What We Know About Wicker, the Film Behind Skarsgård Memes

Olivia Colman says the online reaction to her new film Wicker is unlike anything she has experienced in her career, telling the BBC at the film's London Film Festival premiere: "literally this has never happened for anything I've done before."

What is Wicker about?

Wicker follows a lonely, ostracized fisherwoman, played by Colman, living in a medieval village and mocked for being single, according to the BBC. She hires a basketmaker to build her a life-size partner made of wicker, played by Alexander Skarsgård, who becomes a devoted lover and draws jealousy from other village women, the BBC reports. The cast also includes Peter Dinklage as the basketmaker, Elizabeth Debicki as the tailor's wife, and Richard E. Grant as the village doctor, per the BBC. The script is adapted from the short story "The Wicker Husband" by Ursula Wills-Jones, the outlet notes.

Why did Skarsgård's costume drive the meme wave?

The BBC describes a surge of social-media activity since the trailer's release, spanning BookTok and FilmTok users reacting to Skarsgård's character and online questions about splinter risks during the film's erotic scenes. Colman attributes the attention directly to her co-star's wardrobe: "you put Alexander Skarsgård in an interesting outfit, and everyone is looking," she told the BBC. Debicki offered a similar read, telling the outlet, "I think it was a lot to do with Alex in a wicker man costume, really... I think that's something that apparently everybody would like to see." Skarsgård himself credited the costume department, saying, "All I had to do was get stuck into it."

What does Colman say drove her to the role?

Colman told the BBC the project's originality was the draw, independent of the later online reaction: "You get a lot of scripts through the post, and you feel like you've seen a bit before. And this, I really hadn't seen this before, so I was excited." She also framed the viral response as a byproduct of audience appetite for escapism, telling the BBC: "We all love a little bit of escapism... it's magical, and a bit of fantasy, and people love that, especially currently."

"No, literally this has never happened for anything I've done before." — Olivia Colman, to the BBC

How are brands responding?

Ikea posted images of its rattan furniture to Instagram with the caption "husband material," a direct nod to the film, according to the BBC. The post is one marker of how far the joke has traveled beyond film-fan circles into mainstream brand social accounts, per the outlet's reporting.

What has the film's festival run looked like?

Wicker premiered earlier this year at Sundance before its London Film Festival screening, where Colman, Debicki, and Skarsgård spoke to the BBC, the outlet reports. The Guardian reviewed the film after its Sundance debut, according to the BBC, though the specific rating was not included in the source material reviewed for this report. Skarsgård described the film's physical comedy on set to the BBC, including scenes where "the bed crashes and breaks," which he called "super fun" to shoot alongside what he described as the characters' "tender moments and sexy moments."

No U.S. or U.K. release date for Wicker was specified in the BBC's reporting.