{"id":26777,"date":"2026-10-30T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/30\/i-saw-the-script-and-went-oooh-olivia-colman-and-alexander-skarsgard-on-their-steamy-folk-horror-movie-wicker-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T12:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T12:00:11","slug":"i-saw-the-script-and-went-oooh-olivia-colman-and-alexander-skarsgard-on-their-steamy-folk-horror-movie-wicker-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/30\/i-saw-the-script-and-went-oooh-olivia-colman-and-alexander-skarsgard-on-their-steamy-folk-horror-movie-wicker-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I saw the script and went: oooh!\u2019 Olivia Colman and Alexander Sk\u00e5rsgard on their steamy folk-horror movie Wicker – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

She plays a depressed fisherwoman. He plays a man made of wicker who is solely dedicated to her pleasure. How did the actors feel about this strange, emotional connection \u2013 and what did Colman draw from her own marriage?
A<\/span>nother year, another raunchy comedy-drama in which Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd is the answer to a social outcast\u2019s erotic dreams. \u201cI fucking loved Pillion<\/a> so much!\u201d says Olivia Colman, reliably sweary straight out of the gate, as she brings up last year\u2019s British indie hit starring Skarsg\u00e5rd as a leather-clad dom with a timid traffic warden as his submissive. \u201cAnd when they kissed at the end \u2026 Aww<\/em>.\u201d The 52-year-old Oscar-winner for The Favourite gives a mock-sniffle and a little shake of her frizzy grey locks, then pretends to dab her eyes.
Seated beside her in a London hotel room and wearing a bright orange \u201cI\u2019m With Stupid\u201d T-shirt, Skarsg\u00e5rd tilts his head appreciatively. In Pillion, it was Harry Melling who had the privilege of being ravaged by the 50-year-old Swedish actor. Now it is Colman\u2019s turn in Wicker, an earthy adult fairytale filmed in Budapest and set in a medieval village populated almost exclusively by British comic actors who converse in language both archaically formal (\u201cHappy to transact with you\u201d) and bluntly colloquial (\u201cI\u2019d better fuck off\u201d). Among them is Phil Daniels as a leering butcher and Richard E Grant as a doctor who is even more inept at his job than Grant was as a Celebrity Traitor.
Colman plays the Fisherwoman, ridiculed by the other villagers for her pong and her general absence of allure. In the spirit of mocking the dominant patriarchal conventions, where men put metal collars on their wives when they get married, she asks the Basketmaker (Peter Dinklage) to fashion her a husband. A month later, she has a groom made entirely of wicker and dedicated solely to her pleasure and happiness. If the movie works, says Alex Huston Fischer, who wrote and directed Wicker with his wife, Eleanor Wilson, \u201cyou are essentially connecting emotionally to a basket\u201d.
This is where Skarsg\u00e5rd comes in. His performance as the Wicker Husband was augmented by Weta Workshop, the New Zealand special-effects outfit behind the Lord of the Rings series. \u201cI had a full bodysuit, a mask glued to my face, then added prosthetics for lips and eyelashes,\u201d the actor says. \u201cOh, and hair made from flax. Highly flammable.\u201d He tried out different accents but that felt \u201ctoo removed from myself, what with the mask and everything else\u201d. Colman gives an amused snort: \u201cMight as well have got someone else in,\u201d she says. Her co-star responds by puffing out his chest: \u201cHey, people pay big bucks to see Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd on screen!\u201d
In truth, he is humbler than all that. \u201cAlex gets very awkward with compliments,\u201d says Colman, then turns to him: \u201cWell, tough<\/em>. I don\u2019t think there are many people who could have got quite so much across while acting within such restrictions. It\u2019s a mark of how good you are. Sorry!\u201d Is it fair to call his performance minimalist? \u201cFrom my point of view, it was maximalist,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause of the mask, I had to exaggerate everything and it felt like I was being hammy. Subtleties wouldn\u2019t register. Underneath that beautifully crafted suit, I was like: \u2018Aaah!\u2019, \u2018Grrr!\u2019\u201d His guttural sounds are accompanied by facial expressions which suggest a beginner\u2019s guide to semaphore acting.
Skarsg\u00e5rd\u2019s performance and the cross-hatched weave effect are magically textured. The impact of the creaking sound design should not be underestimated either, especially once the newlyweds get down to conjugal business. As one Letterboxd user put it: \u201cWhoever chose the erection sound effect \u2026 you\u2019re a genius and I love you.\u201d
It turns out I\u2019m not the only one amused by Wicker\u2019s Letterboxd reviews. \u201cAs a director, you should never read the comments,\u201d says Fischer. \u201cBut these ones are so entertaining.\u201d Users have offered alternative titles (John Wicker, The Shape of Wicker, Fifty Shades of Hay), double entendres (\u201cAll my eggs are going in his basket\u201d) and the witty suggestion that Etsy could become the new Hinge. One astute comment likened Elizabeth Debicki\u2019s character, a jealous neighbour who tries to sabotage the Fisherwoman\u2019s happiness, to the spiteful Emma, played by Mercedes McCambridge, in the classic western Johnny Guitar.
