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The Wicker Man
Directed by: Neil LaBute
Written by: Neil LaBute, Robin Hardy
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski
Studio: Warner Bros
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: TBA 2006 (wide)
Nicolas Cage in the upcoming "The Wicker Man". Director Neil LaBute's "The Wicker Man", is a remake of Robin Hardy's 1973 thriller. LaBute directs the movie for which he also has written the adaptation for.
The Wicker Man – Trailer links
Zip
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr.zip
Quicktime
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr_hi.mov
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr_med.mov
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr_lo.mov
Windows Media
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr_hi.wmv
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr_med.wmv
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr_lo.wmv
Real Player
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr_hi.rm
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr_med.rm
http://greenroom-press.com/clients/Lionsgate/theatrical/the_wickerman/movies/wicker_trlr_lo.rm
A NEIL LABUTE FILM
 Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage stars in The Wicker Man, a reimagining of the now iconic 70s cult classic. Written and directed by Neil LaBute, The Wicker Man also stars Academy Award-winner Ellen Burstyn, Kate Beahan, Leelee Sobieski, Molly Parker and Frances Conroy. Detective Edward Malus (NICOLAS CAGE) flies to Summersisle, a remote island off the Washington coast, following a lead in the search for his friend’s missing daughter. The Summersisle residents, living a seemingly idyllic, pastoral way of life are wary of the stranger among them, and Malus very soon finds nothing on this mysterious island is what it appears to be. As his search intensifies he discovers the terrifying truth about their ancient belief system.
The trailer can be viewed at http://thewickermanmovie.warnerbros.com/ NuImage/Millennium Films, Emmett Furla Films, Saturn Films, Equity Pictures Medienfonds and Nu Image Entertainment GmbH present Wicker Man. Nicolas Cage, Randall Emmett, Boaz Davidson, John Thompson and Norm Golightly are producers. Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Danny Dimbort, Joanne Sellar, George Furla, Andreas Thiesmeyer, Josef Lautenschlager, Gerd Koechlin and Manfred Heid are executive producers. Shawn Williamson is co-producer and Brad Van Arragon is line producer. Joel Plotch is editor. Phillip Barker is production designer. Paul Sarossy is director of photography. Wicker Man is written and directed by Neil LaBute and will be released in the UK/Eire on 1st September.
Thanks Warner Brothers for the great photos, links and information!
Director to sue over Hollywood's new 'Wicker Man'
 A Hollywood remake of the British cinema classic The Wicker Man is causing a furore among the team that created the original movie. One of its stars has branded it "a crime", while the first film's director, Robin Hardy, has called in lawyers in an attempt to distance himself from the new production. The original film, recently voted the greatest cult movie of all time, is the latest in a growing list of US revamps for well-loved British movies. Alfie, The Italian Job and Get Carter have also been given an overhaul.
The £20m remake will be released later this year with action hero Nicolas Cage in its leading role and set not on a remote Hebridean community, like the original, but on an island off the US mainland. Mr Hardy called in legal help when he found his name was being trailed as one of the screenwriters for the new production, fearing it would jeopardise his own future production. He is preparing a new film, Cowboys for Christ, which will reunite some of the team from his film.
Ingrid Pitt, one of the original stars, said: "I think it is terrible. I can't stand the idea of a new version it. I won't be seeing it. I think it's a crime." Originally released in 1973, The Wicker Man was hated by the studio that backed it and was lucky to get a release. It eventually emerged as a B-movie supporting Nicolas Roeg's thriller Don't Look Now, but word-of-mouth interest made it a sleeper hit.
Vast swaths of footage were cast on the cutting room floor to bring it in at a manageable length, giving the film even greater cult status among devotees who became intrigued by the lost scenes. Neil LaBute, director and writer of the new version, has defended his decision to rejig the story, saying: "I always loved the movie and I loved the script in particular, but I never thought that it was completed so well that it couldn't be touched again." But Mr Hardy said: "This is a very strange one to remake. I wouldn't have wanted to do it. The script is so difficult to adapt."
