Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling on 'Pillion': How an Intimacy Coordinator Orchestrated the 'Messy' BDSM Biker Love Story at Cannes

A Bold Debut at Cannes

At the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, a film unlike any other premiered in the Un Certain Regard section: Pillion. Directed by first-time filmmaker Harry Lighton, the movie plunges viewers into the raw, explicit world of BDSM gay bikers. Starring Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling, the film is equal parts romance, comedy, and unflinchingly graphic eroticism. But behind the scenes, making those intense scenes work required a secret weapon: intimacy coordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt.

In a candid conversation at Deadline's Cannes Studio, Skarsgård, Melling, and Lighton pulled back the curtain on the making of the film, revealing the trust, choreography, and controlled chaos that brought this unique love story to life.

The Intimacy Coordinator's Crucial Role

For a film centered on a dominant-submissive relationship between two men—Skarsgård’s silent, commanding Ray and Melling’s awkward, eager Colin—intimacy was not just a component but the core. Hunt was brought in months before production began.

“The sex scenes, the orgy scenes were very fun and playful,” Skarsgård told the panel. “Robbie, the intimacy coordinator, was fantastic in helping because it got messy. There’s lots of people and lots of moving parts. But he was terrific in just orchestrating, choreographing it and also knowing when to step back and let us go with it and when to kind of step in.”

Director Harry Lighton emphasized that Hunt’s involvement started early, shaping the entire approach. “We talked about how we were going to approach it. And I think with a project like this, you want to know for yourself as the director that you are kind of applying the right process to stuff, which is potentially exposing for actors and for directors,” Lighton said. “He was there from the beginning and then through every step of the way.”

Building Trust Between Co-Stars

Beyond the choreographed sex scenes, the emotional landscape of Pillion demanded a deep rapport between its two leads. Melling, best known for his roles in The Queen’s Gambit and the Harry Potter series, said the key was simply trusting his co-star.

“I think trust is the key word really, in terms of the scenes that Ray and Colin have,” Melling observed. “I found it personally very easy to trust someone like Alex. So yeah, the whole process felt very seamless and easy.”

Skarsgård, a veteran of visually daring projects from True Blood to Big Little Lies, was equally enthusiastic. He described their daily work as a joy: “What they do, although it might be daunting to people on the outside looking in, it actually felt like we just every day would turn up and just try and say that story as accurately and as honestly as we could.”

A Unique Love Story in the Kinky Biker World

What drew these two stars to such an explicitly unconventional narrative? For Skarsgård, it was the script’s strange, idiosyncratic tone. “I fell in love with it from the very first,” he admitted. “It was just such a unique, strange, idiosyncratic tone and a character that I was drawn to. I thought it was such an interesting relationship. The fact that it was clearly a dominant-submissive relationship, but with beautiful tender moments and it evolves over the course of the film.”

He noted that despite the extreme BDSM setting, the story taps into universal romantic themes. “Some elements felt very universal and relatable in kind of the rom-com aspects slightly subverted, set in this world of kinky gay bikers. There was something really unique about this that I hadn’t seen before that got me very excited.”

Melling added that the director’s approach to shooting those explicit scenes actually helped the actors stay grounded. “The way that Harry wanted to shoot those more sort of explicit scenes was done in such a clumsy, awkward way. It really helped the authenticity of it all, really. So yeah, it was a joy to do.”

From Script Screen: The Director's Vision

First-time feature director Harry Lighton had a clear vision for how to balance shock value with genuine emotion. He described Ray as a man “definitely clear on what he wants and how he wants a relationship to be kind of set up,” while Colin is on a “journey of self-discovery, his first foray into romantic love.” This dynamic, Lighton explained, “created a really interesting dynamic.”

Produced by A24, Pillion runs 1 hour 46 minutes and is being sold internationally by Cornerstone Films. Its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section signals a strong belief in Lighton’s audacious debut.

Why This Matters

The frank discussion with the intimacy coordinator and the actors’ willingness to embrace vulnerability reflect a broader shift in how Hollywood approaches sex scenes. The days of closed sets and pressured performances are giving way to structured, collaborative choreography thanks to professionals like Hunt.

• Choreographed Chaos: Hunt directed the multiple-actor orgy sequences with precision, then stepped back to let the natural chemistry between Skarsgård and Melling shine.
• Emotional Safety: Months of pre-production discussions ensured every actor knew the boundaries before cameras rolled.
• A New Kind of Romance: The film subverts traditional rom-com tropes by placing two men in a leather-and-latex BDSM framework while still delivering heartfelt moments.

As the film heads to theaters later this year, audiences can expect a messy, beautiful, and deeply human story that redefines what a love story can look like—and how safely that story can be brought to the screen.

Watch the full Cannes Studio conversation above for more on the making of Pillion.

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