Bawdy, provocative, raunchy, romantic, steamy, vulgar, warm, wise, witty.
These are not usually words associated with basketry, but they've been used by reviewers of the soon-to-be-released movie Wicker. (Release date October 23, 2026 United States, 30 October 2026 United Kingdom.)
I've not seen it. For some reason, no one thought to invite me to the Sundance Film Festival! It premiered there on January 24, 2026.
In a nutshell, Basket Weaver (played by Peter Dinklage) deftly twists willows, at the request of Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman), into a man to be her Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgård). Basket Weaver succeeds, and the story goes from there. The movie was adapted from the short story The Wicker Husband by Ursula Wills-Jones.
The publicity photos released show an amazing basket person. So...what about that basket?
New Zealand's Wētā Workshop designed the Wicker Husband. "A team of 50 people at Wētā Workshop spent months designing the practical costume....They first made a 3D-printed prosthetic shell molded precisely to Alexander Skarsgård's body shape. Actual real-life wicker was then hand-woven directly over the 3D-printed prosthetic base. A minor amount of CGI [computer generated imagery] was added later to make the gaps in the wicker look hollow instead of showing the actor's skin underneath." It took about 90 minutes to apply the suit to Skarsgård. https://www.wetaworkshop.com/projects/wicker and "The 3D-printed underlayer solved a complex design challenge, as a human body cannot be accurately recreated using only straight woven fibres. The printed structure provided the necessary contours while preserving the appearance of an entirely woven figure." https://tribune.com.pk/story/2621314/how-was-alexander-skarsgard-transformed-in-wicker-weta-workshop-reveals-the-process
Creating a basketry suit seems an incredible feat, and I'd like to credit those weavers by name. Until then, I'm looking forward to seeing the movie. For basketry research purposes, of course.
Many years prior to this year's basket movie offering, The Wicker Man was released in 1973, with a remake in 2006. These also featured men in basket suits, but nothing like Skarsgård's form-fitting costume. These are more like a giant effigy figures, such as what might be seen at Burning Man.
Fred Bennett and Ernie Blake were the construction managers behind the wicker structures that were used in the 1973 film, made from "standard agricultural sheep-containment hurdles."
[youtube - making of the wicker man. I did not link this source as this video has full nudity]
Above, the 1973 movie poster.
Left, Edward Woodward appears in the very large basket in the 1973 movie The Wicker Man, seen at the left.
In the 2006 remake, Nicolas Cage is in the basket cage at the right.
The 2006 remake of The Wicker Man was led by Production Designer Phillip Barker and Property Master Brent Lane.
There are 55 people listed in the Art Department in the credits of this movie. There had to be some pretty decent basket weavers among them.
Below, the 2006 movie poster.
Image below, interior basketry structure of a large effigy at Burning Man. Unsplash photo
by Joshua Williams, photo-1720748834947-a2a-61058bc3b
Right, large basketry effigy figure at Burning Man.Unsplash photo by Leo Visions,
photo 1759083842319-a4534706c506
_UK_poster.jpg)
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