Wicker director reveals how Alexander Skarsgård’s steamy X-rated scenes were actually filmed

Wicker has already got people talking, and it’s not just because of its bizarre fairy-tale romance, but also because the film, starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, has some pretty X-rated scenes, including a glimpse of Skarsgård’s very unusual wicker p*nis.

Now, Wicker filmmakers have opened up about how they actually filmed those moments, from the practical suit to the intimate scenes themselves.

So, was Alexander Skarsgård’s wicker p*nis actually a prosthetic?

Well, yes and no. The filmmakers used a specially made practical costume, rather than simply relying on a conventional prosthetic. Costume designer András Dániel Tóth explained to The Hollywood Reporter, “The wicker man was already designed, the prosthetic face and the upper body. And just one week before the shoot started, the directors came up with this idea: ‘He’s so sexy. We should see him naked’.”

He explained, “We had one week with four people in the workshop to seamlessly continue the wicker bottom part.”

Speaking to IndieWire, he explained that to make it look realistic, “we invented a technique: Printing on an elastic base with a special paint that, if you treat it with heat, it’s three-dimensional… wicker p*nis included.”

Makeup artist Sarah Rubano also explained to Variety how the costume designers created the look for the river scene. She said, “[Costume designers András Dániel Tóth and Attila Godena-Juhász] fabricated the wicker ween for the full-body river shot. They did such a great job because it was very last minute, but it’s puff spandex. The weave was 3D, so there was dimension to it. From a distance, they colour-matched it so beautifully.”

What was it actually like filming the s*x scenes?

Despite the unusual costume, directors Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer said the intimate scenes were actually some of the most enjoyable parts of filming.

Speaking to Refinery29 Australia, Wilson explained, “Intimate scenes on films in general actually sometimes end up being the most fun because, because you do a closed set, there’s very few people in the room, and it feels like you’re just making a short film with your friends again.

“So it was really just the two of them: our wonderful intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien, Lol Crawley, who shot it, us and sound, and that’s it. It’s a small environment. No one’s even watching monitors in these scenes, so you’re kind of doing this secret little thing in your own little hut.”

Fischer also compared the process to filming an action sequence. He explained, “It’s kind of like stunt choreography. You’re just coming up with what feels right and what makes sense. And we all had ideas, and it was kind of a fun brainstorm.”

And if you were expecting the film to show absolutely everything, there’s a reason it doesn’t. Tóth explained, “That was a decision from the directors. They just wanted to give the audience a peek of him being naked, but they don’t want it to show everything.”

For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page.