Key Points
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Elizabeth Debicki says she first encountered Alexander Skarsgård as his Wicker character while he was in the water.
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The actor was wearing an intricate costume that was based on his actual body.
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Women have been enamored with Skarsgård’s character since the movie’s first images were released.
Elizabeth Debicki began her work on the movie Wicker by encountering leading man Alexander Skarsgård dressed as the character and wading in water — in all his full-frontal glory.
“I turned the corner, and I was like, ‘Hi, Alex!’ and I went bright red because my brain couldn’t compute what it was seeing,” Debicki told Variety, in a cast interview with Skarsgård and their costar Oli to Budapest, I guess.'”
Skarsgård’s character, who manages to look like a sexy man-basket in the film made in Hungary, has been the subject of many thirsty memes since the first photos went public. It doesn’t hurt that the movie, a fantasy romantic comedy about what happens when Colman’s outcast character (the Fisherwoman) commissions the local Basketmaker (Peter Dinklage) to craft a spouse.
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“When her wicker husband (Skarsgård) proves more spectacular than she ever imagined,” the film’s official description reads, “his soulful spirit and unique prowess awaken something inside her, setting off a wave of jealousy, fascination, and upheaval that threatens the very fabric of village life.”
Colman, however, was immediately enamored with the character.
“It was amazing because we’d all been looking at images for 18 months or so,” she said, “and then to see it in the flesh, it was amazing. That [feeling] of, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to work!'”
The complicated costume, crafted by award-winning special effects company Wētā Workshop, took 18 months to create. Molded from Skarsgård’s actual physique, the prosthetics took just under two hours for the actor to put on each day.
So the leading man was relieved, to say the least, that the costume has an effect on his costars.
“If it doesn’t quite work, it looks like a horror film because it looks like you cut someone’s face off and glued it onto your own,” he said, “and that wasn’t quite the tone we wanted to go for here.”
Still, both Debicki and Colman toldEntertainment Weekly that they believe the Wicker Husband’s appeal comes from the way he acts as much as how he looks.
“It’s the soul of the Wicker Husband, which is what I think does it for everyone,” Colman said.
Debicki added that “people maybe are going slightly feral” over the fact that he’s “a really good listener. He listens.”
“That is pretty hot, I will say,” Debicki continued. “And by listening, he’s listening to her, but he’s picking up on cues. He’s doing things without being asked. He’s making suggestions. These are the things that women like.”
Wicker is in limited release now and opens in theaters everywhere Friday.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
