"It Was Unpitchable": How 'Wicker' Became the Horniest, Most Tender Film of the Year

Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer's Wicker was considered "unpitchable" from the start. The real-life married couple adapted Ursula Wills-Jones' short story The Wicker Husband into what became the year's most unexpectedly horny and tender film. The turning point was a single line in the source material about a broken bed — and the realization that they could actually show it.

The Line That Started Everything

The directors revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the film's surprisingly erotic centerpiece was born from a throwaway moment in the original short story.

"There was a line in the short story that said, after their first night of marriage, the wicker husband said, 'The bed is broken. Bring me a chisel. I will fix it.' And that's all it says," Fischer recalled.

Wilson added: "It doesn't describe the night before."

"So we read that and said, 'Well, why don't we show the bed breaking?' And then that was the beginning of it," Fischer said.

More Sexy Than Expected

The directors approached the intimate scenes as comedy — and they are played for laughs. But something shifted once Alexander Skarsgård was in the prosthetic suit and Olivia Colman was working with intimacy coordinator Ita O'Brien.

"Once we actually had Alexander in costume, Olivia and Ita O'Brien, our intimacy coordinator, working together on these scenes — that's when they did become surprisingly more sexy than we thought they would," Wilson admitted.

The "Unpitchable" Film That Found Its Champions

The project, adapted from Ursula Wills-Jones' 2008 short story, tells the story of a ridiculed Fisherwoman (Colman) who commissions a husband made of wicker (Skarsgård) from the local Basketmaker (Peter Dinklage). What follows is a bawdy, tender fable about love, jealousy, and social convention.

Fischer explained why the film needed the right partners: "The worst thing you can have is a movie that has its own DNA and then someone takes it and tries to make it something it's not. That was the worst-case scenario. That's worse than not making the movie at all."

Wilson added that they were "very protective of it," and ultimately "got to make the movie we wanted to make."

The Wicker Husband Himself

Creating the title character required 18 months of research and development with Wētā Workshop, the legendary effects house behind The Lord of the Rings and Avatar. The suit was made from 3D-printed materials with natural fibers woven into it, and it was glued directly to Skarsgård's face.

"It was used for some of his hollowness," Fischer said of the minimal VFX. "We intentionally wanted to make it not too showy because the performance is the showpiece, and the practical effects suit is the showpiece."

Wilson emphasized that the design needed Skarsgård to be "strikingly beautiful" so that his performance could shine through the prosthetic. "We wouldn't have to CG any movement," she said. "It reacts to his face."

The Real-Life Couple Behind the Camera

Wilson and Fischer, who are married in real life, previously made the 2020 Sundance darling Save Yourselves! Their shared sensibilities allowed them to be brutally honest about relationship dynamics.

"We loved that the story allowed us to pick apart marriage and relationship conventions and dig into what is intrinsically human and instinctual, and conversely, what is ridiculous about those conventions," Wilson told Modern Luxury. "Because we know each other so well, we could be very honest about our fears, desires and shortcomings... Loving another person is so fraught and wrapped up in insecurity, and we really leaned into our characters' deep insecurities and shame. Somehow, thankfully, it remained a comedy."

Fischer described their creative dynamic with characteristic self-deprecation: "Eleanor has a chess brain. She sees the whole game many steps ahead... I have more of a checkers brain. Or maybe Frogger. Which has its own benefits, I'm sure."

Wicker is in theaters now.