The Wicker Tree Oklahoma. However, Hardy was ultimately unable to secure funding, and the film was cancelled. He then adapted his screenplay into a novel, which was published as "Cowboys for Christ". Hardy felt that writing the novel gave him a much clearer idea of what he wanted to do, and he eventually adapted the novel into the screenplay which was used for "The Wicker Tree". Originally Hardy wrote the part of Sir Lachlan Morrison for Christopher Lee, who played Lord Summerisle in "The Wicker Man". While filming the newest Hammer production "The Resident" in New Mexico, Lee injured his back when he
The Wicker Man Shaffer, and they agreed to work together. Film director Robin Hardy and British Lion head Peter Snell became involved in the project. Shaffer had a series of conversations with Hardy, and the two decided that it would be fun to make a horror film centering on "old religion", in sharp contrast to the Hammer films they had both seen as horror film fans. Shaffer read the David Pinner novel "Ritual", in which a devout Christian policeman is called to investigate what appears to be the ritual murder of a young girl in a rural village, and decided that it would