Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård are married in “Wicker,” and the film’s erotic scenes have generated headlines ever since its premiere at Sundance. Now the couple are talking about why the film works, and their description of the relationship is the most charming euphemism for a sex scene ever deployed.
Colman plays a medieval fisherwoman who is constantly ostracized until she marries a wicker husband. The husband is custom-woven by a basket weaver played by Peter Dinklage. Skarsgård is the man inside the woven body, and the film is directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, adapted from “The Wicker Husband” by Ursula Wills-Jones.
Colman’s Script Love
Colman fell for the script immediately. She said she had never read anything like it before, calling it “beautiful, funny and original.” She added, “The only way you can sell it is by having a picture of Alex as a very sexy basket.”
The film’s raunchiness might have surprised some unsuspecting viewers at Zurich Film Festival. But the actress was unequivocal about her affection for the material.
“I’ve never read anything like it before. It’s in my top three scripts that I’ve loved and I’ve done,” she said at the fest, where it celebrated its European premiere.
Skarsgård’s Sweet Side
Skarsgård is no stranger to risqué films, thanks to his work in “Pillion.” But his darker roles are what audiences know him for. This film asked him to embrace his softer side, and he admits it was a challenge.
“To be honest, I found it terrifying. I feel way more comfortable playing dark, twisted, demented characters,” he said.
“This was a departure and yeah, I was confused in the beginning about how to approach this. He’s so sweet, so tender and caring, and all those things that I can’t relate to personally.”
The actor’s confusion was real. He had to find a way into a character who is gentle and attentive, qualities that sit far outside his usual wheelhouse.
The Wētā Workshop Body
The famed Wētā Workshop created the wicker husband’s body. Skarsgård recalls seeing it for the first time with genuine wonder.
“It was extraordinary. It really was,” he said, noting that Wētā is behind “The Lord of the Rings” and that whole universe.
“The Lord of the Rings” connection matters here. Wētā wanted practical effects, not CGI, which Skarsgård found exciting. “This was not going to be a CGI version,” he said.
He stepped into the finished body to find the character. “Stepping into it was also a way of finding the character because it defined his physicality and who he was,” he explained.
Moving in the Mask
Learning how to move in the wicker body was tricky. The mask was glued to his face, and it had to move with his expressions without flattening.
“It was glued to my face! It was crucial that [the mask] would move with my facial movements so that it wouldn’t be completely flattened, but that meant I had to exaggerate them,” he said.
“Al and Elle, our directors, kept saying that normal movements wouldn’t really register. At first, that felt a little strange, like you really had to overact. Luckily, we had a few days to perfect that.”
The Marriage of Two Souls
Despite the twisted premise, “Wicker” takes a look at the institution of marriage and gender roles. Colman notes that none of the women in the film have their own names, except for the fisherwoman.
“She’s shunned and ostracized for being sort of ugly and smelly, and unmarriable. But she shows them,” she said.
The fisherwoman is the film’s engine. She is the only named female character, and she is the one who is rejected by society before the marriage even happens.
“It was really about these two humans – or, again, a basket – and two souls being kind to each other.”
That line is the heart of the film, according to Colman. The relationship is not about sex or spectacle. It is about two people who support each other, listen to each other, and take care of each other.
“It was really about these two humans – or, again, a basket – and two souls being kind to each other,” she said.
Skarsgård agreed. He described the film as commenting on the patriarchy and the construct of marriage, but doing so with humor rather than preaching.
“It commented on the patriarchy of our time and on the construct of marriage, but it was done with so much humor. And in a way that didn’t feel preachy or too on the nose,” he said.
“It was so tender, sweet, funny and irreverent, and with a subtlety to it. That’s what really spoke to me.”
The Humor of “Monty Python”
The film’s humor echoes the madness of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” It is a comedy that treats its subject with tenderness while still being irreverent.
Colman noted that the film is also about the lack of same-sex marriages in the story. “We have no same sex marriages in this story, which I just realized and that’s a shame,” she said.
But the central relationship remains the film’s anchor. The two leads got along well during filming, and Colman called the experience a “magical world” where they were just talking to each other.
“I’ve never done it before, but we’re in that magical world where we’re just talking to each other. We got on very well, and giggled a lot. It was lovely to play those two people. Well, one person and a basket,” she said.
A Girl Standing in Front of a Basket
The film’s marketing has settled on a simple pitch: a girl standing in front of a boy – or a basket – asking him to love her.
That is the story, and it is a story about marriage, gender, and the institution of coupling itself. The fisherwoman is the one who is rejected, and the wicker husband is the one who accepts her.
The film’s central romance is described as “two souls being kind to each other,” which is a euphemism for a sex scene that is also a statement about equality.
The marketing is the easy part. The film is the harder one. It asks audiences to accept a wicker husband as a real person, and it asks them to believe in a relationship built on kindness.
Key Facts Box
| Fact | Detail |
| — | — |
| Premiere | Sundance |
| European premiere | Zurich Film Festival |
| Directors | Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson |
| Source material | “The Wicker Husband” by Ursula Wills-Jones |
| Wētā Workshop | Behind “The Lord of the Rings” universe |
| Peter Dinklage | Plays the basket weaver |
“Wicker” is a film about marriage, about the roles assigned to men and women, and about the bond between two people who are often alone. The marketing sells the basket, but the film sells the kindness.
It is a bold choice, and it is a funny one. It is also, by Colman’s own account, one of the best scripts she has ever read.
Source material: “Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård on Playing a Fisherwoman and a ‘Very Sexy Basket’ in ‘Wicker’: It’s ‘Two Souls Being Kind to Each Other’,” Variety.
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