Kermode Uncut: Farewell Edward Woodward

Having met the man and shared a few memorable moments with him, I thought it might be appropriate to share some memories of the late, great Edward Woodward, the widely loved star of that extraordinary 1970s British horror masterpiece, The Wicker Man.

Category:

Film & Animation

[Flipflopab]

Nice tribute Mark. A really touching tribute. I knew you'd do a tribute

[sinbad0910]

"Oh Jesus Christ!" that line will stick in my head forever, I never normally say this about stars I've never met but R.I.P Edward Woodward.

[poetryreincarnations]

Wow that was realy special what a wonderful tribute by the brilliant Mark Kermode for the great Edward Woodward forever to be remembered for The Wicker man and Callan and numerous other great parts

[EloiseDecember]

I loved him with the Scotch accent in the Wicker man. For me too he made the film.

[BobCratchit1843]

I loved his powerful performance in A Christmas Carol 84'.

[Filmzie]

I really loved him in Hot Fuzz probably because it was the first role i actually saw of his.

[dickyhart]

thank you! mark. Edward was my favourite actor ever, and you summed him up, Im sory it took me so long to find this.

[djslipdisk]

RIP Edward Woodward

A fantastic actor and all round good fella.

[TulseLuper]

@randomdave30 That would be interesting, for sure. But to be fair to Cage, that script was a disaster and not even Daniel Day-Lewis could give credibility to lines like "Killing me won't bring back your goddamn honey!" They took all the substance out of the original, and even with a combo like Ewan and Billy, I'm not sure if it would've worked as well.

[newrochellephoenix]

@randomdave30 I could indeed see Ewan and Billy in a version.

[randomdave30]

@TheHappydead The Wicker Man has had a tortouous history but the final insult is the Nicholas Cage re-imagining. My God he is the most wooden actor imaginable. An authentic re-make from Anthony Schaffer's original script, incorporating all the lost sequiences and perhaps with Ewan MacGregor as Howie and Billy Connolly as Lord Summerisle, might have been absolutely brilliant. Instead, the re-make is an embarrassment to modern cinema.