Interview: Alexander Skarsgård on His New Dom-Com ‘Pillion’ and Presenting Kink with Care
Alexander Skarsgård’s photo on IMDB is one of the actor “at an event for 2016 MTV Movie Awards” where he showed up without pants. Looking down the lens during this particular photo, the Swedish native exudes a playfulness now commonly associated with his public persona. It’s been nearly two decades since the actor began his run on True Blood as Eric Northman, HBO Sunday nights catapulting him to immediate fame amongst the fans of the sultry drama. After the vampire series was over, he found roles in The Diary of a Teenage Girl and The Legend of Tarzan, but it was the next year’s return to HBO Sunday nights on Big Little Lies that pushed him into awards contention. Taking on the role of abusive husband Perry Wright allowed fans to see another facet of the actor’s talent, a boiling intensity that won him an Emmy, a SAG award, and a Golden Globe.
Since then, he’s also found success in roles like The Northman and Infinity Pool, with TV spots on What We Do in the Shadows, Succession, and most recently Murderbot, ever-proving his versatility while also consistently keeping him in the zeitgeist. His role on Succession, a return home to HBO Sunday nights, brought in two more Emmy nominations — one for Guest Actor, one for Supporting Actor after having more scenes in the subsequent season.
His latest film, Harry Lighton’s debut Pillion (review here), sees the actor trade his usual fun fashion choices for leather and kink-wear. He plays Ray, the mysterious man that Colin (Harry Melling) meets at a bar one night before the two start a consensual BDSM relationship together that changes the younger man’s perception on sex and relationships. Colin sleeps on Ray’s floor, cooks him breakfast, and ultimately does whatever is asked of him, all subject to Ray’s approval. The film is an exploration of identity that treats its characters sexual desires with respect and never plays it for humor or shock value. Skarsgård’s Ray is a quiet man who moves and speaks with intention, never chatty or sentimental. He plays the character with a dedicated intensity that allows dimension for someone so keen to stay mostly wordless. The film is quietly powerful and sneaks up on you, but Skarsgård’s Ray will stay with you.
I spoke to the actor about Ray, chats he had with the Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club about the role, how much he enjoyed wearing leather, and how fans still come up to him about True Blood.
Spoilers for Pillion below.
Tyler Doster: How do you approach crafting a character’s interior whose exterior is so enigmatic and steely?
Alexander Skarsgard: Well, I thought it was quite an interesting challenge to try to instill life into a character who’s very laconic and stoic and doesn’t say much and definitely doesn’t reveal anything about himself. And I did love that about the character and the way Harry wrote the character that I think in a more conventional version of this movie would’ve had a climactic moment towards the end of the second act where Colin finds out that Ray has a husband or a wife and two kids. And then that creates a dramatic moment. And I love that Harry steered clear of that and kept Ray mysterious till the end. So I think the challenge was, you still want the audience to be invested in these characters and you still have to understand why Colin is drawn to Ray. It can’t just be the excitement, the mystery of it in the beginning. Even though Ray potentially hides it, you have to find moments where he’s a bit softer or there’s a vulnerability hiding under the surface or maybe a desire for something else.
And so it was about trying to, with subtle things, try to instill life into those moments and into that relationship against that so the audience would be invested. Not necessarily rooting for them to be together throughout the film because it obviously takes some twists and turns, but because Colin goes on such a monumental journey, such a monumental arc, it was important that Ray doesn’t feel flat in comparison to that.
TD: Did you have fun playing that most of the movie where you’re not revealing much about Ray until the very end, which we’ll get to, but did you have fun playing that?
AS: Yeah, I loved it. And again, I loved the fact that it was quite unconventional in terms of how the character was constructed by Harry Lighton. And it was such a joy to have that exploration with the other Harry [Melling] in front of the camera. We talked a bit about it in the past, the fact that we didn’t really rehearse at all, Harry and I. We met two days before we started shooting the film, and it gave us a real opportunity to have that exploration take place in front of the camera, and again, finding those beats. And there were a lot of moments where I had planned how I thought mapped out the arc of Ray and how I thought the scenes would play out that were completely different when we ended up shooting the scenes.
And I had to revise my idea of Ray throughout the shoot, which gave it a lot of nerve, which was exciting to me because there were many days where I came home thinking, “oh, that took a very different turn.” Or I felt much stronger than I thought I would, or I didn’t feel as much as I thought I would in certain moments. And that always gives a lot of nerve to the scenes when you have that sense of discovery.
