Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård and Elizabeth Debicki walked the carpet at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles on Tuesday night for the premiere of Wicker, the romantic fantasy comedy about a fisherwoman who commissions a local basketmaker to weave her a husband out of reeds. Skarsgård brought his brother, It actor Bill Skarsgård, along for the evening, and the film's writer-director duo stood nearby to watch their years-in-the-making passion project finally reach an audience outside the festival circuit.
According to UPI, Wicker, a Black Bear Pictures motion picture, premiered at the Directors Guild on October 20. A separate UPI report notes that Alexander Skarsgård's sibling joined him at the event, and that writers-directors Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer were also present, according to UPI's follow-up coverage. Additional attendees included Vita Kari, Justin Lothrop and Brad Zimmerman.
Deadline's gallery of the night adds further names to the guest list, reporting that producers Tim Headington, Justin Lothrop, Eleanor Wilson, Alex Huston Fischer and Brad Zimmerman were among the cast and crew in attendance, per Deadline. Kevin Winter provided the photography for the premiere gallery that circulated afterward.
A Fisherwoman, a Basketmaker, and a Husband Made of Wicker
At the center of the story is an ostracized fisherwoman, played by Colman, who asks the village basketmaker, played by Peter Dinklage, to weave her a companion out of reeds, the outlet reports. The film draws from Ursula Wills-Jones's short story The Wicker Husband, the same report notes. Deadline's gallery coverage adds that Skarsgård's title character — the wicker husband himself — was brought to life not through digital effects but as a fully practical suit, built by Joe Dunckley and Wētā Workshop.
The film is not new to acclaim. Its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival earned two standing ovations, according to TheWrap. That reception set up months of anticipation before the Los Angeles crowd got its turn at the Directors Guild.
Born Out of a Bleak Stretch for Original Films
Wilson and Fischer have described the project's origins as tied to a particularly difficult moment for original filmmaking. “It was 2023. So it was a pretty bleak time. We were coming out of the writers strike. There were no original films being made,” the directors told the Hollywood Reporter, describing the climate in 2023. They shot the film two years before the October 2026 interview.
Black Bear has set a limited theatrical release for Friday, October 23, with the film expanding to more theaters on October 30, Variety reports in its coverage of the release plans. For a film that started as an unlikely bet during Hollywood's leanest stretch, the walk from a Sundance standing ovation to a Directors Guild red carpet marks its final step before opening to the wider public.
