Hollywood stars are known for their beauty and charisma. But in a classic plot twist, the final big-screen dreamboat that’s getting viewers hot and bothered isn’t even human.
Alexander Skarsgård’s character Wicker Husband in the romantic comedy Wicker sent the internet into a frenzy.
“I will never look at my patio furniture the same way again,” says one comment on Instagram. Ikea captioned a photo of its wicker furniture with the term “husband material.”
The basket-making community, however, is upset for very different reasons. The fact that the wicker husband is not made of willow and appears to be braided rather than woven has irritated some manufacturers.
Deborah Needleman, a former New York Times T magazine editor turned basket weaver, was one of the first to question it. Writing on Instagram, she said: “I’m delighted that the basket weaving community now has its own weaving leader, but I also have problems. Why isn’t a bloke woven in an English fishing village made of willow – or even rush?!” Since then, more than 100 fellow basket makers have given their opinions.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines wicker as “thin sticks of wood twisted together to make baskets, furniture, etc.” “.
Eleanor Morgan, sales advisor to the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers in London, says that although willow was commonly used to refer to wicker, it is less popular today. “Historically, wicker could mean any twig or soft wicker,” she says.
Joe Dunckley, a prosthetics designer at Wētā Workshop, the special effects studio in New Zealand that created the husband’s upper body out of wicker, says creating a costume for a sensitive character but made out of wicker was a “big challenge”. “Most prosthetic materials are soft to mimic skin. But he is not flesh and blood.”
To achieve the wicker effect, Dunckley and his team of 80 specialists created 50 interlocking body pieces for Skarsgård to wear. Using a rubber-like thermoplastic elastomer, they were able to 3D print a custom weave coded by the studio that was then attached to a spandex suit. During the 18-month process, they also created 10 facial devices.
Dunckley says Willow wasn’t a viable option for what they needed the suit to be able to do. “It’s a similar reason to why in movies we don’t make armor out of real steel and use real swords. It’s a fantastic movie.”
Lewis Prosser, a basket weaver from Cardiff, says each maker thinks about how they would have approached the task. “It’s definitely not the way I would have done it, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad,” he says.
Prosser says his understanding of wicker is that it is “an object that is woven but is specifically not textile,” adding that “some will disagree with me.” Some basket weavers, including Needleman, claim that wicker refers to a type of weave rather than a material.
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For Prosser, who creates wicker costumes using techniques traditionally found in Wales and southwest England, there are three main ways to make a basket. Coiling, where strands of plant materials are wound together in a spiral, braiding, or basketry on stakes and supports in which vertical rods are woven through horizontal strands. “What we traditionally call ‘wicker objects’ usually have the latter aspect,” Prosser explains. This is not the case with the wicker husband.
Although actress Olivia Colman and her fellow villagers speak in various British dialects, the film is not set in England. Dunckley suggests that the character of the basket maker played by Peter Dinklage traveled the world, learning the skills of other makers.
Prosser says that if the film had been filmed in a specific location, it would be more authentic if the costume reflected the plants growing there. In the UK willow would be suitable, whilst in Spain Esparto grass would be suitable.
Dunckley and his team worked using a 3D cast of Skarsgård to ensure that “the audience could recognize Alexander in basket form.” The key to this is what Dunkley calls the “Skarsgård smolder,” which they captured by making sure the weave could crisscross at the forehead. His hair, beard and eyelashes were made from muka, New Zealand flax fibers.
Calling the interest and criticism from the weaving community “really cool,” Dunckley says, “I don’t blame anyone. The real artists in the craft have put years into it. I would expect them to look at a fantasy version of their art form and see flaws in it.”
For willow purists, Morgan says there’s “no shortage of wicker-related eye candy” in the film, pointing out a plethora of basket scenes. Prosser says he’s delighted that the film has brought attention to basket weaving, especially since some traditional skills and techniques are now under threat. TikTok is full of guides to making wicker costumes, including tutorials on the nipples which Skarsgård said were the “best part” of her costume. He gifted his own pair to TV presenter Graham Norton, describing them as “extraordinary craftsmanship”.
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