Q: It's reported you're working on a remake of Wicker Man, called The Riding Of The Laddie?
[Robin Hardy]: It's completely wrong to say it's a remake - I have asked Variety to print a retraction of that canard. But it's a film in the same genre as The Wicker Man (religious horror); it's no more a remake than all the cowboy films made after Shane.

Q: So who's in Laddie?
RH: It's set in the world of film fantastique and it shares a star with Wicker Man (Lee) in a major role. It has Sean Astin from The Lord Of The Rings as the young male lead; we've cast country singer Leanne Rhymes and Vanessa Redgrave will appear.

Ewan McGregor said he would like to play a cameo part after reading the script; it's a great part for him.

But whether his agent lets him do it, given his work on Star Wars...it'll probably depend on schedules. It would only be a 10-day shoot for Ewan.

Q: What's Laddie about?
RH: It's about a certain kind of American innocence abroad featuring two young born-again Christians. They've made a pact not to have sex before marriage, and they come over here like the Mormons and preach door-to-door.

It's a thriller; they get sucked into a dark world. We hope to start in September for a 2003 release.

April 18, 2002: According to Teletext (via Dark Horizons), Ewan MacGregor is considering starring in The Riding of the Laddie (also referred to as Riding the Laddie), along with already-confirmed Sean Astin, Christopher Lee, and Vanessa Redgrave. And concerning comparisons to The Wicker Man, Robin Hardy, director of both films, has this to say: "The original Wicker is really about Christianity and paganism. [Laddie] is not. The story is different, and it's got a different cast of characters."

March 21, 2002: A week ago, it was thought The Riding of the Laddie would be a sequel to The Wicker Man. Now it's been clarified, however, that Laddie is merely a followup in terms of plot ideas and tone. Following are two articles. The first is from March 21, 2002, is © 2002 Cahners Business Information and BASELINE Inc., and compares Laddie and the Wicker Man remake. The second is the original Scotsman article from March 11, 2002 (© 2002 scotsman.com).

'WICKER' HORROR WAR ERUPTS AS TWO REMAKES COMPETE
from BASELINE Inc. and Cahners Business Information

JONATHAN BING

Universal Pictures and StudioCanal plan to remake 1973 cult horror pic "The Wicker Man." So do thesp Christopher Lee and director Robin Hardy, part of the team behind the original "Wicker."

Which "Wicker" will be quicker?

U, which owns the title, has the upper hand. Nicolas Cage intends to star in and produce U's remake through his production shingle Saturn Films, along with partner Norm Golightly.

Neil LaBute is writing and directing U's adaptation, to be set in the contempo U.S. Also producing is Joanne Sellar, producer of Paul Thomas Anderson's three pics and "The Anniversary Party."

But Hardy has already written a script for a different version of "Wicker" called "The Riding of the Laddie," which he plans to shoot on location near Glasgow. Lee, who last played Saruman the White in "Lord of the Rings," has been recruiting a cast. Lee's "Rings" co-star Sean Astin is flirting with the project.

In the 1973 pic, Lee played Lord Summerisle, leader of a pagan community inhabiting a remote island off the west coast of Scotland. Story follows a prim mainland policeman (Edward Woodward) investigating the disappearance of a young girl, who's drawn into the island's Bacchanalian rituals.

"Laddie" will depart from the original in significant ways. Hardy told U.K newspaper the Scotsman that Lee will play the naif, in this case a door-to-door, born-again preacher who comes to Scotland with his wife, adding that Vanessa Redgrave was in line to play the wife.

"In 'The Wicker Man,' " Hardy said, "you think it's quite possible that Howie (the police officer) will triumph -- the police usually do. In 'The Laddie,' you know, for pretty damn sure, that something ghastly is going to happen."

U's version has been in development for years. Originally released by National General Films in the U.S. and British Lion in the U.K., title was in the Canal Plus film library before Sellar optioned it and set it up at U.

"I have been passionate about the original for years," said Sellar. "I couldn't be happier about working with Neil. He has the ideal sensibility for this project."

Cage and Golightly recently teamed with U on Alan Parker's "The Life of David Gale." Cage also just wrapped his directorial debut, "Sonny," for Gold Circle Films.

The original "Wicker" has gained some visibility recently, thanks to a DVD release of the pic including the original version, a version with 11 minutes restored, a theatrical trailer and a docu.

There's even a Wicker Man festival set for July 19-20 in Galloway, where the original pic was shot, featuring screenings, live music and the immolation of giant wicker men.

copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information and BASELINE Inc.

