PILLION Teaser: Harry Melling Submits to Alexander Skarsgård in Boundary-Pushing Cannes Winner

A romance unlike anything you’ve seen in recent years, breakout writer/director Harry Lighton’s Pillion will certainly make you gasp and swoon. This funny and surprisingly touching BDSM tale is adapted from the 2020 novel “Box Hill” by Adam Mars-Jones, starring the unlikely pair of Alexander SkarsgÃ¥rd and Harry Melling as two very different individuals embarking on a complex dom-sub relationship. It had its world premiere at this year’s Cannes, where Lighton won the Un Certain Regard Award for Best Screenplay. It will screen at the 63rd New York Film Festival on Friday, October 3.

The film follows Colin (Harry Melling), a shy gay man helping his dad (Douglas Hodge) take care of his cancer-stricken mom (Lesley Sharp). When he has an encounter with a reserved and less emotional biker gang leader, Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), that leads to a BDSM relationship between the two men. With Ray taking on the role of dom and Colin taking on the role of sub, the two navigate power dynamics and dueling emotions that lead to deeper, uncharted waters for both men. A24 has now set it for a February 2026 release in theaters.

See the teaser trailer and posters below.

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