Alexander Skarsgård dominates in first trailer for queer BDSM-romance film Pillion

The first trailer for Alexander Skarsgård’s queer BDSM-romance film, Pillion, is out and the Swedish actor certainly dominates.

The “kinky” film stars the True Blood actor as the leather-clad biker daddy Ray, who entices the meek traffic warden and barbershop-quartet fan Colin (Harry Potter‘s Harry Melling) into a dom/sub relationship.

We first see Colin performing in a pub as a member of his dad’s (Douglas Hodge) barber shop quartet. Across the bar he spies Ray playing darts and hanging out with other bikers. One of these is Kevin (Jake Shears) whose blonde hair is grabbed from behind and pulled back forcefully by his leather-clad dom.

As Colin approaches the bar to order a drink Ray cooly slides into frame, throwing down some change in a commanding gesture. The two men lock eyes, Colin with some detectable reservation.

Little Peggy March’s “I Will Follow Him” starts to play in the background as we see Ray introduce Colin to his world of bikers, leather, and BDSM. At one point Ray stands naked in the bathroom doorway as Colin washes, silently dominating the younger man.

“How did you get a man like that?” Colin is asked. “I have an aptitude for devotion,” he replies plainly, suggestively lifting his eyebrows.

Other scenes show Ray furthering the dom/sub relationship by prioritising his dog over Colin when it comes to space on the sofa. As Ray measures Colin’s chest, presumably for a bespoke piece of leather-wear, a smile cracks on his face hinting at a softer side.

As the trailer ends we see Colin with a shaved head, in full biker gear and with a large chain around his neck looking at Ray from a distance. Around Ray’s neck is a thin chain bearing a key, which we’re taking as a literal and symbolic part of the pair’s dom/sub relationship.

The pair also wrestle in lycra singlets, Colin’s notably assless signifying his position in the relationship. If that position wasn’t clear enough, the next scene makes it abundantly so.

“I’ll text you a shopping list,” Ray tells Colin as he prepares to leave Ray’s home. “And buy yourself a butt plug. you’re too tight,” Ray advises. “Yeah, lovely. That sounds like a plan,” replies an obedient if slightly surprised Colin.

New posters have also been released showing Melling and Skarsgård in character. Both are dripping in water with Melling wearing a padlock around his neck and Skarsgård a key.

Pillion premiered in Cannes to a seven-minute standing ovation as well as positive reviews. Vanity Fair described it as a “disarmingly poignant drama of discovery” as well as “graphic.” The Hollywood Reporter called the film, adapted from the 2020 novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, “a cheeky delight”.

Much has been made of Skarsgård’s full-frontal nudity in the film, with the actor also teasing a “raunchier” version of the movie. The filmmakers cut some material before the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Director Harry Lighton told Variety he made edits because he didn’t want audiences to feel “deliberately shocked by an image”. As for an example, he detailed: “there was one close up of a d*ck, a hard d*ck… like down the barrel of the lens. And after watching the film, I thought, yeah, cutting it was probably the right decision.”

Pillion will be in cinemas from 28 November and will screen at London Film Festival this month.

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