TD: What questions did you have for the GBMCC (Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club) when you were working on the film and how did they change your understanding of the community during and after the film?
AS: They were instrumental in shaping the tone of the movie. They were incredibly generous and let Harry [Lighton] tag along when he was writing the screenplay and shaping this sub/dom relationship. And for us, for Melling and myself, we couldn’t have done it without them, obviously. It was the fact that they were there with us throughout the whole shoot.
And one thing that was very important was obviously we wanted to make sure that the details were right in terms of the outfits, in terms of the props, making sure that we had the right lube for the orgy scene and making sure that all that practical stuff was real. But it was also very important to get to know these guys and get to know them as individuals. So they’re not like one homogenous group, they’re not carbon copies of each other. I think sometimes when subcultures are portrayed on screen, it’s like they become the cliche of that subculture or the stereotype.
And it was important to show them as individuals and also show mundane moments, pedestrian moments, them just having fun, hanging out. Again, especially BDSM culture is often depicted in a very either shocking, scary, super intense, or it’s done with silk gloves where you paint a two pretty and cute portrait of it. I think what was so great about this and what we wanted to get across, and I think what the guys from GBMCC I think appreciated was that Harry wanted it to feel authentic and again, show them as individuals and show that their preferences are different. For example, Ray and Colin don’t kiss, but that doesn’t mean the other couples don’t kiss and are affectionate with each other.
Or I love the moment after the orgy scene, they’re cuddling, they’re holding each other, they’re affectionate with each other. And it was important to show. I’m always frustrated when I watch the depiction of BDSM and it all feels like it’s there just to shock and not show real individuals.
TD: Yeah, there’s no aftercare.
AS: No.
TD: The film does treat kink with care and the film never presents it as a joke. Did that make you more careful in your depiction of the community and how did that shape what you were bringing to the screen?
AS: Well, we wanted it to be, from the first conversations I had with Harry [Lighton], about the depiction of it and how we want to portray the sex scenes, we spoke the same language. We both felt that, and obviously Harry and Melling as well, but in prep I didn’t talk to Melling.
It felt important to, for one, not shy away from the sex scenes or have the thing where you like, because it feels like you’re almost passing judgment like, “oh, now they’re starting. The clothes are coming off and now we pan off to the woods.” So to actually stay with the characters as they’re having sex, but in a way that doesn’t feel that we’re staying on it just for the sake of the shock value. And that was very important to calibrate to, well, firstly, not shoot it in a way that’s too romanticized and the hands clasping, the bedsheets. And that’s often seen in sex scenes, but instead letting it be hot and steamy and sexy, but also awkward.
And when people shift positions, it can be clumsy and weird and funny. And allowing those moments to be and sometimes it doesn’t go as planned and it’s not as satisfying as you might hope it would be, but it was important to show that. And then calibrating how much do you want to see? How much detail do you want to see? Because you never want to take the audience out of the narrative.
I think what I really enjoyed about all those sex scenes in the movie is they all pushed the narrative forward. They’re not there just to kind of, “All right, sexy time. Let’s pause the narrative so we can have some sex for five minutes” because they’re all pivotal moments. It’s Colin’s first blowjob. It’s Colin’s first sexual intercourse. It’s Colin’s first orgasm. Each moment has a real significance and are key components to telling the story. So that was really important. And we talked a lot about how we wanted to depict those moments. And that also made them a lot of fun to shoot because, again, they made sense to me. It wasn’t like, here’s a sex scene just because we need something that looks a little sexy, but it actually made sense in terms of the narrative.
TD: There’s a high level of sincerity, intimacy, and tenderness in this film that brings everything together. Moving over to Colin’s first blowjob, which is their first real encounter, it establishes the verbal contract of what they’re going to be doing and establishes the relationship. How did you want to break the ice with Colin?
