In reply to Blue Straggler:
> what, like he was given a totally different script and every time he is in peril he thinks it real? and actually thought he was going to be burned in a wicker man?
The Wicker Man (1973) On his off days, Edward Woodward was repeatedly asked if he wanted to go to the spot where the climax was to be shot to see the Wicker Man structure, he declined every time, preferring to see it for the first time when the scene was shot. So, Woodward saw the structure for the first time as Howie was dragged over the top of the hill. Howie's iconic cry of "O, GOD! O, JESUS CHRIST!" was half Howie, half Woodward. As the cameras were moved around to film the burning scene, Woodward asked director Robin Hardy if he was actually going to be put into the Wicker Man, which Hardy answered in the affirmative. As he was carried up the steps to the structure's midsection by Ian Campbell (Oak), Woodward repeatedly told Campbell, "Don't you drop me! Don't you dare drop me!", with Campbell laughingly reassuring that he wouldn't. Then came the burning scene. Woodward repeatedly said that in his entire career, which spanned over six decades, he was never more scared than when he was inside the Wicker Man as it burned, telling British film critic Mark Kermode in an interview that his terror forced him to "act his socks off." https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070917/trivia?item=tr2830630