Unveiling this Rift Between Filmmaker and Screenwriter of The Wicker Man
A script penned by Anthony Shaffer and starring a horror icon and the lead actor should have been a dream project for filmmaker Robin Hardy while the production of The Wicker Man over half a century ago.
Even though today it is celebrated as an iconic horror film, the degree of turmoil it caused the production team is now revealed in previously unpublished correspondence and script drafts.
The Plot of This Classic Film
This 1973 movie centers on a devout policeman, played by the actor, who arrives on a remote Scottish island in search of a lost child, but finds sinister local pagans who deny the girl was real. the actress appeared as an innkeeper’s sexually liberated daughter, who tempts the religious policeman, with Christopher Lee as the pagan aristocrat.
Creative Conflict Revealed
But the creative atmosphere was tense and fractious, according to the letters. In a message to Shaffer, the director wrote: “How could you treat me like this?”
Shaffer had already made his name with acclaimed works like Sleuth, but his typed draft of The Wicker Man reveals Hardy’s brutal cuts to his work.
Extensive crossings-out feature the aristocrat’s dialogue in the final scene, which would have begun: “The girl was but the tip of the iceberg – the part that showed. Don’t blame yourself, it was impossible you could have known.”
Apart from Writer and Director
Conflict escalated beyond the main pair. One of the producers commented: “Shaffer’s talent was marred by a self-indulgence that impels him to show he was too clever by half.”
In a note to the producers, Hardy expressed frustration about the editor, Eric Boyd-Perkins: “I don’t think he likes the subject or approach of the film … and thinks that he is tired of it.”
In one letter, Lee described the film as “alluring and enigmatic”, even with “having to cope with a talkative producer, an underpaid and harassed writer and a well-paid but difficult director”.
Forgotten Papers Found
A large collection of letters about the production was part of six sack-loads of papers left in the loft of the former home of the director’s spouse, Caroline. Included were unpublished drafts, storyboards, production photos and budget records, which reflect the challenges faced by the team.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. It reveals the intense stress faced by Hardy throughout the making of the film – from his heart attack to financial ruin.
Family Fallout
At first, the movie failed commercially and, in the aftermath of its failure, the director left his wife and his family for a fresh start in America. Legal letters show Caroline as the film’s uncredited executive producer and that he was indebted to her up to a large sum. She was forced to give up the family home and died in the 1980s, aged 51, suffering from alcoholism, never knowing that her film eventually became an international success.
Justin, an acclaimed documentary maker, described The Wicker Man as “the film that messed up my family”.
When someone reached out by a resident living in the former family home, inquiring if he wanted to collect the sacks of papers, his initial reaction was to suggest destroying “the bloody things”.
But afterward he and his stepbrother Dominic opened up the sacks and realised the importance of what they held.
Revelations from the Papers
His brother, a scholar, said: “All the big players are in there. We found the first draft by the writer, but with his father’s notes as director, ‘controlling’ Shaffer’s overexuberance. Due to his legal background, Shaffer did a lot of overexplaining and dad just went ‘edit, edit, edit’. They loved each other and clashed frequently.”
Writing the book has brought some “closure”, Justin said.
Monetary Hardships
His family never benefited monetarily from the film, he explained: “This movie has gone on to make a fortune for other people. It’s unfair. His father agreed to take five grand. Thus, he missed out on any of the upside. Christopher Lee also did not get payment 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.”