Jake Wright, Mr Hardy's assistant director, said: "I feel rather sorry they are doing it. The original was just so, well, original... I just don't think it will be very good. I can't imagine what they could do with it really. Edward Woodward was just so right in the lead role." In the remake, Christopher Lee's character, Lord Summerisle, is replaced by the head of a matriarchal society, played by Ellen Burstyn, and the action is set off the coast of Maine. Steve Phillips, who runs a website devoted to The Wicker Man, said: "It will be intriguing to see how they have tackled this, because so much of it is rooted in British folklore."
A Hollywood remake of the British cinema classic The Wicker Man is causing a furore among the team that created the original movie. One of its stars has branded it "a crime", while the first film's director, Robin Hardy, has called in lawyers in an attempt to distance himself from the new production. The original film, recently voted the greatest cult movie of all time, is the latest in a growing list of US revamps for well-loved British movies. Alfie, The Italian Job and Get Carter have also been given an overhaul. The £20m remake will be released later this year with action hero Nicolas Cage in its leading role and set not on a remote Hebridean community, like the original, but on an island off the US mainland.
Mr Hardy called in legal help when he found his name was being trailed as one of the screenwriters for the new production, fearing it would jeopardise his own future production. He is preparing a new film, Cowboys for Christ, which will reunite some of the team from his film. Ingrid Pitt, one of the original stars, said: "I think it is terrible. I can't stand the idea of a new version it. I won't be seeing it. I think it's a crime." Originally released in 1973, The Wicker Man was hated by the studio that backed it and was lucky to get a release. It eventually emerged as a B-movie supporting Nicolas Roeg's thriller Don't Look Now, but word-of-mouth interest made it a sleeper hit. Vast swaths of footage were cast on the cutting room floor to bring it in at a manageable length, giving the film even greater cult status among devotees who became intrigued by the lost scenes.
Neil LaBute, director and writer of the new version, has defended his decision to rejig the story, saying: "I always loved the movie and I loved the script in particular, but I never thought that it was completed so well that it couldn't be touched again." But Mr Hardy said: "This is a very strange one to remake. I wouldn't have wanted to do it. The script is so difficult to adapt." Jake Wright, Mr Hardy's assistant director, said: "I feel rather sorry they are doing it. The original was just so, well, original... I just don't think it will be very good. I can't imagine what they could do with it really. Edward Woodward was just so right in the lead role."
In the remake, Christopher Lee's character, Lord Summerisle, is replaced by the head of a matriarchal society, played by Ellen Burstyn, and the action is set off the coast of Maine. Steve Phillips, who runs a website devoted to The Wicker Man, said: "It will be intriguing to see how they have tackled this, because so much of it is rooted in British folklore."
 The Wicker Man...
an insidious 1973 horror film set in Scotland and originally starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Brit Ekland, is one of those cult classics that really is a “cult classic”. It is available on DVD, but you hardly ever see it on television and it seldom makes “10 Best” lists. The story follows a pious police sergeant who follows the clues connecting a missing girl’s disappearance to a remote island inhabited by the members of a sinister pagan cult. In the updated version, directed by Neil LaBute and starring Nicolas Cage in the lead role, the godless ones are ultra-feminized. “It’s these women and they cut off men’s ... you know… their husband’s tongues,” Sobieski explained.
The Wicker Man is now set in America and while she admits it’s “dangerous to remake a classic” she also said, “I haven't seen the original. I would love to see it, but I'm going to wait.” She likes the idea of doing something “fresh and original” with the existing story. Sobieski went on to say that one of her favorite scenes to shoot in the film involved some ax-play. When her character, Honey, meets the sheriff for the first time she is chopping wood. “I'm holding this ax, and I'm talking the entire time he's asking me questions. I'm kind of twirling this ax around, and there’s something that's a little tiny bit off. It gives you a little bit of a shiver down your back.”