AS: Well, there were a couple of things. First, we chose to avoid a written contract between the sub and the DOM, which is often the case that you have. But for narrative purposes, we thought so much of the excitement in the beginning is for the audience to, with Colin, figure out as Ray’s guiding him, what Ray wants. So we chose to avoid a written contract, but it was also very important to have verbal consent in the beginning so that it feels like Colin is jumping into this voluntarily and is not forced into it. So that’s why we have that exchange where Ray says, “What am I going to do with you?” And Colin says, “Whatever you want.” We had to calibrate it a bit because the first take we did was… it wasn’t that I was more aggressive, but Ray was a bit more forceful and said even less. And was just after they had that exchange of like, “What am I going to do with you?” “Whatever you want.” It was even more assertive in a way. And Colin was gagging a bit more.
And it was quite interesting because all three of us, Harry and Harry and I, after that first take, just felt like it took some of the playfulness out of it and that wasn’t good because then we wanted it to be an intense moment, but it should also be quite thrilling for Colin. Yes, it’s a little disappointing because he feels he failed the test. He felt like it was not a good blowjob, but it was important for the audience to come away from that scene a little thrilled and a little hoping for a second date. And if it feels abusive at all, then of course everyone’s just going to be like, “Well, get away from this creep.” So that was quite interesting how after the first take, we all felt like, no, no, we got to remember the tone has to be more playful.
And Ray is, without breaking character, he’s still very dominant in this and it’s not chit-chatting or anything, but it was important to leave the scene the way it is now in the edit with a smile on Colin’s face. This was maybe transgressive, but fun and exciting and hoping for a second date. So it took a little while to find that tone.
TD: You don’t want everyone looking at Ray how Colin’s mom ends up looking at Ray.
AS: No, exactly. Exactly. And again, this is the first date or whatever it was. And you want the audience to be invested in this.
TD: That sounds like a simple change, but an effective one. As someone who has so much fun and likes to be silly with fashion, how important was it for you to wear the leather?
AS: In the movie, I thought Grace [Snell], the costume designer, and Harry made some really interesting choices because I remember the first time I read it, I envisioned more of the Scorpio Rising or Tom of Finland aesthetics, the leather gay biker, a bit more old school. I thought about Harley Davidson’s and an old leather jacket and jeans and that kind of aesthetic. But it was really interesting that they wanted to update it and make it more practical, in a way. It’s like all the gear, it’s racing gear. And then there’s a fetish in that obviously as well, and it can be kinky.
But again, something about the Tom of Finland aesthetic is that everyone has seen that. So it was fun to do something slightly different. And the fact that Ray’s stuff is super, it’s practical stuff. It’s real stuff. It’s not just to show off. It’s real racing gear. And I thought that was really, really fun to play around with. And also the contrast between the rigid leather. But then when he’s at home, he’s basically walking around in the underlayers of what he would be riding in. It’s like long johns and old T-shirts and stuff. And I thought that was also interesting that he clearly doesn’t give a fuck or dress up for Colin or anyone. It’s all very practical and functional.
TD: Yeah. In the streets, Ray is wearing his leather. At home, he’s wearing his athleisure.
AS: Yeah, very much.
TD: So did you find the leather then to be more freeing than constricting?
AS: Yeah, I loved it. I loved it. And it was custom-made, his outfit. So it was just like slipping into that was an incredible feeling. And it was really fun playing with the contrast between that. It felt hard and intense. And then when he takes it off, it’s the sweatpants and the shorts and a softness to it. And those two would sit next to each other in an interesting way, I thought, in the movie.
TD: The first night that Ray allows Colin to sleep in the bed with him, Ray ends up draped over him while they’re sleeping. Were there different positions you guys had to try for the camera? Was that the first one that Harry wanted or did you guys work on that to get the cuddling position down?
AS: I think we tried a couple of different positions, but we definitely wanted to tell those beats of going to bed. And then Ray, who is not very tactile with Colin, not very affectionate, the fact that he in his sleep cuddles up to him was quite interesting, we thought ,that the guard is down. And also it was important in Colin’s journey because you want to feel that. At that point, he’s trying to figure out what he wants out of a relationship. In the beginning, he can’t believe his luck. He’s in a relationship with Ray, and this is fantastic, and he’s excited, and he’s learning a lot.
But obviously, after a while, he starts to ask himself questions of, “Is this exactly what I want or are my desires completely aligned with Ray’s?” And this is an important moment because he wants to be held. He wants to be touched. Again, maybe not all day, every day. Even at the end of the film, he’s still a sub. It’s not that he left that world behind, but he’s figuring out that this is quite nice to hold each other, and maybe I want that. Maybe Ray doesn’t. So it was important to have that physical contact when Ray’s asleep.
