Wicker and Intimacy Design: What the Viral Trailer Gets Us Talking About

What Wicker Can Teach Us About Choreographing Intimacy in Costume

If producers of Wicker know one thing, it’s how to get their audiences talking and perhaps blushing…

The trailer for Wicker, starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, has captured people’s attention with its unusual combination of fantasy, comedy, and unapologetic sensuality. Colman plays an ostracized Fisherwoman who asks the local Basketmaker, played by Peter Dinklage, to create her a husband. Said husband, portrayed by Skarsgård in a full wicker costume, is generating plenty of excitement online — not least because his full wicker manhood makes a rather memorable appearance in the trailer.

But it raises a fascinating practical question for intimacy professionals: how do you choreograph intimate scenes when one performer is encased in an elaborate wicker costume?

What’s more unusual: the fantasy element of Wicker, or the fact that a middle-aged woman’s sexuality is centered on screen?

Audiences are genuinely excited to see Olivia Colman’s character designing a life (and husband) that suits her, embracing her pleasure and the intimacy that comes with it.

We have seen this before, the popularity of series such as Bridgerton showed us that intimacy can be central to an audience’s relationship with a story. Viewers were tuning into witness intimacy on screen in a way they hadn’t seen centered before, and the actual plot almost became secondary.

When intimate storytelling is approached with care, specificity, and in these cases - a female gaze, it can reveal things about characters that dialogue alone cannot. Who initiates contact? Who hesitates? How does a character ask for what they want? How do they respond when that desire is returned?

In my opinion, the real draw here is the fact that intimacy is being portrayed through a female gaze. It creates space for a broader understanding of desire, in which tenderness, humor, care, and emotional connection add to the sexual intimacy rather than diminishing it.

What to do when your scene partner is made of wicker

Of course, creating this particular romantic fantasy involved an unusual practical challenge.

Skarsgård’s transformation was achieved using a physical wicker suit and facial prosthetics created by Wētā Workshop. According to the film’s directors, Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, its intimate scenes required particularly detailed preparation, the scenes were scripted specifically, then storyboarded, rehearsed, and revised before filming.

The production’s lead intimacy coordinator, Ita O’Brien, supported the performers while they prepared to film these scenes during their first week on set.

Intimacy professionals regularly work with costumes, wigs, prosthetics, modesty garments, makeup, microphones, and other technical elements. Each one can affect how performers move, where they can be touched, what contact is comfortable, and whether the planned choreography is physically possible.

A beautiful piece of choreography is not particularly useful if it damages a costume, dislodges a prosthetic, exposes something that should remain covered, or asks a performer to move in a way their clothing will not allow.

This is why intimacy work cannot happen in isolation.

Collaboration between departments begins before anyone reaches the set

People entering the intimacy coordination profession would expect to work closely with performers and directors, however they may be surprised to learn how many departments they have to collaborate with too!

Wardrobe, Hair, Makeup, Prosthetics, Camera, Sound, may all hold information that affects how an intimate scene can be safely and effectively created. For a production like Wicker, early communication is essential. An intimacy professional needs to understand how the suit is constructed, which areas are delicate, how much movement it permits, how long the performer can comfortably wear it, and whether certain kinds of contact could cause damage or discomfort.

A practical recommendation for intimacy professionals

• Reach out to Wardrobe, Hair, Makeup, and Prosthetics as early as possible!

• Ask to see the relevant costumes and materials rather than relying only on a written description.

• Discuss what contact, movement, and adjustments may be required.

• Find out whether the performers’ clothing or prosthetics create any additional physical limitations.

• Where possible, rehearse with any elements that will affect the choreography.

• Treat the departments involved as creative collaborators, not simply technical considerations.

Intimacy coordination is just about working directly with performers on the day of filming, it's also about gathering the information needed to create clear, repeatable, consent-based choreography that works within the practical realities of the production. That preparation is what allows an intimate scene to look spontaneous, even when one of the performers is covered from head to toe in wicker!