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[klaineownsmysoul]

[askarsjustsoswedish]

Alexander Skarsgard as Ray, Harry Melling as Colin in 'Pillion'. Credit: A24/YouTube 

Alexander Skarsgård talks Pillion, that viral Pedro Pascal Cannes moment, and bringing humor to onscreen BDSM

Skarsgård sits down with his director, Harry Lighton, to discuss the film and its fearless depiction of dom/sub biker sex.

Nick Romano for Entertainment Weekly, October 4, 2025. (x)

Alexander Skarsgård arrives in the dim-lit lounge of Manhattan’s Bowery Hotel in a matching blue-grey henley and drawstring sweatpants. He’s having a rough go of it. The 6-foot-4 Murderbot and The Northman star sinks into a deep-cushioned leather chair by the fireplace as he relays his trials with food poisoning from the past 24 hours. 

“It was yesterday morning,” he tells Harry Lighton, his director of queer BDSM romance Pillion. “I had breakfast at the hotel. I was just in Zurich at the film festival, and then I was about to board a plane to New York. I felt a little queasy. Then I got on the plane and it was eight hours just on the bathroom floor, the whole trip. Cheek to the floor. This is too much information, but I couldn’t get it up. I was dry heaving. There was a line of people outside the bathroom. I had to go out so they could come in and then get back in there. It was so rough, so f---ing bad.”

It feels like a feat for this man to be sitting here now on this Friday afternoon, submitting to an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Even as Lighton offers to take over for him, he’s committed to doing it. How’s he feeling now? “Still f---ed,” Skarsgård responds, before flashing a charming smile. “Well, good to see you guys.”

His character in Pillion would never dare be this vulnerable and honest in public, and perhaps not even in private. Skarsgård fills the role of Ray, a motorcyclist and a sexual dom to Colin, played by Harry Melling (Harry Potter, The Pale Blue Eye) in the film inspired by Adam Mars-Jones’ book Box Hill. Romance and kink, drama and comedy all intertwine as Colin, a sweet parking enforcement officer who lives with his parents and sings in a barbershop quartet, awkwardly follows this handsome, leather-clad adonis into the world of BDSM. 

Alexander Skarsgard at Cannes in support of 'Pillion'. Credit: Rocco Spaziani/Archivio Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty

With the exception of this bout of food poisoning, Skarsgård and Lighton have had a blast taking this movie to international film festivals. Pillion has been gaining traction and garnering headlines for its overt and unashamed depictions of sex — a clumsy back-alley blowjob and a backwoods orgy included. And the cast is very much channeling that spirit on the road. 

A few striking photos exist on Lighton’s Instagram feed that depict a moment from their Cannes afterparty: Paul Tallis, a member of the Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club (GBMCC) in the U.K. who also have roles in Pillion, squats down on all fours in his leather dog mask and harness at the typically glamorous event. 

“It felt kind of naughty in an environment where you're told that you have to wear a certain kind of bow tie,” the filmmaker says. “Paul sneaked in the mask. It appeals to my sense of...I dunno, rebellion.”

The one moment that has brought more goodwill to Pillion than any marketing campaign so far was a brief exchange between Skarsgård and actor Pedro Pascal at Cannes. After the screening, video circulated online of the True Blood alum, wearing a white Magliano T-shirt with an image of a boot hovering over a man's outstretched tongue, hugging Pascal and kissing him on the cheek while the cast received a standing ovation at the screening. 

Alexander Skarsgard with 'Pillion' director Harry Lighton at Cannes. Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

Skarsgård is unaware that the exchange got any kind of play online. “I had no idea,” he says. “Obviously, he was at our premiere. I gave him a little smooch.” 

He can’t even recall what Pascal said to him in that moment. “That was quite overwhelming, that whole experience after the credits,” he continues. “It was just so many people and so much intensity. And so exciting and overwhelming, and also kind of awkward because they kept clapping and at one point you're like, ‘Should we start juggling or what?’ Your narcissistic side is really lapping it up, but also the humble side, or the fake humble side, is like, ‘Oh no. Stop this.’”