TD: He needs that tenderness. And I think it seems like that’s the first time, like you said, he’s ever gotten it, but Ray is pretty intentional on what he does while he’s awake. So before the end of the movie, not going to get that.
AS: Yeah, exactly.
TD: Speaking of the end of the movie, when you guys have the “off day,” how was filming it? It’s the most sincere and the most romantic part of the movie. How was that to throw away the steeliness of Ray in favor of having this romantic day?
AS: It was so much fun. It was incredible. I loved it because it was a different side of Ray. It’s a much more playful side, and it was also fun to subvert and play with the rom-com trope of the falling in love montage that it is.
TD: Because this one’s at the end of the movie.
AS: Exactly. It’s at the end of the movie as opposed to the end of the first act. But it was fun to lean into the cliches of the falling in love montage. And I also loved the sequence because there were so many different ways you can interpret that, what it meant. Why did Ray do it? What was his purpose? Well, what did he feel in that moment? Why did he leave? And I’ve always tried to dodge that question when people ask, but the reason I do that is it’s been so fun when we’ve been traveling to these festivals with the movie now to hear how differently people have interpreted that and everything, from Ray being sadistic for doing that to Colin, to people thinking it’s almost altruistic.
Ray knows that they’re not compatible and this is Ray showing Colin like, this is what you want, to help him get over Ray. This is what you want and I’m not the right guy for you because I’m all day, every day sub/dom, but you want a day off here and there. And other people have interpreted it as he puts this day together and chooses to try it. And then it scares him the fact that he’s actually opening up and feeling vulnerable and letting Colin in and that is something he can’t handle.
TD: When you are tackling a new role like this one or any new role, of course, you’ve also been in Murderbot this year, do you ever look back to any other previous roles for inspiration inside a character that’s maybe similar to what you’re playing now?
AS: No, not really. Subconsciously, I’m sure I’m affected by what I’ve done in the past and that might in some way, when I’m working on a character, affect how I shape him. But no, it just felt like a new chapter. Ray was a character that I felt that I hadn’t played before. And again, back to the enigmatic quality was something that I was really drawn to. And it’s exciting to read something that is original and has its own tone and that doesn’t feel derivative. I think that’s quite rare. I find that most scripts I read, even pretty good scripts, are often a version of a movie that I’ve already seen. And it was incredibly fun and refreshing when I started reading this because not only is it a movie about a subculture that isn’t often depicted on screen, but it was also so surprising because again, I was like, all right, BDSM, this is going to be intense and shocking.
And it was so sweet. It was that. But again, the fact that it was so sweet and tender and a coming of age story, and it just felt very, very different, and that’s rare.
TD: I’ve already brought up you’ve been in True Blood, you’ve been in Big Little Lies, a Lady Gaga video (“Paparazzi”) and countless other projects. What past role of yours brings you the most attention from fans when they see you?
AS: That’s a good question. I still get a bit of True Blood, for sure, because it was so many years and it had such a devout fan base. And even though it was 10 years ago, the shows ended, it feels like there’s still a pretty hardcore fan base out there.
But then obviously, when you’ve done something that’s in the zeitgeist more recently, then it’ll be a lot of … So these past couple of years has been Succession and Big Little Lies and The Northman were probably the ones that I noticed that people come up and ask for a signature. A photo sign, it’s often from those projects. And now it’s a lot of leather these days with Pillion.
TD: People are going to probably be asking you weird things now because of this movie.
AS: Yeah, for sure. And I welcome it. I welcome it.
Pillion is currently in limited release from A24 and will expand in the U.S. on February 6, 2026.
- Interview: Alexander Skarsgård on His New Dom-Com ‘Pillion’ and Presenting Kink with Care - December 9, 2025
- 2026 Golden Globe Nomination Predictions – Television: Expect Emmy Favorites ‘The Pitt,’ ‘The Studio’ Plus New Fare ‘Pluribus’ and More - December 6, 2025
- ‘Pluribus’ TV Review: Rhea Seehorn is the Worst Person in the World [A] - November 6, 2025
2026 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTOR (December) 
2026 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTRESS (December) 
Rose Byrne to Receive Breakthrough Performance Honor from Palm Springs International Film Awards for ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ 
Austin Film Critics Association (AFCA) Nominations: ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sinners’ Lead with 11