During a 2013 interview with E! Online, Alexander Skarsgard said, “I’m an actor, not a sex symbol.”
Nice try.
For many of his fans, the blond, towering Nordic statue of a man is, above all, a living, breathing thirst trap. But the manner in which Skarsgard uses his attractiveness and sex appeal is what makes him so much more interesting than mere eye candy. He consistently subverts the idea of sex representing the most intimate of human acts; the kind of sexuality Skarsgard’s characters tend to embody is unnatural, inhuman and sometimes even violent. Skarsgard was right when he said he wasn’t a sex symbol, at least in the traditional sense. He’s an actor who turns the notion of sex into something odd and unsettling.
“Wicker”
The Husband Made of Wood
From the moment its first trailer was released, the internet was all a-flurry at the sight of Skarsgard as a wicker man come to life. In the film, Olivia Colman plays a lonely fisherwoman who asks an expert weaver (played by Peter Dinklage) to build her a husband. The Wicker Husband is a colossal work of art whose muscles and contours are rendered through ornate patterns of wood. The men of the village resent him for being the perfect spouse and for catching the sexual attention of all the village wives. After all, the Wicker Husband isn’t just great at completing chores and fixing up the house; he’s also a magnificent lover.
For all the ways the Wicker Husband is designed to appear attractive (Skarsgard’s striking blue eyes peer out from beneath long lashes in his wicker face), at no point are we meant to forget that he is a fabrication. There’s a constant scraping noise that accompanies his every movement, and he lacks a basic understanding of human behavior. As for his wicker genitals? The fisherwoman’s orgasmic screams suggest that, at least in this fantasy world, wood is a fine replacement for human flesh.
“True Blood”
The Cold-Blooded Vampire
In literature and pop culture, vampires have always been metaphors for abject human desire and sexual taboos, and Skarsgard brought just that to his breakthrough performance as the vampire Eric Northman in HBO’s horny supernatural drama.
When Skarsgard first appears as Eric, he’s a longhaired, sharp-eyed prince of darkness reigning quietly from his throne at his seedy vampire bar. He’s the perfect foil for the romantic, sentimental Bill (Stephen Moyer), who has spent decades trying to regain his sense of humanity. Eric’s a much older vampire, 1,000 years removed from his human self. He has a cold, practical exterior and looks at humans — and any human emotion he may encounter — with disdain and vexation. His sexual preferences, when we first see them on display, are just as severe, being of the hourslong dungeon-and-bondage variety.
Beneath Eric’s aura of impassiveness, Skarsgard reveals hints of the vampire’s primal passions and predatory nature, especially when it comes to his desire for Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin). Beneath a regal bearing — which comes with his authority and status as a vampire sheriff — is a thinly veiled barbarousness that adheres to no rules. He seduces using the same tools with which he’ll rip a human apart.
“Pillion”
The Detached Dominant
For all of its collars, leashes and harnesses, the BDSM relationship between shy, doting Colin (Harry Melling) and mysterious biker Ray (Skarsgard) is as much about the different ways these two men can or cannot reach some degree of intimacy with each other as it is about sex. Ray is withholding, his true feelings imperceptible; his detached manner, even during sex, ironically draws Colin in all the more.
Throughout the film we see the small, subtle ways in which Ray and Colin’s sexual intimacy grows, but it takes a long time for the aloof Ray to show any emotional intimacy. His most human moment comes after Colin badly injures himself while cooking dinner; Ray instead orders them pizza and makes a corny joke in a childlike attempt to cheer Colin up. After months of Colin sleeping like a dog on Ray’s bedroom floor, that night they finally, for the first time, lie side by side in his bed.
“Big Little Lies”
The Domestic Terror
“You love it when I’m bad” is one of the first lines of dialogue we hear from Perry Wright (Skarsgard), the abusive husband of Celeste (Nicole Kidman) in the HBO series. It’s a slick little touch of foreshadowing because Perry’s violent temperament isn’t immediately apparent; in fact, he seems like the ideal husband and father, admiring of Celeste and playful with their twin boys.
But whenever Perry gets enraged he erupts into fits of brutality, pushing, hitting and choking Celeste while seemingly out of sight of their children. The physical relationship between Perry and Celeste is grounded in a vicious cycle of abuse, apologies and then aggressive, furious sex. The series unpacks how easily this kind of violence, even when undertaken in a private domestic space, can have a ripple effect in the family and the larger community.
“Infinity Pool”
The Monster Behind the Mask
When we first meet the handsome writer James Foster (Skarsgard), there’s a sense of his impotence. He’s in a tense marriage with his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) and is still stuck in a creative rut six years after the release of his debut novel. James and Em are at a resort in the fictional island nation of Li Tolqa, where they meet another couple, Gabi (Mia Goth) and Alban (Jalil Lespert). Soon enough they discover the island’s unconventional method of doling out justice: For a fee, the guilty can have clones of themselves made and then watch these doubles get executed.
This ritual titillates James and allows him to unlock his most savage tendencies; he and the group of rich vacationers engage in brutal acts of hedonism. In a long, hallucinogenic orgy scene, James is first caught up in the rapture of sex with Gabi but then gets lost among flashes of undulating bodies and faces in grotesque masks. The island’s rituals have revealed the duality of James’ character: the beastly, lustful side of him that he first enjoys, but soon learns to fear.
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