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A screenplay written by Anthony Shaffer and featuring Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward could have been a dream project for director Robin Hardy while the filming of The Wicker Man more than half a century ago.

Even though it is now revered as an iconic horror film, the degree of turmoil it caused the production team is now uncovered in newly discovered letters and early versions of the script.

The Storyline of This Classic Film

This 1973 movie centers on 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 claim she ever existed. the actress appeared as the daughter of a local innkeeper, who tempts the religious policeman, with Christopher Lee as the pagan aristocrat.

Creative Conflict Revealed

But the creative atmosphere was frayed and fractious, according to the letters. In a message to Shaffer, Hardy wrote: “How could you treat me this way?”

Shaffer was already famous with acclaimed works such as 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, which would have begun: “The child was only a small part – the visible element. Do not reproach yourself, there was no way for you to know.”

Beyond Writer and Director

Tensions boiled over outside the main pair. One of the producers commented: “Shaffer’s talent was marred by excessive indulgence that impels him to show he was overly smart.”

In a letter to the production team, the director expressed frustration about the film’s editor, Eric Boyd-Perkins: “I believe he appreciates the theme or style of the picture … and feels that he has had enough of it.”

In one letter, Christopher Lee referred to the movie as “alluring and mysterious”, despite “dealing with a garrulous producer, a stressed screenwriter and a well-paid but difficult director”.

Lost Documents Found

A large collection of letters about the film was among six sack-loads of papers left in the attic of the former home of Hardy’s third wife, his wife. There were also unpublished drafts, storyboards, production photos and budget records, many of which show the struggles experienced by the film-makers.

The director’s children his two sons, now 60 and 63, have drawn on the material for an upcoming publication, called Children of The Wicker Man. It reveals the extreme pressures on the director throughout the making of the movie – including a health crisis to bankruptcy.

Family Consequences

Initially, the movie was a box office flop and, following the disappointment, Hardy abandoned his wife and their children for a new life in America. Court documents show Caroline as the film’s uncredited executive producer and that he 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 alcoholism, unaware that her film later turned into a global hit.

Justin, an acclaimed documentary maker, described The Wicker Man as “the film that messed up our family”.

When someone reached out by a woman living in the former family home, asking whether he wanted to retrieve the documents, his initial reaction was to propose burning “the bloody things”.

But then he and his stepbrother Dominic opened up the bags and understood the importance of their contents.

Insights from the Papers

Dominic, a scholar, said: “All the big players is represented. We found the first draft by the writer, but with dad’s annotations as filmmaker, ‘containing’ the writer’s excess. Because he was formerly a barrister, Shaffer did a lot of overexplaining and his father just went ‘edit, edit, edit’. They sort of loved each other and clashed frequently.”

Writing the book provided some “resolution”, Justin stated.

Monetary Struggles

His family did not profit financially from the film, he added: “The bloody film earned a fortune for other people. It’s beyond a joke. His father agreed to take a small fee. So he never received the profits. Christopher Lee also did not get payment from it either, despite the fact that he did his role for zero, to leave his previous studio. So, in many ways, it’s been a harsh experience.”