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Warners gets WICKER
Warner Bros. will be releasing the company’s remake of THE WICKER MAN next year. Written and directed by Neil LaBute, the film stars Nicolas Cage as a sheriff who travels to a remote island in search of his missing daughter. There he discovers that the female residents are part of a cult who engage in strange sexual rituals. In the trade, Nu Image/Millennium’s Boaz Davidson had this to say about the project:
“Because it was a remake, we spent a lot of time in developing the script. The original movie took place in another time and era, and we wanted to adapt it for a newer audience. So we went through a lot of stages—because it’s kind of a tricky script—working very closely with Neil. This was quite different from his other movies. He’s never done a remake before, and I don’t think that he’s really done a genre movie before, especially anything as scary as this.” WICKER MAN co-stars Ellen (THE EXORCIST) Burstyn, Leelee (JOYRIDE) Sobieski, Molly (INTENSITY) Parker and Frances (SIX FEET UNDER) Conroy. —Michael Gingold
CAGE 'DISTURBED' BY WICKER MAN
NICOLAS CAGE was thrilled to be offered a part in the upcoming remake of the 1973 horror classic THE WICKER MAN, because the original movie haunted him for weeks. Cage, 41, was introduced to ROBERT HARDY's chilling film by late punk star JOHNNY RAMONE, and he was never the same again.
He says, "My late friend Johnny Ramone invited me to come over and see this movie The Wicker Man. "I was extremely disturbed by it and it stayed with me for a couple of weeks."
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Wicker Man director fired up over remake
9-13-05
Robin Hardy, the director of The Wicker Man, is dissociating himself from the Hollywood remake currently in the works, and has demanded that his name be removed from all promotional material. A new version of the British cult horror film is under way in Vancouver, starring Nicolas Cage as the detective investigating the disappearance of a young girl in an isolated community. Requiem for a Dream actor Ellen Burstyn plays the local cult leader, Christopher Lee's part in the 1973 original.
I don't quite understand what they are doing," Hardy told the Scotland on Sunday newspaper. "It appears that not only is the lady involved, but there are also attacks by killer bees, which sounds like a really old-style horror film." The remake credits him as screenwriter for the 1973 original, although Anthony Shaffer actually wrote the script. "I have had to have my lawyers call them, not because I particularly care, but it is clearly wrong that it should be out on websites and in the trades and everything," Hardy said. The film is directed by Neil LaBute, known for Nurse Betty and caustic psychodramas Your Friends & Neighbors and In The Company of Men, and is due for release next year.
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Wicker Wins Over Two
8-11-05
 
Ellen Burstyn and Leelee Sobieski have been added to the cast of the Nicolas Cage-starring remake. Nicolas Cage has been attached for some time, and now Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn and Leelee Sobieski are joining the cast of Neil LaBute's remake of the 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man. Millennium Films is producing the project with Equity Pictures and Emmett/Furla Films. The film is currently shooting in Vancouver.
Wicker Man centers on a cop (Cage) investigating the disappearance of a young girl in a small, cult-like community. Burstyn, an Oscar winner for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, will star as the cult leader, while Sobieski will play a bartender and confidant to the Cage character. Cage and his Saturn Films partner Norm Golightly are producing with John Thompson, Boaz Davidson and Randall Emmett, while Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort and George Furla will be the executive producers.
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 Beahan in right place
8-9-05
AUSTRALIAN actor Kate Beahan has landed her first Hollywood leading role, starring opposite Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man. Beahan, who got her big break in Chopper opposite Eric Bana, plays Willow, the ex-fiancee and love interest of Cage's character. The remake of the classic 1973 film is being shot in Vancouver and directed by Neil LaBute.
"The film is a remake of a 1970s British film which enjoys somewhat of a cult following," Beahan said from Los Angeles. "The film bears resemblance to the original and explores some of the same themes but will be executed very differently." A policeman investigating the disappearance of a young girl from a remote island discovers a larger mystery among the island's neo-pagan community
Edward Woodward starred in the original Wicker Man and will appear in the remake. The suspense thriller began production last month.
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Beahan's big break
8-5-05
Eric Bana as Chopper and Kate Beahan as Tabya in Chopper.
Photo
Eric Bana as Chopper and Kate Beahan as Tabya in Chopper. Australian actor Kate Beahan has landed her first Hollywood leading role, starring opposite Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man. The remake of the classic 1973 film is being shot in Vancouver with director Neil LaBute at the helm.
