Alexander Skarsgård is addressing comments he made about his sexuality while promoting his new BDSM film, Pillion.
Skarsgård, 49, was asked at the 2025 Zurich Film Festival what he brought from his own life to the upcoming film, which follows timid Colin (Henry Melling) as he meets confident biker Ray (Skarsgård), who initiates him into a submissive relationship.
“I mean, I do have a kid, but what I’ve done in the past, who I’ve been with, men, women…,” Skarsgård explained at the time. “To me, what was important was that this felt like an opportunity to tell a story about a subculture I hadn’t seen portrayed this way — with so much authenticity.”
Some fans took the actor’s explanation as a confirmation of his assumed bisexuality. However, when asked in an interview with Variety published on Tuesday, January 20, Skarsgård clarified that he was merely trying to de-center his own personal experience when explaining the premise of the film.
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“Oh. That it resonated with my past? It was definitely not an intended statement,” the Big Little Lies star told the outlet when asked about his previous comments. “I don’t know what I was talking about. Maybe it has to do with — there’s a lot of focus sometimes on me as an actor. Maybe it was trying to shift the focus more to the story and these characters. And the importance of telling the story like this.”
This isn’t the first time Skarsgård has made headlines for his remarks about the film. The True Blood alum previously opened up about why he was “excited” to shoot Pillion’s graphic sex scenes with his costar Melling, noting that the movie strays from the typical construct of what intimate on screen moments often look like.
“I was excited because [the sex scenes] are interesting [in Pillion],” he told The Hollywood Reporter in September 2025. “And that’s quite rare. Most sex scenes on screen are quite boring and sanitized.”
Skarsgård added that the sex scenes don’t shy away from the “awkwardness” of many intimate situations, which he appreciated.
“We really leaned into the authenticity, the awkwardness of sex, which I thought was really funny and sweet,” he explained. “It’s quite rare to have a sex scene that actually has an emotional journey. There’s stuff happening, and it’s like erotic and sexy, but then it’s awkward, and then it’s funny. I think [director Harry Lighton] instilled a lot of trust in us. We just felt very comfortable. There was no trepidation going in. Quite the opposite. We were excited to jump in.”
When asked whether any sex scenes were deemed too explicit for Pillion’s final cut, Skarsgård said with a laugh, “Oh yeah, we’ve got some extra scenes we’ve saved for the Christmas Special edition, a triple X version for the kids.”
Pillion is based on author Adam Mars-Jones’ 2020 Fitzcarraldo Editions Novel Prize-winning novel Box Hill. The book was also shortlisted by the Royal Society of Literature as one of the best British novels of 2021.
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In his months promoting the film, Skarsgård has been praised for his method-like fashion choices, often showing up on red carpets wearing bondage-themed attire. While speaking to Variety on Monday, he admitted clothes are not his usual forte, but something he’s been playing with more recently.
“I never buy clothes. If you saw my closet, my wardrobe is very limited,” he confessed. “I’m not a big consumer of fashion. I don’t spend money on expensive brands. I really enjoy the creativity of it, but it’s not like I’m out shopping for these outfits. I guess it’s something I’ve leaned into a bit more of late.”
Pillion hits theaters on February 6.
