Unveiling the Conflict Among Filmmaker and Writer of The Wicker Man

A screenplay penned by the acclaimed writer and featuring a horror icon and the lead actor was expected to be a dream project for director Robin Hardy while the production of The Wicker Man more than half a century ago.

Even though it is now revered as a cult horror masterpiece, the extent of turmoil it caused the production team has now been uncovered in previously unpublished letters and early versions of the script.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 puritan police officer, portrayed by the actor, who arrives on a remote Scottish island looking for a missing girl, only to encounter mysterious pagan residents who deny the girl was real. the actress was cast as an innkeeper’s sexually liberated daughter, who tempts the God-fearing officer, with Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle.

Production Conflict Uncovered

However, the working environment was tense and contentious, according to the letters. In a letter to Shaffer, Hardy stated: “How could you handle me like this?”

The screenwriter was already famous with acclaimed works such as Sleuth, but his script of The Wicker Man shows Hardy’s brutal cuts to his work.

Heavy edits include Summerisle’s lines in the ending, which would have begun: “The girl was but the tip of the iceberg – the part that showed. Don’t blame yourself, there was no way you could have known.”

Apart from Writer and Director

Conflict escalated outside the writer and director. One of the producers wrote: “Shaffer’s talent was marred by excessive indulgence that impels him to show he was overly smart.”

In a note to the producers, the director complained about the film’s editor, the editing specialist: “I believe he appreciates the subject or approach of the film … and thinks that he has had enough of it.”

In one letter, Lee described the movie as “appealing and enigmatic”, even with “having to cope with a talkative producer, a stressed screenwriter and an overpaid and hostile director”.

Forgotten Papers Uncovered

An extensive correspondence relating to the film was part of multiple bags of documents forgotten in the attic of the former home of Hardy’s third wife, Caroline. Included were unpublished drafts, visual plans, on-set photographs and budget records, which reflect the struggles experienced by the team.

Hardy’s sons Justin and Dominic, now 60 and 63, have drawn on the material for an upcoming publication, called Children of The Wicker Man. The book uncovers the intense stress on the director throughout the production of the film – from his heart attack to financial ruin.

Personal Fallout

At first, the film failed commercially and, in the aftermath the disappointment, Hardy abandoned his spouse and his family for a fresh start in the US. Court documents show Caroline as the film’s uncredited executive producer and that Hardy owed her up to £1m in today’s money. She was forced to sell their house and passed away in 1984, in her fifties, battling addiction, unaware that her film eventually became an international success.

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

When someone reached out by a woman who had moved into his mother’s old house, asking whether he wished to retrieve the sacks of papers, his initial reaction was to propose destroying “all of it”.

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

Insights from the Documents

His brother, a scholar, commented: “All the big players are in there. We discovered an original script by the writer, but with dad’s annotations as filmmaker, ‘controlling’ 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.”

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

Monetary Struggles

His family never benefited financially from the film, he added: “The bloody film earned so much money for others. It’s unfair. Dad accepted five grand. Thus, he missed out on any of the upside. The actor also did not get payment from it as well, although he performed the film for no pay, to leave Hammer [Horror films]. So, in many ways, it’s been a harsh experience.”