In any discussion of Wicker, the word \u201chorny\u201d is never far away. \u201cWe even included it when we pitched the movie,\u201d says Fischer. \u201cThere\u2019s something so human about it,\u201d says Wilson. \u201cWe are these fleshy bodies with desires that are embarrassing and messy. It seemed like a great place for comedy.\u201d Fischer notes that Colman\u2019s goggle-eyed reactions were vital: \u201cFor someone to be surprised by incredible sex is very funny to us. Especially when it\u2019s Olivia. She\u2019s so good.\u201d
Colman returns the compliment. \u201cYou get sent a lot of scripts that you feel you\u2019ve seen before. But when I read this, I was like an octopus. I changed colour and went: \u2018Oooh!\u2019\u201d A deft impression of a cephalopod follows, arms undulating. The Fisherwoman is the only female character with her own name, Colman points out, rather than being known as, say, The Bakerwoman or The Innkeeper\u2019s Wife. \u201cAnd she\u2019s the only woman with agency. She\u2019s perfectly happy with her life. It\u2019s when pushed that she says, \u2018I\u2019m going to fuck this up and make a mockery of your beloved convention of marriage.\u2019 Then she gets this kind, beautiful creature, and suddenly the world is even more joyous.\u201d
Wicker is based on Ursula Wills\u2019 short story The Wicker Husband, which has already been adapted as a stage musical combining actors and puppetry. Reviewing that version in 2020<\/a>, the Guardian theatre critic Arifa Akbar saw it as a story about \u201cinsider parochialism, the demonising of outsiders and the tyranny of conformity\u201d with \u201cechoes of Brexit Britain\u201d. All pertinent, the directors agree now. \u201cThose things were in our heads when we were writing,\u201d says Fischer. \u201cElizabeth\u2019s character is trying to protect herself and the village from what she sees as this foreign element that is there to destroy them.\u201d
Dev Patel was originally set to play Colman\u2019s basket-case beau until a scheduling clash forced him to pull out. Never having quite shed his Slumdog Millionaire innocence, Patel seems a more natural choice for the part than Skarsg\u00e5rd, who even prior to Pillion was drawn to stone-cold alphas: a tech bro (Succession), a violent husband (Big Little Lies), a coke-snorting cop (War on Everyone). Even he admits that he is cast against type in Wicker. \u201cI tend to play characters who are messed up or internally conflicted. That duality is something I\u2019ve done a lot and still enjoy. That wasn\u2019t there for this character: he has a purity to him that was different to what I\u2019ve done in the past. It was about making him relatable and interesting without that inner struggle. So that was a bit of a departure, and slightly intimidating.\u201d Wilson argues, though, that Skarsg\u00e5rd has \u201cqualities that are very Wicker Husband: he has a stoicism, and such presence. We needed that. It\u2019s the sweetness that is the big surprise.\u201d
The Fisherwoman\u2019s newfound fulfilment and her husband\u2019s inherent goodness eventually have a destabilising effect on the other villagers, who realise how impoverished their own lives are by comparison. Trouble follows. Had the honeymoon period between the couple continued, however, would it not have got irritating eventually? Don\u2019t relationships need a little creative friction to remain interesting? \u201cOh, I don\u2019t know,\u201d says Colman, thoroughly unconvinced. \u201cI quite like a friction-free life. I don\u2019t think I\u2019d cope with a fighty relationship. I prefer to work things out gently.\u201d
Her thoughts turn to her own marriage to writer and producer Ed Sinclair, with whom she has three children. \u201cWe\u2019ve been together for 32 years and married for 25,\u201d she says. They have also worked together several times, including on Wicker, which they co-produced. While their domestic life is harmonious, there have nevertheless been \u201cmoments with the odd little look\u201d in a professional context. She gives an example of one such look. The narrowed eyes, the abrupt withdrawal of warmth: no one would want to be on the receiving end of that. All the cosy Olivia Colman-ness has drained away in an instant.
\u201cBut we\u2019ve never had big fights,\u201d she says, back in chirpy mode again. \u201cVery early on, when we first started working together, there was a suggestion from him of an acting note.\u201d Hearing this, Skarsg\u00e5rd lets out a wicked laugh, instantly spotting a taboo. \u201cStrong side eye,\u201d he says. She continues: \u201cOr sometimes when I\u2019ve needed to do a taped audition, I\u2019d say: \u2018Can you tape this for me?\u2019 And he\u2019d ask, \u2018Have you thought of trying it like this \u2026 ?\u2019\u201d There\u2019s that look again. \u201cThen he\u2019d say, \u2018OK, point taken!\u2019\u201d
Where does she think Wicker ends up vis-a-vis marriage? \u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s pro equal relationships. It\u2019s perfectly possible to do it nicely. If you\u2019re planning to share your life with someone, be considerate. Ask yourself: Have I been a good partner this week?\u201d She draws a tick in the air with her finger. \u201cCheck!\u201d
<\/span> Wicker is out now in the US, on 30 October in the UK and 5 November in Australia.<\/p>\n

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She plays a depressed fisherwoman. He plays a man made of wicker who is solely dedicated to her pleasure. How did the actors feel about this strange, emotional connection \u2013 and what did Colman draw from her own marriage?Another year, another raunchy comedy-drama in which Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd is the answer to a social outcast\u2019s erotic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}