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A screenplay crafted by Anthony Shaffer and starring Christopher Lee and the lead actor should have been an ideal venture for director Robin Hardy while the production of The Wicker Man more than half a century ago.

Although today it is revered as a cult horror masterpiece, the degree of misery it caused the film-makers is now uncovered in previously unpublished letters and early versions of the script.

The Plot of This Classic Film

This 1973 movie centers on a puritan police officer, portrayed by Edward Woodward, who arrives on an isolated Scottish isle in search of a missing girl, only to encounter sinister local pagans who claim she ever existed. the actress appeared as the daughter of a local innkeeper, who tempts the religious policeman, with Lee as Lord Summerisle.

Production Conflict Revealed

But the creative atmosphere was frayed and contentious, the documents show. In a letter to the writer, Hardy stated: “How dare you handle me this way?”

Shaffer was already famous with masterpieces such as Sleuth, but his typed draft of The Wicker Man reveals the director’s harsh edits to the screenplay.

Heavy edits feature the aristocrat’s dialogue in the final scene, originally starting: “The girl was only a small part – the part that showed. Don’t blame yourself, there was no way for you to know.”

Beyond the Creative Duo

Conflict escalated beyond the writer and director. A producer wrote: “The writer’s skill was marred by excessive indulgence that drove him to prove himself too clever by half.”

In a note to the producers, the director complained about the editor, Eric Boyd-Perkins: “I believe he appreciates the theme or style of the picture … and thinks that he has had enough of it.”

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

Lost Papers Uncovered

An extensive correspondence relating to the film was among multiple bags of papers forgotten in the loft of the former home of the director’s spouse, Caroline. Included were unpublished drafts, storyboards, on-set photographs and budget records, many of which reflect the challenges faced by the film-makers.

The director’s children Justin and Dominic, now 60 and 63, have drawn on these documents for an upcoming publication, titled Children of The Wicker Man. It reveals the intense stress on Hardy during the making of the movie – from his heart attack to financial ruin.

Family Consequences

At first, the film failed commercially and, in the aftermath of its failure, Hardy abandoned his spouse and their children for a fresh start in the US. Legal letters show Caroline as the film’s uncredited executive producer and that he was indebted to her as much as a large sum. She was forced to give up the family home and died in 1984, aged 51, battling addiction, unaware that the project later turned into a global hit.

Justin, a Bafta-nominated historian film-maker, described The Wicker Man as “the movie that ruined my family”.

When someone reached out by a woman who had moved into his mother’s old house, inquiring if he wanted to collect the sacks of papers, his initial reaction was to suggest burning “all of it”.

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

Revelations from the Papers

Dominic, a scholar, said: “All the big players is represented. We found an original script by Shaffer, but with dad’s annotations as filmmaker, ‘controlling’ Shaffer’s overexuberance. Due to his legal background, he tended to overwrite and his father just went ‘edit, edit, edit’. They loved each other and hated each other.”

Writing the book has brought some “closure”, Justin stated.

Monetary Struggles

The family did not profit monetarily from the production, he explained: “This movie earned a fortune for others. It’s unfair. Dad accepted five grand. Thus, he missed out on any of the upside. Christopher Lee also did not get any money from it either, although he performed his role for zero, to leave Hammer [Horror films]. So, in many ways, it’s been a harsh experience.”