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A screenplay penned by the acclaimed writer and featuring Christopher Lee and the lead actor should have been an ideal venture for filmmaker Robin Hardy during the filming of The Wicker Man more than half a century ago.

Although it is now revered as an iconic horror film, the extent of misery it caused the film-makers is now uncovered in previously unpublished correspondence and early versions of the script.

The Plot of This Classic Film

The 1973 film revolves around a puritan police officer, portrayed by the actor, who travels on a remote Scottish island in search of a lost child, only to encounter mysterious pagan residents who deny she ever existed. Britt Ekland appeared as the daughter of a local innkeeper, who seduces the God-fearing officer, with Christopher Lee as the pagan aristocrat.

Production Conflict Uncovered

But the creative atmosphere was frayed and fractious, the documents show. In a letter to Shaffer, Hardy wrote: “How dare you handle me like this?”

Shaffer had already made his name with acclaimed works such as Sleuth, but his script of The Wicker Man shows the director’s harsh edits to his work.

Heavy edits include the aristocrat’s dialogue in the final scene, originally starting: “The child was only a small part – the part that showed. Do not reproach yourself, it was impossible for you to know.”

Beyond Writer and Director

Conflict escalated beyond the main pair. One of the producers commented: “Shaffer’s talent has been offset by a self-indulgence that impels him to prove himself too clever by half.”

In a note to the production team, Hardy complained about the editor, the editing specialist: “I don’t think he likes the theme or style of the picture … and thinks that he is tired of it.”

In a correspondence, Lee described the film as “alluring and mysterious”, despite “dealing with a garrulous producer, an underpaid and harassed writer and an overpaid and hostile director”.

Lost Documents Found

A large collection of letters relating to the production was part of multiple bags of papers left in the loft of the former home of Hardy’s third wife, his wife. There were also previously unseen scripts, visual plans, on-set photographs and budget records, which reflect the struggles experienced by the team.

The director’s children Justin and Dominic, now 60 and 63, have drawn on these documents for a forthcoming book, titled Children of The Wicker Man. The book uncovers the extreme pressures faced by the director throughout the production of the movie – from his heart attack to bankruptcy.

Personal Consequences

Initially, the film was a box office flop and, in the aftermath of its failure, Hardy left his wife and their children for a fresh start in America. Legal letters reveal Caroline as an unacknowledged producer and that Hardy was indebted to her as much as a large sum. She had to sell the family home and died in the 1980s, in her fifties, suffering from addiction, unaware that her film later turned into an international success.

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

When someone reached out by a resident living in his mother’s old house, inquiring if he wished to retrieve the sacks of papers, his first thought was to suggest destroying “all of it”.

But afterward he and his stepbrother Dominic examined the bags and realised the importance of what they held.

Insights from the Papers

His brother, a scholar, commented: “All the big players are in there. We discovered an original script by the writer, but with his father’s notes as director, ‘containing’ Shaffer’s overexuberance. Due to his legal background, Shaffer tended to overwrite and his father just went ‘edit, edit, edit’. They sort of loved each other and clashed frequently.”

Writing the book provided some “closure”, Justin said.

Financial Hardships

His family never benefited monetarily from the film, he explained: “The bloody film has gone on to make a fortune for other people. It’s beyond a joke. His father accepted a small fee. So he never received any of the upside. The actor also did not get any money from it either, despite the fact he performed the film for zero, to get out of his previous studio. Therefore, it was a very unkind film.”