Can the sequel match Wicker Man?
Brian Pendreigh

The team behind the cult movie The Wicker Man is returning to Scotland for a belated follow-up which is set to recapture the chilling atmosphere that led to the original being dubbed "the Citizen Kane of horror".

Christopher Lee, who played the pagan lord in the original, which was filmed in Scotland, will be back in The Riding of the Laddie, along with Vanessa Redgrave. And they could be sharing the screen with two of the brightest young talents in showbiz.

Lee brings with him Sean Astin, his American co-star in the current international blockbuster The Lord of the Rings, and discussions are under way with country-and-western singer LeAnn Rimes to complete the principal casting. She has acted on American television and appeared in the film Coyote Ugly.

Filming is scheduled for September, almost exactly 30 years after The Wicker Man was filmed, with locations in the Borders and Glasgow area, as well as Oklahoma.

In the earlier film, a policeman, played by Edward Woodward, visits a remote Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a young girl and discovers a strange pagan community, populated by an international cast including Lee, Britt Ekland and Ingrid Pitt.

The Wicker Man screened as the bottom half of a double-bill in 1974, but has acquired a huge cult following in recent years. It has been the source of countless rumours and myths, including suggestions that Rod Stewart wanted to burn the negative to stop anyone from seeing girlfriend Ekland’s bottom, even though it was a body double and the negative had long been missing anyway.

The film has been the subject of a book and several documentaries and a "director’s cut" will be released on DVD in April.

The latest development is an open-air Wicker Man festival and up to 5,000 people are expected at East Kirkcarsewell Farm, near Dundrennan, in Galloway, on 19-20 July, for screenings, bands and the burning of two giant wicker men.

"It will be like a mini-Glastonbury," said organiser Sid Ambrose.

Stiff Little Fingers are among likely acts and it is hoped the festival will become an annual event.

The film’s chilling climax stems from Julius Caesar’s accounts of the Gallic wars and claims that Druids burned prisoners inside wicker men as a ritual sacrifice. Scotland was chosen as the film’s setting because of its fundamentalist religious sects and remote communities. Although set on an island, it was shot mainly in Galloway.

The Riding of the Laddie takes its name from the Riding of the Marches, the security check on an area’s boundaries, which dates from ancient times and survives in ceremonial form in many parts of Scotland.

The Riding of the Laddie is not strictly a sequel to The Wicker Man - the characters are different - but it will have the same director, producer and star, and a similar plot about sinister goings-on.

"Christopher is a magus figure and Vanessa is his wife," said writer-director Robin Hardy. "The two Americans are born again Christians, who happen to come to Scotland to do door-to-door preaching, like the Mormons.

"In The Wicker Man, you think it’s quite possible that Howie [the policeman] is going to triumph - the police usually do. In The Laddie, you know, for pretty damn sure, that something ghastly is going to happen. But you don’t know when, and you don’t know where, and you don’t know how."

Hardy revealed that there will be a major hunt sequence, although the hunters seem unlikely to settle for animal quarry.

"It’s a fantastic story," said Lee. He believes it possesses the same exotic, erotic and thrilling ingredients that made The Wicker Man a classic, but that it could be even better.

Lee is 80 this year, but the actor who became a star as Dracula more than 40 years ago, is enjoying a revival with major roles in The Lord of the Rings and the next Star Wars film.

Scottish Screen, the official film agency, is treating the project very seriously.

"We would obviously be delighted if the production could come to fruition," said Kevin Cowle, who is in charge of the locations office. "It will be wonderful to see how the concept of the original film is adapted."

It was during the protracted production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand that Lee passed the script to Sean Astin. Their roles in that particular epic, of evil wizard Saruman and plucky hobbit Sam Gamgee, may just be a foretaste of what is to come in The Riding of the Laddie.

Most of the filming for the original was carried out near Newton Stewart, with some scenes on the Isle of Skye. The Ellangowan Hotel at Creetown provided the key interiors for the bar of the Summerisle pub - the Green Man - in the film, with other filming for graveyard and maypole scenes being done at Anwoth Kirk by Gatehouse, about six miles away.

March 14, 2002: Although it was mentioned at least as early as April of 2000, the Dark Horizons news yesterday (originally from The Scotsman) was the first I've heard of a sequel to the venerable Wicker Man, one of my favorite films. Without much to go on, other than the fact that the film will shoot this year in Scotland and Oklahoma, all I can say is that I look forward to finding out more.