A husband woven from wicker, an ostracised fisherwoman and a village scandal waiting to unravel: the first trailer for Wicker brings one of this year’s most unconventional screen romances into full view.
Olivia Colman stars as a fisherwoman living on the margins of a conservative seaside village. Tired of being ridiculed by her neighbours, she commissions the local Basketmaker, played by Peter Dinklage, to create the perfect husband for her. The result is Alexander Skarsgård’s devoted Wicker Husband, whose arrival—and unexpectedly passionate marriage—soon provokes jealousy and outrage throughout the community.
The official trailer makes clear that directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson have not treated the premise as a gentle fairy tale. Their adaptation of Ursula Wills-Jones’ short story The Wicker Husband mixes earthy humour, sensuality and romantic fantasy with a village world governed by gossip, convention and social status.
For Budapest Reporter, the footage also brings a familiar production story to life. We first reported on the film’s planned Hungarian shoot in December 2024, before the project entered production with a different actor originally attached to the title role.
The completed film was shot in Hungary during 2025, using the medieval backlots of NFI Studios and Korda Studios, with local production support from Royal Budapest Film Co. Production designer Renátó Cseh helped shape its weathered coastal settlement, while costume designers András Dániel Tóth and Attila Godena-Juhász contributed to the tactile, lived-in character of its world. Budapest Reporter previously explored the wider Hungarian craft team following the film’s Sundance premiere in January.
At the centre of the trailer is Skarsgård’s extraordinary transformation. The Wicker Husband was created by New Zealand’s Wētā Workshop as a fully practical fabricated suit with facial prosthetic makeup. According to the company’s production account, most shots required no CGI, with limited visual effects used only for details such as light appearing through the hollow weave.
The cast also includes Elizabeth Debicki, Richard E. Grant, Marli Siu and Nabhaan Rizwan. Following its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Wicker will open in US cinemas on October 23 before expanding on October 30, according to distributor Black Bear.












