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A screenplay written by the acclaimed writer and starring Christopher Lee and the lead actor should have been a dream project for filmmaker Robin Hardy while the filming of The Wicker Man over 50 years ago.

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revered as a cult horror masterpiece, the extent of turmoil it brought the film-makers is now uncovered in previously unpublished letters and early versions of the script.

The Storyline of This Classic Film

The 1973 film revolves around a puritan police officer, portrayed by the actor, who travels on a remote Scottish island in search of a missing girl, only to encounter sinister local pagans who claim she ever existed. Britt Ekland appeared as the daughter of a local innkeeper, who tempts the God-fearing officer, with Lee as Lord Summerisle.

Production Tensions Uncovered

But the creative atmosphere was frayed and contentious, the documents show. In a message to Shaffer, the director wrote: “How could you treat me like this?”

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

Heavy edits feature Summerisle’s lines in the ending, which would have begun: “The child was but the tip of the iceberg – the part that showed. Do not reproach yourself, it was impossible for you to know.”

Beyond the Creative Duo

Tensions boiled over beyond the writer and director. One of the producers commented: “Shaffer’s talent was marred by a self-indulgence that drove him to prove himself overly smart.”

In a letter to the production team, the director complained about the editor, the editing specialist: “I believe he likes the theme or approach of the picture … and thinks that he is tired of it.”

In a correspondence, Christopher Lee described the movie as “alluring and enigmatic”, despite “having to cope with a garrulous producer, an underpaid and harassed writer and an overpaid and hostile director”.

Forgotten Papers Found

A large collection of letters relating to the film was part of multiple bags of papers left in the attic of the old house of Hardy’s third wife, Caroline. There were also unpublished drafts, visual plans, production photos and financial accounts, many of which show the challenges experienced by the team.

Hardy’s sons his two sons, currently in their sixties, used these documents for an upcoming publication, called Children of The Wicker Man. The book uncovers the intense stress on the director during the making of the film – from his heart attack to financial ruin.

Family Fallout

At first, the movie failed commercially and, following the disappointment, Hardy abandoned his spouse and his family for a new life in the US. Legal letters reveal Caroline as the film’s uncredited executive producer and that Hardy owed her as much as £1m in today’s money. She had to sell the family home and passed away in 1984, in her fifties, suffering from alcoholism, unaware that her film later turned into an international success.

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

When someone reached out by a woman living in the former family home, asking whether he wanted to retrieve the sacks of papers, his first thought was to propose burning “all of it”.

But afterward he and his stepbrother Dominic opened up the sacks and understood the significance of their contents.

Revelations from the Papers

His brother, a scholar, said: “All the big players are in there. We discovered the first draft by the writer, but with dad’s annotations as filmmaker, ‘containing’ the writer’s excess. Because he was formerly a barrister, he did a lot of overexplaining and dad just went ‘edit, edit, edit’. They loved each other and clashed frequently.”

Writing the book provided some “resolution”, the son stated.

Monetary Hardships

The family never benefited financially from the production, he added: “The bloody film earned so much money for others. It’s beyond a joke. His father agreed to take a small fee. So he never received the profits. The actor never received payment from it as well, although he performed his role for zero, to get out of Hammer [Horror films]. So, in many ways, it was a harsh experience.”