Christmas films don’t always have to be saccharine tales of straight love and the so-called true meaning of the holiday. There are a few unconventional entries that don’t fit into this perfectly wrapped box, including Die Hard, Batman Returns, and yes, the iconic lesbian drama Carol. And this year, a new film has entered the conversation: Pillion.
The film begins in the London suburbs around the holidays, with the main character, Colin (played by Harry Melling), being set up on a date by his parents. The men have a drink in a fairy-light-strung pub after Colin performs a few songs onstage with his barbershop quartet. While that date fizzles, Colin also encounters the brooding and intimidating Ray (Alexander Skarsgård) at the bar, and the two dive headfirst into a dom/sub relationship that will challenge and change these characters.
HARRY M. in THE LONDON LEATHERMAN Black Leather LV3 Jeans Style Waistcoat; STUDIO NICHOLSON Puch Black Italian Denim Jean; EMPORIO ARMANI Cashmere Blue Long Sleeve Knit; CROCKETT & JONES Black Scotch Grain Islay Boot with Vibram Sole / HARRY L. in EDWARD SEXTON Charcoal Flannel Double Breasted Suit; ARKET Black Rib Racer Vest; CROCKETT & JONES Goodwood Black One Cut Oxford / ALEXANDER in STUDIO NICHOLSON Line Tech Wool Pleat Trouser and Roversi Black Wool Crepe Jacket; ARKET Dark Navy Rib Racer Vest; MANOLO BLAHNIK Black Suede Sloane BootsSam Waxman
Like dating, the winter months in New York City are brutal — the harsh gusts feel like daggers, and the icy sidewalks can add danger to commutes. But at least the Christmas decorations make the city just a tad more bearable. That’s precisely the scene for the day that I meet with Pillion’s two stars, Melling and Skarsgård, at the Bowery Hotel with the film’s director, Harry Lighton. I’m guided into the hotel’s sunroom, insulated from the winter cold that’s settled over the city on the day of this December interview.
Melling and Lighton, fresh from battling the frigid winds themselves, greet me as I settle into the wicker sofa and adjust the coral cushions beneath me. Lighton has just returned from Katz’s Delicatessen (the famous deli in When Harry Met Sally…, the late Rob Reiner’s groundbreaking romantic film). He wears a hat emblazoned with the deli’s name, along with a sweatshirt and sweatpants. Melling has opted for a black long-sleeve shirt and an acid-wash gray Stüssy jacket. The men sit in the two chairs directly across from my couch, right before Skarsgård arrives in a cobalt blue sweater emblazoned with the words “Dream Girl” in canary yellow. He sits in a semi-recumbent position next to me with his hands in his sweater pockets, ready to answer questions about the highly anticipated queer film.
ALEXANDER in STUDIO NICHOLSON Cabo Overcoat in Dark Navy Melton Wool, Line Tech Wool Pleat Trouser, and Roversi Black Wool Crepe Jacket; ARKET Dark Navy Rib Racer Vest; MANOLO BLAHNIK Black Suede Sloane Boots / HARRY L. in THE LONDON LEATHERMAN Black Leather 1976 Jeans and LW3 Dome Stud Belt; EDWARD SEXTON Cashmere Herringbone Topcoat; ARKET Black Rib Racer Vest; SANTONI Calfskin Ankle Boot / HARRY M. in EDWARD SEXTON Shepherd Houndstooth Raglan Overcoat; THE LONDON LEATHERMAN Black Leather LV3 Jeans Style Waistcoat; STUDIO NICHOLSON Puch Black Italian Denim Jean; EMPORIO ARMANI Cashmere Blue Long Sleeve Knit; CROCKETT & JONES Black Scotch Grain Islay Boot with Vibram SoleSam Waxman
Pillion follows doe-eyed gay man Colin through his strict BDSM relationship with mysterious biker Ray. Colin goes through a somewhat clumsy journey of self-discovery, learning more about his desire to be an obedient submissive to Ray and, in turn, about himself and the kink community at large.
Pillion, which is scheduled for a U.S. release February 6, was the subject of critical acclaim after making its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, Pillion received a seven-minute standing ovation and a Best Screenplay award in the Un Certain Regard section for Lighton, who is a first-time feature director to boot. The film also picked up honors at the British Independent Film Awards and the Gotham Awards, where Lighton won a Best Adapted Screenplay award just days before this interview.
