UK writer-director Justin Hardy has died aged 61, just weeks before the premiere of his new feature Wrath Of The Gods.
Hardy, the son of The Wicker Man director Robin Hardy, died on Friday night (July 31) after suffering a heart attack, according to his family. Collaborators and relatives have spoken of their shock at his passing and the family are said to have been “devastated” by the loss.
The upcoming film, which Justin wrote and directed, is set to premiere in London at FrightFest on August 28. The screening will now also serve as a celebration of Hardy’s life and work.
Wrath Of The Gods marks the third and concluding part in the Wicker Man trilogy that started with 1973’s cult horror The Wicker Man, starring Christopher Lee. Filmmaker Robin Hardy, who also directed 2011 follow-up The Wicker Tree, died in July 2016.
Justin and his half-brother Dominic Hardy wrote Wrath Of The Gods, based on their father’s concept and ideas. It is a folk tale inspired by Norse mythology. A grieving widow returns to Hel Island to bury her late husband after his death by suicide, but the locals turn on her for being a symbol of bad luck and evil. Francis Magee stars alongside Christiane Schaldemose.
The producers are Chris Nunn and Alison Palmer for Hardy Pictures and the film was shot on location on Shetland.
Speaking to ScreenDaily in May, Hardy recalled being sent six sacks of material that had been left in an attic by his mother, Caroline Hardy, “who wanted shot of my father and his stupid film, The Wicker Man, that was clearly going to make no money.”
This treasure trove of storyboards, legal documents, letters and lost creative materials had been sent by the new owner of the former family home.
“There was a lot of stuff relating to The Wicker Man in there but also relating to his ideas for a final film,” Hardy explained of the origins to Wrath Of The Gods.
Justin and Dominic went on to make documentary Children Of The Wicker Man, exploring the upheaval and pain that their father’s obsession with The Wicker Man caused his family. The documentary, which premiered at FrightFest in 2024, will be released in UK cinemas on October 23. They also wrote a book with the same title.
Born in London, Hardy was an award-winning director whose debut feature was A Feast At Midnight (1994), a family comedy about a boy at a boarding school who creates a secret culinary society. Its eclectic cast included Christopher Lee, Robert Hardy and Michael Gove.
Further features included 2015’s Captain Webb, about the first Englishman to swim the English Channel, to his debut feature
Hardy had several TV credits to this name, including historical drama Trafalgar: Battle Surgeon for Channel 4, which co-starred Francis Macgee and Roger Daltrey. He also co-wrote and directed 2007’s The Relief Of Belsen, which was Bafta-nominated and won a Broadcast Award.
An author and academic, he recently co-wrote the book The Filmmaker As Historian: The Age Of Liberal Revolution On Screen, with historian Laurence Brockliss. He also taught screenwriting at University College, London.
The Wrath Of The Gods is dedicated to his mother, Caroline, who died in 1984, aged 51, little knowing that the film she had supported without credit for so long had become a global success. The film’s original distributor, British Lion, notoriously bungled the film’s release in the early 1970s and allowed it to fall into obscurity before it was later reclaimed as a horror classic.
“Justin was a filmmaker with a real pedigree, earning Bafta and Emmy nominations for his work,” said Laurence Gornall, CEO of Unannounced Film Company, international sales agent of Wrath Of The Gods and UK distributor of Children Of The Wicker Man.
“Children Of The Wicker Man is moving and emotional, and his final film, Wrath Of The Gods, is an epic journey into his father’s legacy which he approached with tremendous energy and usual imagination.”
He is survived by his wife Larissa, and their four children.
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