Alexander Skarsgård is set to co-star with Harry Melling in Element Pictures' upcoming feature film Pillion, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Element produced the Academy Award-winning movie Poor Things.
Harry Lighton will direct the movie from his own script. The story is inspired by Adam Mars-Jones's novel Box Hill originally published in 2005. The film will be pitched to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival's market next week. Cornerstone will handle the global sales.
Alexander Skarsgård in fun, filthy romance
The movie is described as a “fun and filthy romance with heart.” It follows the story of Colin (Melling), a timid wallflower who has watched as life passes him by. That is, until he meets Ray (Skarsgård), the incredibly handsome motorbike club leader. Ray then takes Colin on as his submissive.
Colin gets sucked into Ray's world filled with kinky queer bikers from his previously dreary suburban life. However, as Colin gets deeper into this life, he starts to question whether he can live as a submissive for the rest of his life.
Picturehouse Entertainment and September Films will distribute the film in the UK and Benelux, respectively. BBC Films and the British Film Institute (BFI) are producing the movie. Lighton developed his screenplay with BBC Films.
The movie is set to start principal photography in the UK this summer.
Pillion: a kinky queer love story
The book is told from Colin's point of view. In the story, he recalls the events of his youth when he meets Ray. The novel's leaflet has the subtitle “a story of low self-esteem.”
The film's title Pillion is taken from the secondary pad, cushion or seat behind the main seat or saddle on a horse, bicycle, moped, or in this case, a motorcycle.
If the movie is to faithfully follow the book, it would chronicle Colin from his teenage years to middle age. He begins as an unsure submissive and in the throes of worship to the older Ray. Colin is described in the book as a chubby young man standing 5'6″ to Ray's lean 6'5″. Coincidentally, Melling's height is 5'7″ and Skarsgård's is 6'4″.
BAFTA nominated Lighton's directorial and writing credits include the short films Wren Boys, Leash and Pompeii.
Melling is most famous for his role in the Harry Potter movies as Dudley Dursley. He was most recently in the 2023 film Shoshana and 2022's The Pale Blue Eye with Christian Bale.
Skarsgård was recently in an episode of the Prime Video series Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Before that, he played Swedish billionaire Lukas Matsson in HBO's massively hit series Succession. The actor won his Emmy for best supporting actor in 2017 for his role in HBO series Big Little Lies.
He'll next be seen in the upcoming biopic Lee starring Kate Winslet. He will also lead the upcoming Apple TV+ sci-fi series Murderbot Diaries as the titular character. Skarsgård has two other projects currently in pre-production, the horror-thriller feature The Pack with Florence Pugh and the adventure drama The Tiger with Dane DeHaan.
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