And it’s been a whirlwind international press tour for this Pillion trio. Planning for this Out photo shoot initially had sights on Los Angeles, where the Pillion team was holding screenings. This sit-down interview ended up taking place the subsequent week in New York after the Gothams, and the shoot followed a week later in England at the Corinthia London hotel. Throughout this blitz, Skarsgård in particular has been making a sartorial splash. At the London Film Festival premiere, for example, he sported a sleeveless top, leather tie, and leather pants — and brought along a motorcycle and leashed pups. (W magazine dubbed him “the red carpet’s kinkiest king.”)
Harry Melling, Harry Lighton, and Alexander SkarsgardSam Waxman
Pillion lives up to the hype. The film offers audiences the chance to see a different type of relationship unfold on-screen, one that often isn’t portrayed with this much heart and compassion — particularly for Colin, who struggles to balance obedience to his dom with a yearning for real love. The movie gives this portrayal space to be received with empathy rather than gawking, because, at the end of the day, it is a coming-of-age story.
“I always use a slightly irritating metaphor about how I wanted there to be as much syrup as there was spice in the movie. We’re gonna cuddle you as much as—” Lighton says before Skarsgård jumps in, finishing his thought, “You’ll be covered in syrup. It’s a love story, and there are universal elements that appeal to people who are not a part of the subculture.”
To ensure these creatives were respectful of the BDSM community, each of the men conducted his own research. For Lighton, that came with reading the book the movie is based on, Box Hill, by Adam Mars-Jones, and interviewing people in dom/sub relationships with varying degrees of strictness in their approach.
“Some people who were in kind of like 24/7 master/slave relationships and some people who are in much more relaxed ones,” says Lighton, who is gay. He also spent time talking with folks in the queer wrestling community in London as part of his research for a particular sweaty, singlet-wearing scene the main characters grappled with in the film.
Harry Melling, Harry Lighton, and Alexander SkarsgardSam Waxman
Melling reveals that the rehearsal for this close-contact sequence was the first time he encountered Skarsgård. “It was a great way to meet,” Melling says, adding that he’s happy the pair didn’t spend time talking about how they planned to play the characters beforehand. They hoped they could figure out that dynamic in front of the camera, essentially approaching their characters in the way their relationship unfolded in the film — diving in headfirst and figuring it out as they went.
For additional acting prep, Melling immersed himself in the real-life Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club. He took his first trip on a pillion— a term for the seat behind a motorcyclist, and also slang for a bottom — with a member named Paul Tallis, who plays a pup in the movie. (Many real-life members of the club are featured in Pillion; the gay singer Jake Shears also appears as a sub in the gang.) Melling says this ride to Cambridge Pride was “absolutely fucking terrifying.” But once he got there, he fully submitted to the role. Tallis donned his pup mask, put Melling in a leash and collar, and guided him around the festivities.
Harry Melling, Alexander Skarsgard and Harry LightonSam Waxman
Tallis took Melling under his wing and introduced him to other members of the club, who were a part of kink crowds (the club is not a kink community, but there is some overlap). He spoke to Melling about what it meant to be a part of this world and even taught him how to lick a boot.
“There’s a specific way to do it,” Melling says with a straight face. “There are lots of little things to sort of bear in mind when on all fours trying to lick the boot.”
While filming, Skarsgård also spent time with the motorcycle club and members of the London kink community, while citing to the information Lighton gathered from talking with several BDSM couples and hearing their varying experiences. “They were obviously instrumental in shaping the world as we were shooting, and I also thought it was interesting and important [to show] the diversity within the community. ... [These couples are] not all the same,” Skarsgård says.
It’s easy to fall into stereotypes when portraying this subculture. But Pillion shows that each person in the group has different interests and rules. Skarsgård points to an orgy scene in the woods, where the other couples are hugging and showing affection, revealing that beneath a tough exterior lies playfulness, sweetness, and fun.
Sam Waxman
Melling, widely known for playing Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films, admits that a few of his friends were a bit worried about the film because they felt it may be too “dark and serious,” but he says the reality is quite the opposite.
