Alexander Skarsgård’s Wicker Husband has become an unlikely internet sensation. Comments about the character have included comparisons with patio furniture and jokes about “husband material”, but basket makers are focusing on a more technical question: why is the character neither made from willow nor constructed using traditional weaving techniques?
Deborah Needleman, a former editor of T magazine who is now a basket maker, raised the issue on Instagram. She questioned why a character described as wicker, and made in an English fishing village, was not created from willow or rush. More than 100 other basket makers subsequently joined the discussion.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines wicker as thin pieces of wood twisted together to make baskets and furniture. Eleanor Morgan, a trade adviser to London’s Worshipful Company of Basketmakers, said the term has historically referred to pliant twigs or osier, although its use today is less closely associated with willow.
Some of the debate concerns the character’s appearance. Lewis Prosser, a basket maker from Cardiff, said the costume was not how he would have approached the task, although he did not consider that a failing in itself. He explained that basketry can involve coiling, braiding, or stake-and-strand construction. Traditional wicker items would usually use the latter technique, while the Wicker Husband appears to be plaited instead.
The costume was created by Joe Dunckley and a team of 80 specialists at Wētā workshop in New Zealand. Because Skarsgård’s character is sentient but made of wicker, the team had to design a wearable structure capable of supporting movement and performance. They produced 50 interlocking body pieces using a rubber-like thermoplastic elastomer, 3D-printed with a bespoke weave and attached to a spandex suit. The process took 18 months and also included 10 facial appliances.
Dunckley said real willow was not practical for the costume, comparing the choice to the film industry’s use of materials that imitate armour and weapons rather than relying on actual steel or swords. The team made a 3D cast of Skarsgård so audiences could still recognise the actor in the basket-like form. The facial design was shaped to preserve his distinctive expression, while New Zealand flax fibres were used for his hair, beard and eyelashes.
The film’s setting also complicates the question of authenticity. Although Olivia Colman and other villagers use a range of British dialects, Wicker is not set in England. Dunckley suggested that the basket maker played by Peter Dinklage may have learned techniques from makers around the world. Prosser said a more location-specific costume would ideally reflect local plants, with willow appropriate in the United Kingdom and esparto grass more suited to Spain.
Dunckley welcomed the attention from the weaving community, saying that experienced craftspeople were bound to notice shortcomings in a fantasy interpretation of their art. Morgan, meanwhile, pointed to the film’s many basket-related scenes as compensation for those seeking more traditional examples.
Prosser said he was pleased that Wicker had drawn attention to basket making, particularly as some traditional skills are endangered. Online interest has also led to numerous wicker costume tutorials, including guides to making the character’s distinctive nipple pieces. Skarsgård has called those parts the best element of the suit and gave his own pair to television host Graham Norton, describing them as examples of extraordinary craftsmanship.
Sources: The Guardian Film.