"A screenplay by one of the UK's foremost writers, Anthony Shaffer, and a cast headed by Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward should have been the stuff of dreams for the director Robin Hardy in filming The Wicker Man more than half a century ago. Although it is today revered as a cult horror masterpiece, the extent of the misery that it brought the film-makers has now been revealed in previously unpublished letters and script drafts."
"The 1973 film is about a puritan police officer, played by Woodward, who arrives on a remote Scottish island in search of a missing girl, only to encounter sinister local pagans who deny she ever existed. Britt Ekland was cast as an innkeeper's sexually liberated daughter, who seduces the God-fearing officer, with Lee as Lord Summerisle, a pagan aristocrat. Hardy made many edits to Shaffer's proposed script of Lord Summerisle's lines in the film's final scenes."
The Wicker Man (1973) assembled top talent including writer Anthony Shaffer, director Robin Hardy, Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward but endured intense behind-the-scenes conflict. Previously unpublished letters and script drafts reveal Hardy made extensive cuts to Shaffer's script, notably Lord Summerisle's final lines. Tensions extended among producers, the editor, and cast, with personal complaints and accusations of self-indulgence and hostility. The film's plot centers on a puritan police officer arriving on a remote Scottish island to seek a missing girl and encountering pagan locals who insist she never existed. Despite turmoil, the film achieved cult horror status.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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