When Succession’s very own sexy Swede Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Potter’s beloved Dudley Dursley, Harry Melling, were cast in a full-frontal gay BDSM biker drama, the gay internet collectively dropped its oat milk lattes. Yes, folks, the film Pillion is real. Yes, it’s already premiered at Cannes. And yes—brace yourself for this one—there’s a Prince Albert piercing involved.
The premise? It’s queer. It’s kinky. It’s everything your pastor warned you about. Pillion follows Skarsgård’s Ray, a leathered-up biker daddy with the swagger of a Tom of Finland pin-up, who lures shy traffic warden Colin (Melling) into a dom/sub relationship that’s less “Fifty Shades” and more “Fifty Chains and a Blowjob Behind a Pub.”
According to early reports, including a cheerfully scandalized review from Variety, the film includes a scene where Ray passes Colin a note in a pub with instructions for a next-day rendezvous. What follows is a dark alley tryst featuring “the licking of rubber boots and the teasing of Ray’s Prince Albert.” One line in particular jumps off the page and into your gag reflex: Colin is seen “choking on his prize.” And no, we’re not talking about a BAFTA.
While Variety wondered aloud whether Skarsgård “flashing the goods” might “distract” from his performance, let’s be honest: gay audiences have no complaints. We’ve been distracted since True Blood. This is just Skarsgård’s logical evolution—from Viking vampire to leather dom with unresolved intimacy issues.
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Despite the steamy premise, the film’s reception at Cannes was far from scandalized. A seven-minute ovation? That’s not just applause—that’s foreplay. In a glowing Vanity Fair write-up, Pillion is described as “graphic” but “far from hardcore,” with enough “titillating depictions of gay sex and male anatomy” to make even a seasoned queer filmgoer clutch their pearls—or their pup mask.
Director Harry Lighton, making his feature debut, isn’t exactly coy about his vision either. Opening the Cannes screening, he declared his hope that Pillion would “make you horny” as much as it makes you “laugh or think.” Finally, a director who understands the queer trifecta.
In a recent interview, Lighton doubled down on his artistic choices:
“We shot some stuff which was more explicit, and it wasn’t the case that I was told to remove it out of the cut. I chose to remove it out of the cut because I think it was always important to me that the provocation of it didn’t override the sentiment, the experience.”
Let’s take a moment to appreciate that sentimentality and sodomy can, in fact, coexist. It’s the queer duality we love to see.
Meanwhile, both leads have praised each other with the kind of soft, earnest affection that makes Tumblr accounts blossom overnight.
Skarsgård gushed:
“I fell in love with Harry from the first second I saw him. He’s just the sweetest, nicest, loveliest human being.
I felt comfortable going as far as we needed to go in these situations with him. I also discovered a lot of things about Colin and Ray’s relationship that I didn’t anticipate discovering when we first started working on it. There were these tender, beautiful moments that just happened organically, and some moments that were weird and some moments that were funny. But he was incredibly game, very brave in just throwing himself out there.”
And Melling, with all the charm of a boy who just survived the gayest ride of his life, added:
“Alex is just the most generous, dreamy scene partner, so what could have been quite a daunting experience couldn’t have been more different, really.
When you sort out the choreography of it, which is often the most difficult part – you sort out what everyone’s doing, where their hands are going – and then once action is called, you’re in the world of Colin and Ray.”
Let’s just say: we’re ready to be in that world.
Still no release date yet, which is frankly homophobic. But when Pillion does hit screens, prepare for a film that’s equal parts raunch and revelation—where motorcycle metaphors meet queer longing, and riding pillion means handing over your heart and maybe your gag reflex.
Until then, keep your rubber boots clean. Daddy Ray wouldn’t have it any other way.
Source: Vanity Fair and Variety