Now in Manhattan for the New York Film Festival stop of the tour, Pillion hits the States for the first time. A movie like this is going to naturally feel disruptive when few films these days approach sex and kink — and for that matter, gay representation — in such explicit ways. The Showtime miniseries Fellow Travelers is perhaps the closest that comes to mind in recent memory.

Lighton very much wanted to “disrupt notions of romance and relationship models” with the film, he says. “There's a version of disruption, particularly when applied to a subject like BDSM, which could be quite deliberate or trying to shock for shock’s sake. My focus was always trying to bring the kind of complexities of the kink world to the screen…trying to find the warmth in that community rather than be like Prince Albert, whips, chains, and gags. I think by nature of it being about outside culture, it’s gonna be disruptive in a way, but I then wanted to find the ways in which even the outside culture has an affinity with the mainstream.”

Instead of adapting some of the book’s harsher material, including moments of sexual assault, he applied a touch of romantic comedy to it. Colin is a character who’s so alienated from the gay community, though he has an overly supportive mother setting him up on dates. So when he’s thrown face-first (literally) into the world of kink, there’s a, shall we say, learning curve that leads to some laughs. 

Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard in 'Pillion'. Credit: A24

As Lighton describes, “It became about how to find those actions which would carry that same charge of a naive person entering into a world which he has no understanding of but approaching it as if he's learning about how to fish rather than learning about how to f---.”

Skarsgård was hooked by the logline alone before reading the actual script. He echoes a similar sentiment to Lighton. “Sometimes you're too respectful and it's too sanitized or it's like the Cruising version of the film where it's the dark subculture, but it's dangerous and it's a threat,” he says. “This was so beautiful 'cause it felt so warm, sexy, funny, awkward, and weird.”

In terms of the many intimate bottom-baring moments of Pillion, “I thought the sex scenes were fun and great,” he says with a playful smile. “I often find sex on screen boring. Often, the tension, the buildup, the drama is there, but as soon as they hit the sack, it's like, ‘Well then they're f---ing.’ What was so great about the sex scenes in Pillion was that there was an emotional arc to them, a narrative. Lots of things happen in those moments.”

He points to Colin's birthday scene as an example, which culminates in an outdoor group sex sequence on picnic tables. "It's a big, big emotional moment. It's not just an orgy in the woods,” Skarsgård continues. “I really love that. If I feel that excitement, there's no trepidation going into it. Then it's just fun.” 

One not-so-fun thing was his motorcycle uniform. When riding his bike as Ray, Skarsgård is decked out in heavy leather from head to toe, resembling in a way his previous role on Murderbot. “That space condom was very sweaty and uncomfortable,” the actor says of those six months working on the Apple TV+ series.

He sent a photo of himself in the Pillion costume fittings to the wardrobe department on Murderbot. “They knew how relieved I was when I got to take it off after those six months," he says. "And then a week later, I sent a photo of pretty much the same outfit. I’m like, ‘Here we go again! God damnit.’”

Skarsgård is pulling it together to present Pillion to a New York Film Festival crowd on Saturday night, which includes a moderated Q&A with him and Lighton. Food poisoning be damned! Lighton acknowledges what a movie like this means now for our current reality. He didn't write it with any intentional political messaging embedded within. Yet, at a time when LGBTQ rights are being scaled back and the more extreme MAGA supporters in the States protest the mere presence of a trans character on an animated show that ended three years ago, such an unapologetic story as this feels like a giant middle finger to that sentiment.

"Definitely on our side of the pond, as well, people who do exist on the margins, particularly queer people, are having their rights rode back. So I'd probably feel more defensive about my desire to portray those people in a complex, human way," he says. "I definitely didn't set out for the film to be a social issues film, but I did set out to make something which humanized a group of people that I think have been portrayed in a very derogatory way. Take trans people, for instance. At the moment, there's so much misleading, derogatory portrayals of that group of marginalized people."

Skarsgård views the movie as a chance to gain insight into a subculture. "I hope that they'll walk away feeling the way I felt when I was reading the script. I really cared about all these characters. I felt with them and for them, and I was invested in their journey."

