Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling will play dom/sub lovers in Pillion.
Directed by Harry Lighton (Wren Boys) in his debut feature, the film will follow the romance between Colin (Melling), a “weedy wallflower letting life pass him by” who becomes the submissive of Ray, “the impossibly handsome leader of a motorbike club”.
The synopsis continues: “Ray uproots Colin from his dreary suburban life, introducing him to a community of kinky, queer bikers and taking all sorts of virginities along the way.
“But as Colin steps deeper into Ray’s world of rules and mysteries, he begins to question whether the life of a 24/7 submissive is for him. Has he found his calling, or simply swapped one form of suffocation for another?”
Based on Adam Mars-Jones’ novel Box Hill, it has been described as a “fun and filthy romance with heart”.
Set to shoot in the UK this summer, Pillion is an Element Pictures production financed by BBC Film, Picturehouse Entertainment and September Films. Cornerstone will launch the film in Cannes, before handling worldwide sales.
In a statement, Emma Norton of Element Pictures described Lighton as a filmmaker who is “drawn to risk and fascinated by the potential to find surprising complexity in everyday life.”
Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder, Cornerstone, added: “Harry’s script is equally compelling and shocking as it is funny and entertaining – and one of the best we’ve read in years.”
Skarsgård is best known for his role as Eric Northman in True Blood (2008-2014) and as Perry Wright in Big Little Lies (2017-2019), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe.
Other notable roles include Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), The Northman (2022), Infinity Pool (2023), and Succession (2021-2023).
Melling memorably rose to fame as Dudley Dursey in the Harry Potter franchise (2001-2010), before starring in The Old Guard, Devil All The Time, The Queen’s Gambit (all 2020) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022).
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