Harry Melling, Alexander Skarsgård and director/screenwriter Harry Lighton noticed something unique and later rewarding going on while they zipped across the globe to promote the BDSM romance “Pillion,” now playing in theaters.
There was a celebratory vibe to the screenings with eager attendees clad, or semi-clad, in leather, chaps and masks so they could watch a rare, kinky cinematic love story about two gay men in a dom-sub relationship.
It was a welcome phenom to be a part of for Lighton whose feature debut has snapped up some of the best reviews of 2026. He and Melling brought the raw, unrated film to a packed special screening on Feb. 12 at the newly reopened Castro Theatre in San Francisco. It was the theater’s first big original film opening.
But it is hardly by accident that “Pillion” has been revving up the engines of gay men who are into leather and more.
“We set out to make a film which would serve the leather community front and center,” said Lighton, who attended the screening as well as an afterparty held at the Bay Area’s iconic The Stud bar.
That goal gets reflected in the casting of a few members from a U.K. gay motorcycle club in the film. The writer/director recalls being nervous when screening the film for the bikers.
“They had a real pride in it instantly,” he said. “I was hoping that would translate. And at every screening we go to I see someone in a pup mask, guys in leather. It feels like an honor that they’re come to watch but they’re also turning it into an event that’s creating, I guess, like a communal experience.”
“I think it’s kind of a great time to celebrate the margins of even a marginal culture — like the margins of gay culture,” he added. “For something to be given prominence and being allowed cause of celebration.”
For the 33-year-old, who previously directed a handful of acclaimed shorts including 2017’s award-winning “Wren Boys,” that sense of celebration adds to the pride he has in the film. In addition to “Pillion” holding a rare 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s winning awards — including best screenplay honors at the Cannes Film Festiva. It’s also a contender in the Britain’s prestigious BAFTAs.
“Pillion” is based on author Adam Mars-Jones 2020 novella “Box Hill: A Story of Low Self-Esteem”; though Lighton changed the time period from 1975 to present-day. The story focuses on shy, living-at-home Colin (Melling) who meets and falls for enigmatic hunky biker Ray (Skarsgård). To the dismay and concern of Colin’s parents, Ray teaches Colin the ropes on being in a dom-sub relationship.
Melling is a versatile actor perhaps best known for playing Dudley Dursley in the “Harry Potter” movies and for standout performances in the Coen Brothers’ “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” the Netflix thriller “The Devil All the Time” and Scott Cooper’s “The Pale Blue Eye.” He knew he wanted to play the barbershop quartet singing Colin after devouring Lighton’s script.
But he didn’t tell Lighton until halfway through their meeting.
“I wanted to make sure that he was a good guy,” Melling said. “But in the meeting I said I’m in and I want to honor what you’ve written.”
Although “Pillion” features candid scenes of sex, it’s foremost a story about one man’s awakening and finding his place and voice in the world.
“What was so interesting about Colin when you meet him is that he is not a tortured soul,” Melling said. ”(There’s) not some environmental thing outside of him that’s kind of keeping him small. It’s himself. And I thought that was fascinating. I always found a big, nice irony with his ability to sing very loudly in the barbershop quartet, but being this sort of very contained character.”
The strapping Ray — whose own apartment is devoid of personality, mementoes or photos — is the opposite of Colin. His enigmatic nature is intentional.
“I was very clear by the time we cast Alexander that I didn’t want to give him the background (on Ray.) I didn’t want to discuss it with him and he shared that opinion,” Lighton said. “Alexander said when he was reading it that he was constantly worried he was going to turn the page and that was going to be like (here’s) a monologue from Ray saying you know this happened when I was 14…I always felt that Ray was a much richer character for not explaining himself to either Colin or the audience.”
One of the more provocative scenes in “Pillion” finds Ray visiting Colin’s parents’ household where the conversation at the family table transforms into something more confrontational.
“I think I wanted to create a debate,” Lighton said. “I didn’t want the audience to be sort of unanimously on Ray’s side or unanimously on (the mother’s) side. I wanted the audience to leave with some people saying this mum obviously had a point. And some saying but no, she was really mapping her own ideas of what a good relationship looks like.”
The relationship between Ray and Colin depends a lot on a palpable chemistry between the two actors. Given this is an indie feature without a huge budget, there was little time to rehearse to create the necessary sparks.
“We had no time to rehearse,” Melling recalls, adding that he met Skarsgard the day they shot a playful wrestling scene between Ray and Colin. “We had to sort of jump on each other and explore different wrestling moves and so that was how we got to know each other, which is kind of wonderful. In a way it sets the tone for how we can operate. Let’s turn up. See what happens. Let’s play… . By saying that I’m not saying that I hate rehearsals. I think rehearsal in a lot of situations is necessary. But actually the happy accident of this movie was the fact that we couldn’t, and therefore it meant that we were very much chasing whatever was happening in the space happening between myself and Alex.”
The scenes do turn up the heat and don’t shy away from being explicit. Because of that, was Lighton ever told to tone it down?
“There was no push-back on like, ‘We want you to try to make this more mainstream.’ Or you know, dilute it,” Lighton said. “There were debates around specifically what angle you can shoot … . I didn’t want the film to feel at all prudish, but I didn’t want it to feel like it was just shocking the audience for the sake of shocking them.”
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