Movies
‘The Wicker Man’ Director Hunts Rare Footage For 40th Anniversary!
Director Robin Hardy has endorsed a worldwide appeal launched by StudioCanal to locate original film materials relating to the 1973 cult horror classic The Wicker Man.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the film about a policeman (Edward Woodward) sent to a remote island village in search of a missing girl, whom the townsfolk claim never existed. It also stars Christopher Lee.
StudioCanal intends to mark the occasion by releasing the “most complete version of the film possible”.
The Wicker Man was originally released with minimal promotion as the second feature in a double bill with Don’t Look Now.
The version exhibited to audiences was significantly shorter (88mins) than Hardy’s original vision (102mins)!
The negatives disappeared from storage at Shepperton Studios and were allegedly used as landfill in the construction of the nearby M4 motorway.
US director Roger Corman stil had a print of the full-length version – used for US theatrical release – but it has been missing since the 1980s and only poor quality 1” video material is known to exist of this version.
StudioCanal are now appealing to film collectors, historian, programmers and fans to come forward with any information relating to the protential whereabouts of original materials.
Hardy said: “I never thought that, after 40 years, they would still be finding lost fragments of my film. We thought all of The Wicker Man had gone up in flames, but fragments keep turning up and the hunt goes on.”
A special Facebook page has been created to serve as a forum for the search.
Ishana Night Shyamalan’s feature debut The Watchers is headed to theaters on June 7 from New Line Cinema, and the film has received its official MPA rating this week.
The Watchers is rated “PG-13” for…
“Violence, terror and some thematic elements.”
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
[Related] AreYouWatching.com: ‘The Watchers’ Interactive Website Is Full of Easter Eggs
The Watchers stars Dakota Fanning (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Georgina Campbell (Barbarian), Oliver Finnegan (“Creeped Out”) and Olwen Fouere (The Northman).
The upcoming mystery-horror film is produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan and Nimitt Mankad. The executive producers are Jo Homewood and Stephen Dembitzer.
Joining writer/director Shyamalan behind-the-camera are director of photography Eli Arenson (“Lamb,” “Hospitality”), production designer Ferdia Murphy (“Lola,” “Finding You”), editor Job ter Burg (“Benedetta,” “Elle”) and costume design by Frank Gallacher (“Sebastian,” “Aftersun”). The music is by Abel Korzeniowski (“Till,” “The Nun”).
The Watchers is based on the novel by A.M. Shine.
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