Director Robin Hardy on the Hunt for Lost Wicker Man Footage

Steve Barton   |  

May 10, 2013

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Robin Hardy’s 1973 cult horror classic The Wicker Man is gleefully strange and wonderful. There’s just no denying that. The good news? If Hardy has his way, we’ll be seeing a lot more of it to celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary.

That’s right; StudioCanal intends to restore and release the most complete version of the film from original materials… there’s just one hitch… they need YOUR help! The Wicker Man was originally released on a double bill in 1973 with the equally as spooky Don’t Look Now with a full 15 minutes excised from Hardy’s original vision. Even more perplexing – the negatives then disappeared from storage at Shepperton Studios and were apparently used as landfill in the construction of the M4 motorway.

StudioCanal is today launching an appeal to film fans, collectors, historians and the like to help find some of that original footage. Director Hardy is backing the effort, saying, “I never thought that, after 40 years, they would still be finding lost fragments of my film. We thought that all of The Wicker Man had gone up in flames, but fragments keep turning up and the hunt goes on.”

If you have, or know of anyone who has, any information, please hit up that above link.

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