Culture
Alexander Skarsgård Gets Better Reviews As A Basket Than As A Human
By Bruno Von Falken, . BSN Network. Satire.
PARK CITY, Utah: Alexander Skarsgård has starred in 'True Blood,' 'Big Little Lies,' and 'The Northman,' a film in which he ran naked across a volcanic landscape screaming at ravens. None of it prepared audiences for what critics are now calling his finest work: a hand-woven fishing basket in erotic Sundance drama 'Wicker,' opposite two-time Oscar winner Olivia Colman.
The film, directed by Swedish auteur Lars Bjornveld, follows Ingrid, a solitary fisherwoman on the Orkney coast who develops a passionate, physical and ultimately spiritual relationship with a bespoke basket she commissioned from a local craftsman. The basket, named Oskar, is played by Skarsgård in full wicker prosthetics, which the production's lead makeup artist described in the press notes as "fourteen weeks of my life I have chosen to process privately."
Colman told journalists at the Zurich Film Festival that the love scenes, which include a full acoustic cover of Taylor Swift's "Wood" performed by both actors in a Scottish croft, felt "completely natural" once she and Skarsgård established trust.
"Alex and I spoke at length about what it means to be held," Colman said at a post-screening panel, wearing an expression that suggested she had already decided how to describe this period of her life in therapy. "And when you are held by something that is also Alex, but also a basket, you find that the boundary between furniture and feeling simply dissolves."
Skarsgård, for his part, said playing Oskar required him to access a stillness he had never previously located.
"As a basket, you cannot chase," he said. "You can only receive. I found that very freeing. And very sexy, actually. I think Oskar is the sexiest thing I have played since Eric Northman, and Eric Northman was a thousand-year-old vampire with a personal aircraft. So that tells you something."
It does, in fact, tell you something.
Early awards observers have noted that Skarsgård's basket has received warmer notices than his turn in last year's 'The Veil,' his role in 'Infinity Pool,' and a brief but critically ignored appearance in 'Godzilla vs. Kong,' where he played a scientist who believed, until the third act, that the situation could be resolved diplomatically. The basket, reviewers agree, projects more.
Colman received the film's loudest applause at Sundance, which prompted one journalist to ask whether she worried about being upstaged by a home furnishing.
"A basket is not a prop," Colman said, in the tone she normally reserves for playing queens. "A basket is a vessel. And Alexander is a vessel. So really it was two vessels. Being kind."
The studio has submitted 'Wicker' in all major categories. Skarsgård is listed under Best Actor. The basket is listed under costume design, which his publicist has confirmed he finds hurtful.
The story we are making fun of: https://variety.com/2026/film/global/olivia-colman-wicker-alexander-skarsgard-zurich-1236877898/