Pillion is slated to open in theaters in February 2026.

[blondebrainpowered]

Premiere season promotional photo for Saturday Night Live, 1975

Nicknamed the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players," the original cast of Saturday Night Live ignited a comedy revolution with their mix of irreverent characters and satirical impressions of political figures and pop culture icons.

Pictured left to right, top to bottom: Chevy Chase, Michael O'Donoghue, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, and Garrett Morris.

Michael O'Donoghue was a credited cast member for three episodes in the first season, and made an appearance in the show's very first sketch, The Wolverines, where he delivered the very first line of the series.

[eddie-redmayne-italian-blog]

Eddie Redmayne says Day of the Jackal scripts 'discombobulated' him: 'It threw me off course'

Redmayne and his costar and co-executive producer Lashana Lynch preview Peacock's upcoming thriller adaptation.

By Ashley Boucher September 23, 2024.

Eddie Redmayne had an immediate connection to his latest project — even if it "discombobulated" him at times

The Oscar winner plays the titular assassin in Peacock's upcoming thriller Day of the Jackal, based on Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel of the same name. The mysterious killer for hire was first brought to life on screen in a 1973 movie adaptation starring Edward Fox as the Jackal, who is hired to take out French President Charles de Gaulle while a police detective unravels his true identity.

"It was one of those movies that my family would watch again and again and again,” Redmayne, who also serves as an executive producer, tells Entertainment Weekly. “And so I thought, wow, this is bold, that they're going to try and reimagine this. And what I read, I just found completely thrilling and compelling, and at each moment it threw me off course and it kind of discombobulated me, but I couldn't stop turning the pages... I hadn't done television for a few years, but the idea of getting to spend a proper amount of time with this enigma felt like great material to mine.” 

The scripts that made Redmayne's head swirl update the plot for modern times — and provide more insight into who the Jackal really is, making the 10-episode series "a completely different piece" that has "been reconceived and contemporized with a new target."

The series begins with the Jackal pulling off a high-profile kill from a distance that should have been impossible. The remarkable shot draws the attention of a client whose offer, risky as it may be, could mean retirement for the hit man. But, unfortunately for the Jackal, it also draws the attention of British Intelligence, turning the hunter into the hunted. 

“One of the things that appealed to me about doing this series was, in Edward Fox's version — it's two hours, that movie — Edward is so filled with charisma… and kind of wit and elegance, but you never get to learn anything about it,” Redmayne says. “I wanted to see if through this 10-hour thing, we could get to know someone, but always be second guessing.”

Entertainment Weekly

Eddie Redmayne says Day of the Jackal scripts 'discombobulated' him: 'It threw me off course'

Redmayne and his costar and co-executive producer Lashana Lynch preview Peacock's upcoming thriller adaptation.

Eddie Redmayne had an immediate connection to his latest project — even if it "discombobulated" him at times.

The Oscar winner plays the titular assassin in Peacock's upcoming thriller Day of the Jackal, based on Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel of the same name. The mysterious killer for hire was first brought to life on screen in a 1973 movie adaptation starring Edward Fox as the Jackal, who is hired to take out French President Charles de Gaulle while a police detective unravels his true identity.

“It was one of those movies that my family would watch again and again and again,” Redmayne, who also serves as an executive producer, tells Entertainment Weekly. “And so I thought, wow, this is bold, that they're going to try and reimagine this. And what I read, I just found completely thrilling and compelling, and at each moment it threw me off course and it kind of discombobulated me, but I couldn't stop turning the pages... I hadn't done television for a few years, but the idea of getting to spend a proper amount of time with this enigma felt like great material to mine.” 

Eddie Redmayne is a master of disguise in The Day of the Jackal first-look teaser trailer

The scripts that made Redmayne's head swirl update the plot for modern times — and provide more insight into who the Jackal really is, making the 10-episode series "a completely different piece" that has "been reconceived and contemporized with a new target."

