If you ever thought Alexander Skarsgård’s career couldn’t get any more delightfully unhinged, Pillion has roared into the chat like a leather-clad daddy on a Harley, asking you to hold its beer — and its chain. And according to Skarsgard himself, not only is he proud of the film’s unapologetic horniness… he thinks his mother is going to like it too.
The movie wastes no time establishing its vibe. At one point, Ray slips Colin a note in a pub — old school, filthy romantic — and the next day’s rendezvous spirals into a dark-alley meet-up featuring some truly Olympic-level kink: rubber-boot worship, teasing of Ray’s Prince Albert, and a moment described in the script as Colin “choking on his prize.”
Director Harry Lighton knew exactly what he was doing. In interviews, he’s been refreshingly blunt about his intentions: he shot even more explicit material, but chose to dial it back — not because anyone told him to, but because he wanted the emotional beat1s to shine through the steam.
“I didn’t want the provocation to overshadow the sentiment,” he explained. “It was always about the experience.”
Translation: this isn’t shock for shock’s sake. It’s kink with heart. Leather with longing. A film that wants you to feel some things… and then feel some other things.
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Melling, who plays Colin, spoke to The Guardian about why Pillion’s approach to kink matters now more than ever. As Pride events get more sanitized for “family-friendliness,” he argued that the marginalized communities — kinksters very much included — deserve center stage again.
“Pride started as a call to arms,” he said. “So it’s the people on the outskirts who should be celebrated.”
He’s proud to have made a film that treats the kink community with empathy rather than exoticism.
And then there’s Skarsgard, who echoed that sentiment but added his signature Scandinavian charm:
The film, he said, is “warts-and-all — funny, sexy, and honest. We never wanted to pander to straight audiences.”
And then, the line that launched a thousand gay spit-takes:
“I also think my mum’s gonna like the film. We didn’t make it for her, but she can enjoy it.”
And apparently, also grandma Skarsgård, he tells Esquire UK:
“My grandmother was incredibly sexually liberated. She would have enjoyed Pillion”
Somewhere in Sweden, Mrs. Skarsgård is sipping tea, preparing herself emotionally for the concept of her son getting his boots licked in an alley. Moms contain multitudes.
Underneath all the leather, sweat, and chain-rattling tension, Pillion reveals a surprising emotional core. It’s not mocking kink, nor romanticizing it into pastel erotica. Instead, the film leans into the vulnerability and connection that BDSM can hold — without losing its irreverent sense of humor.
And audiences are eating it up. At its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the film earned a roaring seven-minute standing ovation. Not bad for a debut feature that includes boot-licking as a character arc.
Lighton summed up his mission in one perfect line:
He wanted to make a film that would “make you laugh, make you think, make you feel, and make you horny.”
Reader, he accomplished all four.
Mark your calendars, warm up your gag reflex, and maybe — just maybe — invite your mom.
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