Alexander Skarsgård revealed that he gets “quite excited” to shoot “graphic” sex scenes.
The Big Little Lies alum, 49, and costar Harry Melling have multiple intimate scenes in their critically-acclaimed romantic drama Pillion, which chronicles a BDSM relationship between a biker gang leader (Skarsgård) and a shy young man (Melling) who lives with his terminally ill mother.
“I was excited because [the sex scenes] are interesting [in Pillion],” Skarsgård told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Thursday, September 25. “And that’s quite rare. Most sex scenes on screen are quite boring and sanitized.”
Skarsgård and Melling agreed that Pillion’s often unflinching depictions of sex were refreshing to film specifically because they didn’t shy away from any “awkwardness.”
When it comes to filming sex scenes for TV shows and movies, actors have had a variety of good and bad experiences. Intimacy coordinator Brooke M. Haney previously opened up to Us Weekly about how filming steamy scenes between actors goes down on set. Contrary to what some fans may think, Haney said that it […]
“Here, we really leaned into the authenticity, the awkwardness of sex, which I thought was really funny and sweet,” Skarsgård noted. “It’s quite rare to have a sex scene that actually has an emotional journey. There’s stuff happening, and it’s like erotic and sexy, but then it’s awkward, and then it’s funny. I think [director Harry Lighton] instilled a lot of trust in us. We just felt very comfortable. There was no trepidation going in. Quite the opposite. We were excited to jump in.”
Melling, 36, insisted that the way Pillion uses sex is entirely necessary to its story of two outsiders finding a rare connection through physical intimacy.
“There’s so much narrative laced into the sex. It’s not just like there’s a film and then here’s a sex scene,” the Harry Potter actor added. “They are so much a part of the movie, certainly for [his character] Colin’s journey in going from inexperience to being a bit more experienced. Threading that narrative in there, and getting all the clumsy beats and the awkward beats, felt like a continuation of the narrative. It was thrilling to continue Colin’s journey within these very detailed sex scenes.”
Alexander Skarsgard, Harry Lighton and Harry Melling in May 2025. Marc Piasecki/FilmMagic
Asked whether any sex scenes were deemed too explicit for Pillion’s final cut, Skarsgård joked: “Oh yeah, we’ve got some extra scenes we’ve saved for the Christmas Special edition, a triple X version for the kids.”
“No, we shot some stuff that was a bit more graphic, that Harry [Lighton] decided not [to] use, but nothing too crazy,” he then confirmed.
Skarsgård and Melling appear in the drama alongside Joker actor Douglas Hodge, and Catherine Called Birdy’s Lesley Sharp, as well as Scissor Sisters singer Jake Shears in his screen acting debut.
Pillion is based on author Adam Mars-Jones’ 2020 book, Box Hill, which won the prestigious Fitzcarraldo Editions Novel Prize. The novel was also shortlisted by the Royal Society of Literature as one of the best British novels in 2021.
Lighton — who adapted Mars-Jones’ novel for his feature directorial debut — appears to have an awards season contender with Pillion.
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In May, the romantic drama had its world premiere in competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay award. Pillion was also nominated for both the Queer Palm and the Caméra d’Or, the latter of which is given out to first-time feature filmmakers.
Pillion’s U.S. release date has not yet been announced, though A24 did secure the rights for a domestic release in October 2024, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A24, a powerhouse production company and distributor, has won a staggering 21 Academy Awards, including Best Picture in 2017 for Moonlight and the Best International Feature Film Oscar for acclaimed Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest in 2024.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usmagazine.com ’
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