“It’s a lot of fun; I find it very funny,” Melling says. The sex scenes in the movie are not gratuitous or purely for shock value; they serve to push the narrative forward, which is why he found this project so compelling. His character dives headfirst into this arrangement with Ray. Still, audiences never see them discuss boundaries or expectations (which becomes the film’s central tension). This question becomes a frequent topic of discussion (and concern) about the story and its central relationship, which some could perceive as abusive.
“For the dramatic purpose of the film, [the tension] relies on Colin and the audience being in the dark,” Lighton explains. “To some extent, it’s like withholding information. So it’s kind of key that we didn’t lay it all out there to keep the audience engaged.” Melling adds that there is one scene in which Ray asks Colin early in the film, “What am I going to do with you?” Colin responds, “Whatever you want.”
Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård in a scene from 'Pillion'Courtesy A24
Skarsgård — a straight actor whose breakthrough role, Eric Northman in True Blood, was also queer — says he didn’t have much hesitation about acting in this film. On the contrary, he was excited to bring his star power to Pillion, because the Melancholia actor found it to be a truthful depiction of a subculture that’s often stereotyped and maligned in media.
“Pillion didn’t feel like it was only made for people in that community,” he says. “It felt like it had potential to kind of appeal to a wider audience and without reinforcing stereotypes, but the opposite, subverting [stereotypes] and showing people who know nothing about that and have only seen that subculture through the depiction in movies or television.”
Hollywood is in a precarious position under a second Trump administration, especially the LGBTQ+ community, which faces political villainization and new assaults on rights and dignity. When asked about whether there was any worry about the film reaching the wrong audience, like Republicans who might use it as another reason to go after LGBTQ+ people, Lighton says, “I definitely thought about it, but my belief is that if someone doesn’t leave after the first blow job scene — Democrat or Republican or whoever — particularly if they started from a position of antipathy towards the community, they’ll end with more empathy.”
Harry Melling, Harry Lighton, and Alexander SkarsgårdSam Waxman
“If they do leave during the first blow job scene, I don’t really care, that’s narrow-minded, but if they last the course, then hopefully, they’ll come out with a kind of enriched view of this community,” he adds.
Melling agrees, saying that making this film helped him learn more about the different ways people experience love and the forms of balance that make sense to them. And if people purposefully misunderstand the film or approach it with a sense of bigotry, then as Skarsgård so thoughtfully puts it, “They’re fucking idiots.”
Chronologically, Pillion ends where it began: during the holiday season, one year after the meeting of its main characters. Even after dark experiences, the film is unafraid to give up on that “syrup,” or hope. And sitting around the fire with this trio, talking about bootlicking, pups, and the power of a queer BDSM romance to move hearts and minds? Maybe Christmas miracles exist after all.
This article is part of OUT's Jan-Feb 2026 issue, which hits newsstands January 27. Support queer media and subscribe — or download the issue through Apple News+, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader.
ALEXANDER in STUDIO NICHOLSON Cabo Overcoat in Dark Navy Melton Wool, Line Tech Wool Pleat Trouser, and Roversi Black Wool Crepe Jacket; ARKET Dark Navy Rib Racer Vest; MANOLO BLAHNIK Black Suede Sloane Boots / HARRY L. in THE LONDON LEATHERMAN Black Leather 1976 Jeans and LW3 Dome Stud Belt; EDWARD SEXTON Cashmere Herringbone Topcoat; ARKET Black Rib Racer Vest; SANTONI Calfskin Ankle Boot / HARRY M. in EDWARD SEXTON Shepherd Houndstooth Raglan Overcoat; THE LONDON LEATHERMAN Black Leather LV3 Jeans Style Waistcoat; STUDIO NICHOLSON Puch Black Italian Denim Jean; EMPORIO ARMANI Cashmere Blue Long Sleeve Knit; CROCKETT & JONES Black Scotch Grain Islay Boot with Vibram SoleSam Waxman
talent ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD, HARRY MELLING, HARRY LIGHTON
photographer SAM WAXMAN @wamsaxman
stylist THOMAS STUBBS @styleanderror
stylist assistant BEN TISDALL @benjaminwulf
grooming CHARLEY MCEWEN @charley.mcewen
location CORINTHIA LONDON @corinthialondon corinthia.com