"The film is a remake of a 1970s British film by the same name which enjoys somewhat of a cult following," Beahan, who got her big break in Chopper opposite Eric Bana, said from Los Angeles. "The film bears resemblance to the original and explores some of the same themes but will be executed very differently."
Edward Woodward starred in the original Wicker Man and will appear in the remake. The original also starred Britt Ekland, Christopher Lee and Australian actor Diane Cilento. The suspense thriller began production last month, telling the story of Sheriff Edward Malus (Cage) as he investigates the disappearance of a young girl on a remote island off the coast of Maine.
Things and people are not as they seem on the island and when Sheriff Malus discovers evidence of pagan rituals, his hope of unraveling the girl's disappearance become increasingly uncertain. Beahan plays Willow, Malus' ex-fiancee and love interest. "I auditioned for a different part and the director thought I might be better suited to the part of Willow so we pursued that," Beahan said.
"It was quite a fast process, all things considered." LaBute's previous work includes In the Company of Men, Nurse Betty and Possession. "Neil is such an interesting director and I am enjoying working with him very much," Beahan said.
Beahan is definitely an Aussie actor to watch in the coming year, with three major Hollywood films to be released. She will be seen in support roles in the upcoming thriller Flightplan opposite Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard and Sean Bean and an untitled thriller with Sarah-Michelle Gellar. Beahan's television credits include Water Rats, Young Lions, After the Deluge and Love is a Four Letter Word.
Sorce
The Stax Report: Script Review of The Wicker Man
6-29-05
First look at the remake set to star Nicolas Cage.- Stax here with a review of the screenplay for The Wicker Man! This long-in-development project, written and to be directed by Neil LaBute (Nurse Betty), will finally go before cameras next month in Vancouver. Nicolas Cage stars. The film is based on the 1973 cult classic of the same name, although LaBute recently said that his version may be retitled simply Wicker Man. The teaser poster can be seen to your right; click on it for a larger version.
There will be some SPOILERS in this review but it's necessary when contrasting this version with the original. I'll try to be on my best behavior. LaBute's Wicker Man screenplay is largely faithful in plot and structure to the original film but with some notable alterations to the main character and to the community he encounters. As in the 1973 film, this story follows a cop (Cage) sent to the remote island of SummerIsle to investigate the disappearance of a little girl after receiving a letter apparently from the child's mother. What the pious policeman finds is a bizzare community whose curious religious practices may be the cause of the girl's disappearance ... if she is indeed missing or dead. The cop's investigation leads to some incendiary conclusions.
That's the plot of both the original film and this remake in a nutshell. In this draft, SummerIsle (that's how it's spelled here) is no longer an isolated Scottish habitation but rather an off-limits private island in Puget Sound. The cop, named Sgt. Howie in the original, is now Edward Malus. Sgt. Howie was written by screenwriter Anthony Shaffer as a sanctimonious, sexually repressed powder keg; Howie was a virgin whose self-control and lofty convictions were tested by SummerIsle's more comely residents (namely Britt Ekland). The original Wicker Man was essentially a cautionary tale about one religious zealot running afoul of an entire group of them. It's labeled a horror film but it was far more cerebral fare, a character study with creepy (and sometimes very trippy) elements rather than an all-out scarefest (its ending was the most gripping part). The film's tension stemmed from Sgt. Howie's fire-and-brimstone authoritarianism and stifling self-discipline contrasted with the sensual nature of the inhabitants of SummerIsle. In other words, we knew these people were getting to him and we wanted to see what effect they would have on Howie.
My problems with this draft all stem from the changes made to the main character. Malus isn't anywhere near as intense or conflicted as Howie; indeed, compared to him, Malus is a relative dork. He is allergic to bee stings and carries his bee sting kit with him when he travels to SummerIsle (along with his rosary beads and self-help tapes). He is a California cop out removed to this isolated Washington community. His very modern manner contrasts with the simplicity of the locals; think Witness but if it were remade as horror-lite. As LaBute himself has already revealed in interviews, this protagonist is not a virgin. Apparently, contemporary audiences will believe that there is a community in North America where residents makes offerings to a giant "wicker man" but they won't buy a hero who hasn't done the deed. Maybe he's right. Unfortunately, transforming the main character into an adult version of Macauley Culkin's character from My Girl robs the story of what gave the original film so much of its impact.
