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A script crafted by the acclaimed writer and starring Christopher Lee and the lead actor was expected to be an ideal venture for director Robin Hardy while the production of The Wicker Man more than 50 years ago.

Even though it is now celebrated as an iconic horror film, the extent of misery it caused the film-makers has now been uncovered in previously unpublished letters and early versions of the script.

The Plot 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 tempts the religious policeman, with Christopher Lee as the pagan aristocrat.

Production Conflict Uncovered

But the creative atmosphere was tense and fractious, the documents show. In a letter to Shaffer, Hardy stated: “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 Hardy’s brutal cuts to his work.

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, there was no way you could have known.”

Apart from the Creative Duo

Conflict escalated beyond the writer and director. A producer commented: “The writer’s skill was marred by a self-indulgence that drove him to prove himself overly smart.”

In a note to the producers, Hardy expressed frustration about the editor, the editing specialist: “I don’t think he appreciates the subject or style of the picture … and thinks that he has had enough of it.”

In a correspondence, Christopher Lee referred to the film as “appealing and enigmatic”, even with “dealing with a talkative producer, a stressed screenwriter and a well-paid but difficult director”.

Lost Documents Uncovered

An extensive correspondence about the film was among multiple bags of documents left in the attic of the old house of Hardy’s third wife, Caroline. There were also unpublished drafts, storyboards, production photos and budget records, many of which reflect the challenges experienced by the team.

The director’s children Justin and Dominic, currently in their sixties, used the material for a forthcoming book, called Children of The Wicker Man. The book uncovers the extreme pressures faced by Hardy during the production of the movie – including a health crisis to financial ruin.

Personal Fallout

At first, the film was a box office flop and, in the aftermath of its failure, Hardy left his spouse and their children for a new life in the US. Legal letters show his wife as an unacknowledged producer and that Hardy owed her as much as £1m in today’s money. She was forced to sell their house and died in the 1980s, aged 51, battling addiction, unaware that the project later turned into an international success.

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

When he was contacted by a resident who had moved into the former family home, asking whether he wished to retrieve the sacks of papers, his initial reaction was to suggest burning “the bloody things”.

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: “All the big players are in there. We discovered the first draft by the writer, but with his father’s notes as director, ‘containing’ the writer’s excess. Because he was formerly a barrister, he tended to overwrite and his father just went ‘edit, edit, edit’. They loved each other and hated each other.”

Compiling the publication provided some “closure”, the son said.

Financial Struggles

His family never benefited monetarily from the film, he explained: “The bloody film has gone on to make so much money for other people. It’s beyond a joke. His father accepted five grand. Thus, he missed out on any of the upside. Christopher Lee also did not get payment from it as well, despite the fact he performed the film for zero, to get out of his previous studio. Therefore, it was a harsh experience.”