The series begins with the Jackal pulling off a high-profile kill from a distance that should have been impossible. The remarkable shot draws the attention of a client whose offer, risky as it may be, could mean retirement for the hit man. But, unfortunately for the Jackal, it also draws the attention of British Intelligence, turning the hunter into the hunted. 

“One of the things that appealed to me about doing this series was, in Edward Fox's version — it's two hours, that movie — Edward is so filled with charisma… and kind of wit and elegance, but you never get to learn anything about it,” Redmayne says. “I wanted to see if through this 10-hour thing, we could get to know someone, but always be second guessing.”

Indeed, the Jackal keeps not only the audience, but those around him constantly on their toes — particularly MI6 arms specialist Bianca Pullman, played by No Time to Die star Lashana Lynch. Bianca becomes obsessed with finding out the Jackal’s identity, to the detriment of her career and family. “She is so determined to be this strange version of human superhero — and I say strange version because it's all the twisted elements of things that you would hope that a human wouldn't do when doing good for the world,” Lynch, a co-executive producer, tells EW, adding that, “The way that she goes about her work means that there has to be a fall off and a sacrifice somewhere. And unfortunately for her, that sacrifice and the racking of the brain is worth it.” 

What both Bianca and the Jackal put themselves through — and the destruction they leave — as they traverse Europe to carry out their missions will surely have viewers questioning their judgment. “People working for good and people working for bad can have such similarities,” Lynch says. “At the end of the day, they both just have jobs to do.”

Those jobs just might cost them everything.

The Day of the Jackal premieres Nov. 7 on Peacock.

Source ew.com

[stopandimagineloveforever]

Ryan Reynolds says Hugh Jackman's attempts to teach him how to dance backfired

Ryan Reynolds says Hugh Jackman's attempts to teach him how to sing and dance for his Christmas musical 'Spirited' completely backfired: 'His helping was not helping.'

The best lesson Jackman taught him didn't actually take place on the dance floor, but rather over a cup of coffee. "He reminded me of something that is so vital with almost anything that you're doing in the arts," Reynolds recalled. "He said, 'Just remember to enjoy it, because if you're enjoying it, we'll enjoy it.'"

[callmebyyournamephoto]

'Wonka' director 'didn't want to reinvent' the Gene Wilder film

'Wonka' director Paul King says he 'didn't want to reinvent' the Gene Wilder film with his musical prequel. See EW's exclusive sneak peek.

When it came to casting someone to play Wonka in his youth, King counts himself lucky to have landed Chalamet. "I really don't think there are many people who could play this role at all," he says. "Those are mighty big shoes to fill." The Dune actor, he recalls, was able to find "the manic and mischievous and mysterious energy you'd expect from Willy Wonka," but also the heart. "He's such a brilliant actor at expressing really deep emotions within the context of a family movie. He's just extraordinary as well at singing and dancing. He's got the voice of an angel and the toes of... I don't know what toes. I can't wait for people to see it. I think it's gonna blow people away."

Director Paul King for Entertainment Weekly - July 11, 2023

[jonmercer]

How Kenny Ortega assembled a real band for Julie and the Phantoms

Click the link below for the full interview.

After almost a week of initial auditions, the producers narrowed it down to about seven different actors for each of the four roles. And while the actors were using demos of "Wake Up" and "Bright" during auditions, it wasn't guaranteed that the songs would actually make it into the series. But when Ortega saw Reyes, Gillespie, Joyner, and Shada auditioning, he saw something special in both them and the songs. "They made it their own," he says. "Every time we put this group together, I was feeling something that I wasn't feeling in the rest of them."

During the "mix and match" process of the auditions, Ortega and the other producers would put together different groupings to see how all the actors performed with each other. "We were matched up with so many different people during that process, but every time it was me, Owen, Jer, and Madison, we felt it from the very first moment," Gillespie says. "There was just an instant chemistry," Shada adds. "The first time I was with Charlie and Owen, there was this brotherly bickering vibe that was perfect. And then when we had Maddie, it just sent it over the top." Finally, Ortega couldn't deny the magic he was seeing with this foursome. "When we were all finished with every single actor, I turned to Netflix and my partners, and I said, 'Can I show you what I believe is our band?'" he says. "I went into the back and I dismissed everyone and I said, 'I'm going to look at one more audition, everyone else is free to go,' and I called up Madison, Jeremy, Charlie, and Owen. And they came out onto the stage and they huddled in a band circle. And it gave me goosebumps."

