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

Even though today it is celebrated as a cult horror masterpiece, the extent of misery it caused the production team has now been revealed in previously unpublished letters and early versions of the script.

The Plot of This Classic Film

This 1973 movie centers on a devout policeman, portrayed by the actor, who arrives on an isolated Scottish isle in search of a lost child, but finds sinister local pagans who claim the girl was real. Britt Ekland appeared as the daughter of a local innkeeper, who seduces the God-fearing officer, with Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle.

Creative Tensions Uncovered

But the creative atmosphere was tense and fractious, according to the letters. In a letter to the writer, Hardy stated: “How could you treat me this way?”

Shaffer had already made his name with masterpieces such as Sleuth, but his script of The Wicker Man reveals the director’s harsh edits to the screenplay.

Heavy edits include Summerisle’s lines in the ending, which would have begun: “The girl was only a small part – the visible element. Do not reproach yourself, there was no way you could have known.”

Beyond Writer and Director

Conflict escalated outside the main pair. A producer wrote: “The writer’s skill was marred by excessive indulgence that impels him to show he was too clever by half.”

In a note to the producers, Hardy complained about the film’s editor, the editing specialist: “I believe he appreciates the subject or style of the film … and thinks that he is tired of it.”

In a correspondence, Christopher Lee described the movie as “appealing and mysterious”, even with “dealing with a garrulous producer, a stressed screenwriter and an overpaid and hostile director”.

Lost Documents Uncovered

A large collection of letters relating to the film was part of multiple bags of documents left in the loft of the former home of Hardy’s third wife, his wife. Included were unpublished drafts, storyboards, production photos and financial accounts, which reflect the challenges faced by the team.

Hardy’s sons Justin and Dominic, now 60 and 63, have drawn on these documents for an upcoming publication, titled Children of The Wicker Man. The book uncovers the extreme pressures faced by the director during the production of the film – including a health crisis to bankruptcy.

Family Consequences

At first, the film failed commercially and, in the aftermath the disappointment, the director abandoned his spouse and their children for a fresh start in America. Legal letters reveal his wife as an unacknowledged producer and that he was indebted to her up to a large sum. She had to sell their house and died in 1984, aged 51, battling alcoholism, never knowing that the project later turned into a global hit.

His son, an acclaimed documentary maker, described The Wicker Man as “the movie that ruined our family”.

When he was contacted by a resident living in the former family home, asking whether he wished to retrieve the documents, his initial reaction was to suggest burning “all of it”.

But afterward he and his stepbrother Dominic examined the bags and realised the importance of their contents.

Insights from the Documents

His brother, an art historian, commented: “All the big players are in there. We found the first draft by Shaffer, but with dad’s annotations as filmmaker, ‘containing’ Shaffer’s overexuberance. Because he was formerly a barrister, Shaffer tended to overwrite and dad just went ‘cut, cut, cut’. They sort of respected each other and hated each other.”

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

Financial Struggles

His family did not profit monetarily from the film, he added: “The bloody film has gone on to make a fortune for other people. It’s unfair. His father accepted a small fee. Thus, he missed out on any of the upside. The actor never received payment from it either, although he performed his role for zero, to leave Hammer [Horror films]. So, in many ways, it was a harsh experience.”