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A script written by the acclaimed writer and starring Christopher Lee and the lead actor could have been a dream project for filmmaker Robin Hardy during the production of The Wicker Man more than 50 years ago.

Even though it is now revered as an iconic horror film, the extent of misery it brought the production team has now been uncovered in newly discovered correspondence and script drafts.

The Plot of This Classic Film

The 1973 film revolves around a puritan police officer, 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. the actress was cast as the daughter of a local innkeeper, who seduces the God-fearing officer, with Lee as the pagan aristocrat.

Production Tensions Revealed

However, the working environment was frayed and fractious, the documents show. In a letter to Shaffer, Hardy stated: “How dare you handle me like this?”

Shaffer was already famous with acclaimed works such as Sleuth, but his script of The Wicker Man shows the director’s harsh edits to his work.

Heavy edits include the aristocrat’s dialogue in the final scene, originally starting: “The girl was only a small part – the visible element. Don’t blame yourself, it was impossible you could have known.”

Apart from the Creative Duo

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

In a letter to the producers, Hardy expressed frustration about the editor, Eric Boyd-Perkins: “I believe he likes the theme or style of the film … and feels that he is tired of it.”

In a correspondence, Lee described the film as “alluring and enigmatic”, even with “dealing with a talkative producer, a stressed screenwriter and an overpaid and hostile director”.

Forgotten Papers Found

An extensive correspondence relating to the film was part of six sack-loads of documents forgotten in the loft of the former home of the director’s spouse, his wife. There were also unpublished drafts, storyboards, on-set photographs and financial accounts, many of which show the struggles faced by the film-makers.

The director’s children Justin and Dominic, currently in their sixties, have drawn on the material for a forthcoming book, titled Children of The Wicker Man. The book uncovers the intense stress faced by the director throughout the production of the film – including a health crisis to financial ruin.

Personal Consequences

Initially, the movie failed commercially and, in the aftermath the disappointment, the director left his spouse and their children for a new life in America. Court documents reveal his wife as the film’s uncredited executive producer and that he owed her up to a large sum. She was forced to sell the family home and passed away in 1984, aged 51, suffering from alcoholism, never knowing that her film later turned into an international success.

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

When he was contacted by a resident who had moved into the former family home, asking whether he wanted to collect the documents, his first thought was to suggest burning “all of it”.

But afterward he and his brother examined the bags and understood the significance of their contents.

Insights from the Documents

Dominic, a scholar, said: “All the big players are in there. We found an original script by the writer, but with dad’s annotations as director, ‘controlling’ Shaffer’s overexuberance. Because he was formerly a barrister, Shaffer tended to overwrite and dad just went ‘edit, edit, edit’. They respected each other and hated each other.”

Compiling the publication provided some “resolution”, the son said.

Financial Struggles

The family did not profit financially from the film, he explained: “This movie earned so much money for other people. It’s beyond a joke. His father agreed to take a small fee. So he never received any of the upside. Christopher Lee also did not get any money from it as well, despite the fact that he did his role for no pay, to leave his previous studio. So, in many ways, it’s been a very unkind film.”