Previously unpublished letters and script drafts have revealed the extent of the creative tensions behind the making of the 1973 cult horror film The Wicker Man. The documents, discovered in sacks in the attic of the former home of director Robin Hardy’s third wife, Caroline, show a fractious relationship between Hardy and the film’s writer, Anthony Shaffer.
In one letter, Hardy wrote to Shaffer: “How dare you treat me like this?” Shaffer, known for works such as Sleuth, had his script heavily cut by Hardy, including lines for Christopher Lee’s character Lord Summerisle in the final scene. One producer described Shaffer as “self-indulgent”, while Hardy complained about the film’s editor, saying he “doesn’t like the subject or style of the picture”.
Christopher Lee, who starred in the film, called it “alluring and mysterious” despite “having to cope with a garrulous producer, an underpaid and harassed writer and an overpaid and hostile director”. The film, which initially flopped at the box office, later gained a reputation as a masterpiece of British horror.
Hardy’s sons, Justin and Dominic, have used the material for a forthcoming book, Children of The Wicker Man. It reveals that Hardy suffered a heart attack and bankruptcy during production, and that he abandoned his wife and children for a new life in the US after the film’s failure. Legal letters show that Caroline Hardy, who died in 1984, was the film’s uncredited executive producer and was owed up to £1m in today’s money.
Justin Hardy, a Bafta-nominated historian, described The Wicker Man as “the film that messed up my family”. He initially wanted to burn the papers when contacted about them, but later realised their significance. Dominic Hardy said: “All the big players are in there … They sort of loved each other and hated each other.” He added that neither his father nor Christopher Lee ever received financial benefits from the film’s later success.