The four actors had no idea they already were Julie and the Phantoms. But they acted like it anyways. "They decided they were going to be this band, and I was feeling it," Ortega says. "And all of a sudden Madison came out of the circle and she walked up to the microphone and she said, 'Hello everybody, I'm Julie and we're Julie and the Phantoms,' and the band kicked into the song, and every camera in the room went up into the air like we were at a real concert. And I turned around and every Netflix executive and all of my creative partners, everyone in the room had their camera up and I was like, 'We are filming our future right here.' That was the moment that I knew, and that there wasn't going to be a debate, we found it, and it was clear.”

"Perfect Harmony" isn't the only original song created by the real-life Julie and the Phantoms. "Now that the kids have gone into band camp, they have written five songs along with songwriting mentors for a potential season 2," Ortega reveals. "All the promise that I saw in them is there. They’re songwriters, they’re actors, and they’re a great band."

[violetganache42]

DuckTales (2017)'s Best Episodes According to Entertainment Weekly

2018: S1E22 - The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

This endlessly smart revival has a rapturous zigzag sensibility. The best surprise? Turning its funniest (and most devastating) adventure into a bottle episode set inside a half-crashed plane full of secrets. —Darren Franich

2019: S2E7 - What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!

This whole time, DuckTales had been hiding its best character off screen. But this episode finally showed us what Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s mom has been doing on the moon for the past 10 years. It’s heartbreaking to watch Della (voiced by Paget Brewster) reckon with how her love of adventuring has kept her away from her family—and her lullaby for her sons might break you—but the hope of reunion is powerful too. —Christian Holub

2020: S3E2 - Quack Pack!

In its first two seasons, the new DuckTales thoroughly surpassed its predecessor in humor and cleverness. With its third (and unfortunately final) season, DuckTales set its sights on the other Disney Afternoon cartoons as well—even though they all belonged to different genres. The Huey, Dewey, and Louie of DuckTales are death-defying adventurers, but the Quack Pack version of the characters just act like a normal sitcom family. This episode reconciled the two by using another element of Disney’s Duck mythology—Gene the Genie (Jaleel White) from the 1990 DuckTales film Treasure of the Lost Lamp. When Donald Duck wishes his family was normal, they get sent to a sitcom dimension; only Huey (Danny Pudi) senses something is wrong, and the resulting journey to convince his family evokes the best episodes of The Twilight Zone. The fact that Pudi also played iconic fourth-wall breaker Abed on Community is just one facet of this episode’s playful dance with meta absurdity. —Christian Holub

2020: S3E12 - Let's Get Dangerous!

It’s going to be tough to say goodbye to DuckTales when its current season ends, but we can’t deny the show is going out in style. Everything has been dialed up in season 3: The humor, the stakes, the meta-inventiveness. Showrunners Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones often talk about how they’ve drawn inspiration from every past incarnation of DuckTales: The original show, the movie, comics, games. In the home stretch, they started drawing inspiration from every other Disney Afternoon cartoon too. Season 3 kicked off with a magical riff on the Quack Pack and Goof Troop sitcoms, while this epic two-part episode used a quantum machine to literally pull supervillains out of the original Darkwing Duck show—thus giving DuckTales’ version of Darkwing (Chris Diamantopoulos) a true trial by fire. Watching goofball pilot Launchpad McQuack (Beck Bennett) evolve into a mature hero in his own right exemplifies what is so fulfilling about DuckTales, and the new adventure family he’s formed with Darkwing and Gosalyn (Stephanie Beatriz) offers a ray of hope in the face of cancellation. Disney, if you’re listening, please greenlight a Darkwing Duck spin-off stat! —Christian Holub