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A screenplay crafted by the acclaimed writer and featuring a horror icon and the lead actor should have been an ideal venture for filmmaker Robin Hardy during the filming of The Wicker Man more than 50 years ago.

Even though today it is revered as a cult horror masterpiece, the extent of misery it brought the film-makers has now been uncovered in previously unpublished letters and early versions of the script.

The Plot of This Classic Film

The 1973 film centers on a devout policeman, portrayed by Edward Woodward, who arrives on an isolated Scottish isle in search of a lost child, only to encounter mysterious pagan residents who claim she ever existed. Britt Ekland appeared as an innkeeper’s sexually liberated daughter, who tempts the God-fearing officer, with Lee as the pagan aristocrat.

Creative Conflict Revealed

However, the working environment was tense and fractious, according to the letters. In a letter to the writer, Hardy wrote: “How dare you treat me this way?”

The screenwriter had already made his name with acclaimed works such as Sleuth, but his typed draft of The Wicker Man shows Hardy’s brutal cuts to the screenplay.

Heavy edits include Summerisle’s lines in the final scene, which would have begun: “The child was but the tip of the iceberg – the visible element. Do not reproach yourself, there was no way you could have known.”

Apart from the Creative Duo

Conflict escalated beyond the writer and director. A producer commented: “Shaffer’s talent was marred by excessive indulgence that impels him to prove himself too clever by half.”

In a note to the production team, Hardy expressed frustration about the editor, Eric Boyd-Perkins: “I don’t think he likes the theme or approach of the picture … and thinks that he has had enough of it.”

In one letter, Lee referred to the film as “appealing and enigmatic”, despite “dealing with a garrulous producer, a stressed screenwriter and a well-paid but difficult director”.

Forgotten Documents Found

A large collection of letters about the film was part of multiple bags of papers left in the loft of the old house of Hardy’s third wife, his wife. Included were unpublished drafts, visual plans, production photos and financial accounts, which show the challenges faced by the film-makers.

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

Personal Fallout

At first, the movie was a box office flop and, following the disappointment, Hardy abandoned his spouse and his family for a fresh start in the US. Court documents show his wife as the film’s uncredited executive producer and that he was indebted to her as much as a large sum. She was forced to sell their house and died in the 1980s, aged 51, battling addiction, never knowing that her film eventually became a global hit.

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, asking whether he wished to retrieve the sacks of papers, his initial reaction was to suggest destroying “all of it”.

But then he and his brother opened up the bags and realised the significance of their contents.

Insights from the Documents

His brother, a scholar, commented: “Every key figure are in there. We found an original script by the writer, but with dad’s annotations as filmmaker, ‘containing’ Shaffer’s overexuberance. Due to his legal background, he tended to overwrite and dad just went ‘cut, cut, cut’. They sort of respected each other and clashed frequently.”

Compiling the publication has brought some “resolution”, Justin stated.

Financial Hardships

The family did not profit financially from the production, he explained: “This movie earned so much money for other people. It’s beyond a joke. Dad agreed to take a small fee. So he never received the profits. The actor never received payment from it as well, despite the fact he performed the film for zero, to get out of Hammer [Horror films]. Therefore, it’s been a very unkind film.”