60 and 63, have drawn on the material for a forthcoming book, titled Children of The Wicker Man. The book uncovers the intense stress on the director during the production of the movie – from his heart attack to bankruptcy.

Family Fallout

Initially, the film failed commercially and, in the aftermath of its failure, the director abandoned his wife and his family for a new life in America. Court documents show his wife as the film’s uncredited executive producer and that Hardy was indebted to her as much as a large sum. She was forced to sell the family home and passed away in the 1980s, in her fifties, suffering from alcoholism, unaware that the project eventually became a global hit.

His son, a Bafta-nominated historian film-maker, called The Wicker Man as “the film that messed up our family”.

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

But then he and his stepbrother Dominic opened up the bags and realised the significance of what they held.

Insights from the Documents

His brother, an art historian, said: “Every key figure are in there. We discovered the first draft by the writer, but with dad’s annotations as director, ‘controlling’ the writer’s excess. Due to his legal background, Shaffer tended to overwrite and dad just went ‘cut, cut, cut’. They sort of respected each other and hated each other.”

Compiling the publication has brought some “closure”, the son stated.

Financial Struggles

The family did not profit financially from the production, he explained: “The bloody film earned so much money for others. It’s beyond a joke. His father accepted five grand. So he never received any of the upside. Christopher Lee also did not get any money from it as well, although he performed his role for zero, to leave his previous studio. Therefore, it was a harsh experience.”