Movies - TV
Why The Wicker Man Used A ‘Bottom Double’ For Britt Eckland’s Pantsless Dance
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
In a scene of Robin Hardy's supremely creepy 1973 cult picture "The Wicker Man," Britt Eklund plays Willow, who seductively dances against a hotel room wall.
However, the nude body audiences saw dancing wasn't Ekland but that of a Glaswegian nightclub dancer named Lorraine Peters. Eklund claims she didn’t know of the replacement.
In the book "The Wicker Man: The Official Story of the Film," the first assistant director, Jake Wright revealed how Peters arrived as Ekland left the set after filming the scene.
Eklund didn’t know that there was another limo behind hers, with Peters lying on the floor of the car. She went in and completed the scene sans pants.
Ekland recalled, "I couldn't believe it because Robin promised that he wouldn't do that. And the model's body looked nothing like mine [...] I was just devastated."
Hardy, however, had a different recollection as told the Guardian in 2013 that Ekland agreed to hire a body double, as she wasn't fond of the way she looked.