Film Finances and The Wicker Man (1973)

This article explores the production history of the cult British horror film The Wicker Man (1973), drawing upon sources held by the Film Finances Archive. While most previous accounts of the making of The Wicker Man have been based on contemporary press coverage and interviews with surviving members of cast and crew, the Film Finances Archive includes a range of primary source materials – including production correspondence, scripts, budgets, schedules, progress reports and cost statements – which not only provide evidence of the film’s problematic production but also challenge some of the fan myths that have accumulated around the film. The article concludes that some of the alleged ‘lost’ or ‘missing’ scenes of The Wicker Man were in fact never completed during the chaotic shoot.