Alexander Skarsgård is taking his new BDSM-themed film very seriously.
Alexander is starring in the British romantic comedy, Pillion, which is based on the 2020 novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones.
In the movie, Alexander plays Ray, a biker gang leader who enters a BDSM relationship with a young man named Colin, portrayed by Harry Melling.
While promoting the film at the Zurich Film Festival, Alexander wore a shirt that featured butt plugs and dildos, and you have to see it to believe it.
The silk shirt is from Italian designer Magliano, inspired by late 20th-century Italian gay culture.
Here’s a closer look at the shirt:
In May, he gave everyone a taste of the film’s culture by wearing over-the-knee leather Saint Laurent boots (which are modeled after fetish boots) to the premiere of The Phoenician Scheme.
In addition to Alexander’s bold fashion choices, he has been equally bold in his comments regarding his role in the movie.
While speaking to Variety at the festival, Alexander opened up about his connection to the BDSM world that is seen in the movie. “My experience of watching this on screen was through Cruising, where it’s this dark underbelly of New York City and it’s dangerous, murderous and scary. Leather gays are scary. I’m no Ray, but I have a little bit of experience from that world and I know that’s not the truthful depiction.”
In a moment that has taken on a viral life of its own, Alexander continued to share how he relates to the character Ray, mentioning his own sexual experiences. “I found that in this case, it’s not really relevant what my background is,” he said. “I mean, I do have a kid, but what I’ve done in the past, who I’ve been with, men, women… To me, what was important was that this felt like an opportunity to tell a story about a subculture I hadn’t seen portrayed this way – with so much authenticity.”
Now, it should be noted that it could be interpreted that he’s sharing information about his sexuality or just suggesting that it doesn’t matter what experiences he had to portray this character — either way, people can’t stop talking about his quotes or that dildo-ridden shirt.
One person wrote, “Alexander Skarsgard is the only person genuinely beyond label. He fucks and that’s all and you’re just lucky if you get to participate.”
Another person, who interpreted his remarks as “coming out,” wrote, “i’m still processing alexander skarsgård lowkey coming out as bi, the bisexual community just keeps winning.”
People excited for his new movie, based on his comments, were saying, “This man did some serious, on the ground, in the trenches research for this role.”
Talking about his raunchy Italian silk, one person wrote, “we love a dildo shirt.”
Another person wrote, laughing, “Who else would wear a shirt with dildos on it.”
And someone else said what I was thinking at first, “Wait bc at first glance I thought they were buildings.”
Read the full interview with Variety here.