Malus isn't nearly the threat to SummerIsle that Howie was, and they don't seem to get under his skin as much as the villagers did in the '73 version. Without that contrast there isn't as much tension, making the story basically a whodunit (and then later a whydunit). The biggest threat to the hero in the original film was what they were going to do to him (there are worse things than sex, Howie!). That wasn't so much the case in this draft, which was ironic considering this SummerIsle is a matriarchal society and thus there are far more women for the hero to encounter. Lord Summerisle (played by a bewigged Christopher Lee) is now Sister SummerIsle. The residents' most important crop is honey (hence, a lot of bee imagery and Malus' allergies to them). The missing girl's name is Rowan Woodward, which makes for a nice nod to the star of the original film, Edward Woodward. Edward (Malus), (Rowan) Woodward ... get it? There's a twist to Rowan's character that goes well beyond what happened in the first movie but I won't divulge it.
Whereas the denizens of Shaffer's SummerIsle worshipped Celtic gods, these inhabitants, as LaBute has said, have more of a "Dionysian vibe." They are out to appease the gods of nature, making them more earthy crunchy rather than wanton pagans as in the original (but they retain the "wicker man" ritual). Like the 1973 film, I found this story more interesting than chilling, more curious than creepy. However, it lacked the key ingredients that made the original film so compelling, namely the extraordinary sexual and religious tension between the cop and the townsfolk. Maybe that will be more apparent in the final film but this Wicker Man came across as a surprisingly lukewarm retelling. – STAX
CHECK IT OUT
The Wicker Man: First Look
6-2-05
Teaser Poster for Neil Labute's remake of THE WICKER MAN with Nick Cage!
Some are all over the place regarding the very concept of a remake of THE WICKER MAN. First off, it is Neil Labute, so that's reason enough to be very interested and hopeful. Second off, THE WICKER MAN is one of the most absolutely perfect and most unique cult films in the history of film and while it could be made more realistic, but that's not the point of THE WICKER MAN. THE WICKER MAN is more about insanity, madness and lunacy. Here's the teaser poster image for the new film... check it out...
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"THE WICKER MAN"
Starring Nicolas Cage for director Neil LaBute ("IN THE COMPANY OF MEN") is set to begin principal photography on July 15, 2005.
Another Cage movie? YES!
3-7-05
Cage to star in Wicker Man remake
Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage is to star in a remake of the 1970s horror classic The Wicker Man. Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland and Christopher Lee starred in the original which had earned a cult following over the years. Cage will take on Woodward's role of a police officer who arrives in a sheltered community to investigate the disappearance of a young girl with some chilling consequences.
While the original was set on the remote Scottish Island of Summer Isle, this update will relocate the action to a small town off the coast of Maine. Fans of the original are unlikely to be impressed.
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Nicolas Cage Joins Family Room Entertainment With ``THE WICKER MAN''
3-4-05
Nicolas Cage has signed to star in "THE WICKER MAN" for writer/director Neil LaBute. The picture is scheduled to begin filming in Vancouver in mid-July. This announcement follows Family Room's announcement last week (February 25, 2005) that it had been diligently developing and packaging new projects to announce in the near future. "THE WICKER MAN" is the first of those projects to be announced.
The suspense thriller by Neil LaBute ("IN THE COMPANY OF MEN" & "NURSE BETTY") is a remake of the 1973 UK cult classic. "THE WICKER MAN" follows the story of Sheriff Edward Malus (NICOLAS CAGE) as he investigates the disappearance of a young girl on a remote island off the coast of Maine. Things and people are not as they seem on the island and when Sheriff Malus discovers evidence of pagan rituals his hope of unraveling the girl's disappearance become increasingly uncertain.
Co-chairmen Randall Emmett and George Furla stated: "We are excited to be working with Neil and Nick on `THE WICKER MAN.' Everyone on board has expressed how excited they are to be making a very scary and commercial movie, and we are very pleased that Family Room is a part of this project."
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