When I think about the challenges that may have come with making Wicker, the wicker itself and the sheer horniness of the film (which the reviews pointed out) come to mind first. This project on the 2026 movie schedule required Alexander Skarsgård to be covered in wicker the whole time, and he and Olivia Colman have some very intimate scenes throughout the film. It’d make sense if all that was tough to work through. However, when Skarsgård was asked if he thought it’d be difficult to play the Wicker Husband, his response about why it was surprised me.
While Olivia Colman has been open about filming sex scenes in Wicker and working with the intimacy coordinator to make them feel “easy,” Skarsgård opened up about a different challenge that came with this movie. During an interview with the NYT, he explained that playing such a pure character was "foreign" to him, and that was a hurdle he had to get over:
There was a purity there that felt foreign to me. [Laughs] I had come off a string of darker, morally corrupt characters, and there was something so pure and beautiful about this character. It was a bit, I won’t say scary, but playing the nice guy is slightly out of my wheelhouse. It’s easier to find something interesting in the darkness of a character.
Now, I don’t know about you, but the last movie I saw Alexander Skarsgård in was Pillion. Like Wicker, it’s a romance. However, that’s all they have in common, and that’s especially true when you compare Skarsgård’s characters. The beloved Wicker Husband is so kind, gentle, and open-hearted. Ray, the biker he plays in Pillion – which is a romance involving a BDSM relationship between Ray and Harry Melling’s Colin – is incredibly closed off, demanding, and cold. In short, Ray is anything but “pure and beautiful.”
Along with Pillion (which you can stream with an HBO Max subscription), Skarsgård’s most recent projects include the concert mockumentary The Moment, the sci-fi series Murderbot and the war movie Lee, to name a few. None of those are the fantastical romance Wicker is, so this new movie required the actor to tap into a different side of himself.
Plus, as he said, it’s not often we see him play a genuinely nice guy, and I wouldn’t say his career is defined by wholesome characters. So, I can see why this role in Wicker challenged him. While the Wicker Husband and Fisherwoman have a very R-rated sex life, they have a remarkably loving and, in many ways, wholesome relationship. And while it was a challenge for Skarsgård to play that out at first, he nailed it, and he said he loved the experience too.
Now, if you’d like to see Alexander Skarsgård play a significantly less dark character than he’s usually known for, you can catch Wicker in theaters now.
