Three Emmy winners are sitting on a couch. That’s not rare in Los Angeles, but when it’s three acting winners, and one has an Oscar somewhere on their mantle, it is. On this wonderfully sunny day, Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, and Elizabeth Debicki are lounging in a bungalow at Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood. The trio is in the midst of a promo day for “Wicker,” the second feature from filmmaking duo Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, and a gem of a movie that has been bubbling in the ether ever since it debuted at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in January. And here’s the kicker: they really don’t have to do this much publicity. They just love the movie.
READ MORE: “Wicker” Trailer: Olivia Colman Commissions Alexander Skarsgård As Her Perfect Husband
Adapted from Ursula Wills-Jones’ short story “The Wicker Husband,” the fantasy dramedy is set centuries ago in a small town where a Fisherwoman (Colman) finds herself shunned by the residents of the nearby village where she sells her catch. On a whim, she goes to a master weaver (Peter Dinklage) and commissions him to make her a husband out of wicker. Much to her surprise, he does. The arrival of the Wicker Husband (Skarsgard) flips the small community on its head, mostly because the fisherwoman is overjoyed by his presence. The judgemental arrows come fast and furious, however, with the Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki) at the center of it. Whether the Fisherwoman and her new beau can find peace in a fearful and hateful world is the philosophical question Fischer and Wilson pose to audiences, along with some smart laughs, fantastic performances across the board, and stellar hair and makeup design.
“When I read it, this goes straight to my top three favorite scripts,” Colman says. “Then I read ‘Elsinore’ as well, so that’s possibly gone into the top four. But yeah, I knew straight away. Even if no one watched it, I loved it, and I was so excited to be in it.”
“It was incredibly funny,” Skarsgard says. ‘But they navigated it so beautifully. It’s funny. I was there with the characters when it got sad and emotional and complicated. I thought all the characters were so interesting, and they navigated around clichés and stereotypes, the antagonist places. I really felt for her and how she was drafting the system herself. It just felt exciting reading something so unique. It just felt like such a crazy, big, fun swing. It’s so rare to read that.”
Somehow produced for a reported $10 million, “Wicker,” features incredible prosthetic makeup and a functional suit from the creatives at Weta Workshop. His final design was a surprise to many. Debecki, who came onto the project after Colman and Skarsgård were already attached, sheepishly admits, “When I read it, the Wicker Man was not so beautiful as he is as Weta created. He was a little bit more scarecrow-y.”
Skarsgård zings, “Because we also knew each other a little bit. She’s seen that I realize I’m a little scarred.” –
Debicki shoots back, “I was like, ‘What will they do with this space to make you beautiful?” –
Colman says, “I never assumed it was CGI because I don’t think my brain goes there. So I thought someone would come up with something clever. They said Wicker person. I knew it would be a person.’
Taking the role meant committing to hours of applying and removing makeup while filming, but Skarsgård was down for it. He recalls, ‘ I was reading it, and I was just like, it was so f**king great. The script was so good. And I was thrilled and called my agent right away. I was like, ‘This is extraordinary. I need to talk to the directors.’ And then as soon as I got on the phone with them, they were like, Weta Workshop was already involved, and they had already talked to them about making this character [and] making this suit was going to be practical. And that excited me even more because, again, they’re legends at Weta Workshop, and the fact that they loved the script and loved Alan and Ellis’ vision so much that they came on board even though it’s a much smaller movie than ‘Avatar’ or ‘Lord of the Rings’ was really thrilling.
Skarsgård adds, “I have worked quite a bit with CGI characters, and it’s fun to have a tactile real experience of a real old school prosthetic character. I couldn’t take it off at lunch and have a little break time. The fact that it was glued to my face meant that I couldn’t really sweat. So, that made it a bit tricky to regulate my temperature. But no one wants to read about f**king spoiled actors.”
To be fair, most moviegoers likely sympathize, Alexander. Certainly in this case.
For Colman, it was the social commentary in the story that also spoke to her. She remarks, ‘The fact, when you read it, that none of the women have their own names. The only one with her own name, the Fisherwoman, is because she has her own job. She has agency. She’s mocked because she doesn’t do what everyone else does. But it was clear that all women were named after their husband jobs. And so men don’t have their own names either, but at least they have their job. And when someone challenges that, everyone unravels. That was quite clear, I think, from when we read it. And it’s done with a lightness of touch. So you’re not being lectured. You can look at it and laugh and then just go, ‘I still think about this.’ I just think [Fischer and Wilson are] so clever. They did it so beautifully.”
And finding that “lightness of touch” was inherent in the script. Colman, adds, “I believe you play comedy and tragedy with realism and then the tone is easier. If you were doing full-on slapstick, you would make it much harder to then go into the more emotional scenes.”
Debicki concurs, noting, “It was kind of twofold. The tone is very clear in the script. So, as actors we come to work, and we try and execute that. Then Alex and Eleanor work really beautifully together. They kind of pick up different pieces of direction, and they guide slightly different parts of the performance. And so speaking for myself, I felt a very safe sort of emotional journey for the actors in the film.”
All three stars have attended too many premieres to count. They know how to gauge a legitimate audience reaction and when a movie really works. For Skarsgård, the Sundance world premiere of “Wicker” still sticks with him.
That was the first time we watched it with an audience, and it was an extraordinary experience. How people responded to the film meant a lot because again, we were all very invested in this film emotionally. It was a really, really special experience,” Skarsgård says. “Then I saw the trailer, and I was like, ‘It’s a great trailer.’ But I always assumed 12 people would watch a trailer when it comes out. I was like, ‘It’s not the ‘Avengers.’ It’s an Indie film, new IP, no one knows anything about this.’ I was like, ‘It’s a great one for the 12 people who watch it and enjoy it.’ And then it just kind of exploded and took off in a very interesting, very fun, creative way. People look like they’re here for love and a lot of fun, taking it in different directions. And it means a lot to us, obviously. If people are curious about the movie and want to go see it, that is fantastic.”
“Wicker’ opens nationwide on Friday
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