Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård are living out their romantic fairytale fantasies in their new movie “Wicker,” but it turns out they fell in love with the movie’s script and costumes at first sight just the same.
“When I read the script — I suppose because my husband is a producer on this too; he can’t be here, he’s with the kids. He and I have similar tastes — but I read it from maybe a different point of view. I want to be that person, I loved the Fisherwoman and I just wanted to be her,” Colman told TheWrap at the Los Angeles premiere on Tuesday. “Weirdly, I didn’t think it was too absurd.”
While the viral Black Bear trailer certainly plays up the peculiar idea of a human woman falling in love with a man made of wicker, the film itself indeed treats their relationship much more earnestly. Still, the practical effects on Skarsgård’s character are simply too well-done to ignore.
“When he put it on and it moved with his face, it was so exquisitely beautiful,” Colman shared. “We just went, ‘Oh my God! It’s going to work. This is exciting.’ And he only tried it on sort of three days before we started filming.”
“It definitely helped because for the whole year leading up to the shoot, the character kind of existed in my head, and I would see images and have conversations with Wētā Workshop in New Zealand, where the costume was built, but it wasn’t until I stepped into it that I really found the physicality,” Skarsgård added. “I’d been thinking a lot about the voice as well, how staccato I would want it, and finding the physicality and the stiffness of the suit helped me find the voice of the character as well. That happened in the last few days before we started filming.”
But what does the actor think of adding yet another pop culture sex symbol to his already-impressive filmography?
“I’m just naturally sexy, so there it is,” Skarsgård said with a smile. “No, I think vanity is very dangerous for an actor, so the way you envision the character should be the way you approach it and stay true to that vision and not let any vanity get in the way. I hope I’m not vain when it comes to choosing roles or being vulnerable in scenes or being considered not attractive in roles. I hope that’s not the case.”
The pair was joined on the DGA Theater Complex red carpet by co-star Elizabeth Debicki and co-writers/co-directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, as well as special guest Bill Skarsgård. Altogether, the cast and crew remain humbled by the positive social media response after their premiere at Sundance and subsequent trailer that spawned many a meme.
“You don’t imagine anyone’s going to see a trailer; or we don’t, we sort of forget,” Colman said. “The fact that it went mad, didn’t it? Ikea Australia? Brilliant. I love that people have loved it as much as we have.”
“It was extraordinary. I love this movie so much. I say it’s up there with ‘Pillion,’ also a small indie film that I cared so deeply about and met some of my favorite human beings — on both ‘Pillion’ and on this one,” Skarsgård echoed. “I did the movies back-to-back, two highlights of my career. So, to have that reaction and the fact that people seem to be responding to this unique, quirky, weird little independent film means the world to me.”
“Wicker” is now playing in theaters.
