Alexander Skarsgård in a deep-V black blazer over a white shirt at a film premiere, against a gray and white striped backdrop.
Tristan Fewings / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
TV + Movies

We’re Romanticizing Baskets Now: Thoughts on Alexander Skarsgård’s Wicker Husband

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Here’s the plot. A famous actress hires a basketmaker to weave her the perfect husband, and the man he makes out of wicker turns out to be everyone’s fantasy. Alexander Skarsgard is the wicker husband.

Alexander Skarsgård at the UK premiere of "The Moment" at Picturehouse Central in London
At Picturehouse Central in London, Alexander Skarsgård attends the UK premiere of “The Moment” on February 17, 2026. Photo by Tristan Fewings / Getty Images.

Skarsgard plays a man woven entirely out of wicker in Black Bear’s Wicker, based on Ursula Wills-Jones’s short story The Wicker Husband. Olivia Colman is the fisherwoman who commissions him from the local basketmaker, played by Peter Dinklage, and the quiet village descends into jealousy and chaos once it realizes he’s the man of any woman’s dreams.

Ella Bruccoleri posing at a photocall for "The Other Bennet Sister" at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival
Ella Bruccoleri at a Monte-Carlo Television Festival photocall for “The Other Bennet Sister” in Monaco on June 15, 2026. Photo by Valery Hache / AFP via Getty Images.

The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year, but the public only got its first look last week, and Fandango’s trailer post has already passed 11 million views on TikTok. Women flooded the comments in a mix of confusion and enthusiasm, from “Hell yeah! 50 shades of Pinocchio! Worth the splinters” to a running debate over whether wicker splinters if it’s treated properly.

The husband is barely CGI. Wētā Workshop, the New Zealand shop behind the effects on The Lord of the Rings, Avatar and Dune, built Skarsgard a 3D-printed shell molded to his body with real wicker woven over the outer layer, and digital effects were only used to make the gaps between the weave look hollow like a real basket.

Alexander Skarsgård as the wicker husband in the movie
Alexander Skarsgård stars as the wicker husband in the film. Photo by Black Bear / Wicker.

“Most male actors dream of playing Hamlet at some point in their career. I never did,” Skarsgard told Entertainment Weekly. “My dream was always to have nipples made out of wicker. Thanks to our wonderful directors, Eleanor and Alex, and the brilliant artists at Wētā in New Zealand, my dream has finally come true.”

Six people posing together at The Moment UK premiere in front of a blue and green backdrop at Picturehouse Central, London.
At Picturehouse Central in London on February 17, 2026, Jamie Demetriou, Michael Workeye, Alexander Skarsgård, Charli XCX, and Mel Ottenberg appear together for the UK premiere of “The Moment.” Photo by Tristan Fewings / Getty Images.

Skarsgard has made a habit of the strange: a kinky biker in the BDSM movie Pillion, a silent Amish bartender in the sci-fi thriller Mute. As one commenter put it, “I have a feeling that Alexander Skarsgård only accepts the role if it requires him to do weird shit.”

Elizabeth Debicki in black and white at the 2026 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2026, Elizabeth Debicki appears during arrivals for the Met Gala, themed “Costume Art.” Photo by Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images.

Wicker also stars Elizabeth Debicki, Ella Bruccoleri and Richard E. Grant, and was directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson. It opens in select theaters October 23 and wide on October 30.

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