In BDSM Romance 'Pillion,' Haircuts And Tattoos Draw The Boundaries

Beauty

Hair and makeup artist Diandra Ferreira on transformations, tattoos, and how a certain pierced prosthetic was picked for the 'dom-com'.

A24’s “Pillion” is equal parts hopeful and woeful, and it’s all seen in Harry Melling’s expressive stare. Melling’s impressionable Colin is doe-eyed at the sight of broody biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), who barely has the time of day. But soon, Ray gives Colin the time of night for an impersonal back-alley hookup. It’s no spoiler to say that Colin becomes Ray’s pillion (hat’s the backseat of a motorcycle, for the non-driver. And in this case, it’s also because Colin is subservient to Ray in more ways than one). Colin is as often a deer in headlights as he falls deeper and deeper for Ray, who offers little in return beyond access and control. Ray lets Colin in, but he keeps his pillion on a leash.

Hair and makeup lead Diandra Ferreira came to “Pillion” after three seasons of Netflix’s “Heartstopper,” a stretch of work she describes as “lovely and wholesome and just young and happy.” When the script for “Pillion” landed, the contrast was immediate. “I was ready for something a bit more gritty,” she says. “And this was put in front of me, and I was like, that’s it. That’s what I need. It was a big way to change gears.”

Below, Ferreira discusses the deliberate mystery of Ray—what those tattoos might mean, and how a certain pierced prosthetic was picked—as well as how her work transforms the once-moppy Colin from the neat order of a barbershop quartet, into a shaved-headed subordinate of a gay biker.

Broody Ray

Alexander Skarsgård in "Pillion." Photo: Chris Harris/ A24.

placeholder — Alexander Skarsgård in "Pillion." Photo: Chris Harris/ A24.

Ferreira describes Ray as a character whose authority depends on not being explained. From her first conversations with writer-director Lighton, she understood that nothing about Ray’s appearance could overdetermine who he is or where he comes from. “We wanted to keep him mysterious,” she says. “We didn’t want anything that would give too much away. But at the same time, he needed to be grounded. He needed to exist in this world.” Ray “passes” in most places: It’s no mystery that Skarsgård can clean up nice, as well as play introspective and gritty. That Ray rides this line in a full-body white leather biker suit is no accident either.

Ray’s tattoos present as many questions as they do potential answers. There’s a male figure on the side of his torso, albeit adorned with florals. Three women’s names are inked on his chest, which have the Internet asking questions. One of them, Rosie, was scripted: “Rosie is his dog,” Ferreira says. Beyond that, the names stay intentionally open. Even Colin’s mother Peggy, upon a forced dinner meeting, is aching to know the man who has infatuated her son. Like us, she wants to know: “Do you have a wife? So what’s the secret? Who are you, really?”

Ferreira and Lighton were deliberate about what not to do: “He could work in an office. He could be a doctor,” she says. “So he’s not going to have hand tattoos. He’s not going to have tattoos on his neck.” Once those boundaries were set, the question became technical. The tattoos themselves were temporary transfers.. “Some actors’ skin will hold for a few days,” she says. “In Alex’s case, his skin held it really well. He could shower, he could bathe. I would just check them in the morning and reapply if needed.”

Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling in "Pillion." Photo: A24.

Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård in "Pillion." Photo: Chris Harris/ A24.

Ray’s grooming followed the same logic. Ferreira avoided anything that felt pristine or overly rough. “He doesn’t get a haircut every week,” she says. “But he’s also not on the complete opposite side, where he’s scruffy or wild.” She also steered clear of concealer, to avoid Ray looking too clean cut: “I didn’t want him to look like Prince Charming.” (As one Alexander Skarsgård is wont to do in real life.)

The film’s most graphic moments required coordination across departments. Ferreira worked with prosthetic artist Dan Martin of 13 Finger FX, alongside intimacy coordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt. A particular piercing was in the script from the start, though other elements of Ray’s anatomy were refined through testing. “Dan had worked with Alex before on another film, so he had the mould ready to go,” Ferreira says. “For us, the piece was kind of already made. Then it was just the conversations about the piercing and how much we were going to see and not see.”

And it’s what the camera sees that determines how such a unit is worn. “It depends if you’re seeing someone walking nude, that’s one thing. If you’re seeing it from the side, that’s another,” Ferreira says. “In this case, because we never see it full, it was more of a tuck and then you kind of slot it on top,” she explains. The visible edge was blended carefully into his skin, while the rest remained concealed. For scenes involving movement or physical contact, the approach changed again. “For the wrestling scene, it’s just a foam piece under the clothes,” she said. “You need to make sure the actors aren’t going to get hurt if they accidentally bang into something.”

Vulnerable Colin

Harry Melling in "Pillion." Photo: Chris Harris/ A24.

Colin’s impressionable and dynamic personality required the opposite approach. He starts the film with a mop of hair under his barbershop quartet hat (a wig, in fact, despite Melling’s ability to sprout his own full head). Once he becomes the sub to Ray’s dom, he assimilates into biker culture by shaving his head. He reappears later with some hair grown back. Scheduling made it impossible to achieve naturally. “There was no way we could have done it all with Harry’s hair, so from the get-go, we knew we were going to need a wig,” Ferreira says. They first shot Melling’s real hair (the end sequences), then shaved him bare, and alternated between shorn (post Ray) and curly wig (pre Ray) for the remaining shoot days.

Not every member of Ray’s leather-clad gang is shorn; most of those people were real-deal pierced and hirsute bikers, but it made sense that Colin’s character would fall into line with a shaved head. As Ferreira puts it: “When he shaves his head, he’s completely exposed.”

Before that, Colin’s hair functioned as a cover. Ferreira referenced Wagner Moura in the 2014 film “Futuro Beach” as her inspiration for the movement and softness of curls that we see in Act one Colin.

But the curls were meant to hide as much as they revealed. “It’s a gorgeous head of hair, but he doesn’t know what to do with it,” she says. “It’s just there.” But at the end of the film, after he’s gone through this entire experience, we see him with a bit of growth and a properly styled haircut. “It’s saying ‘I know who I am. I know what I like. These are my boundaries. This is how I want to present myself,’” Ferreira explains..

In using makeup to depict Colin’s shift, Ferreira paid particular attention to Melling’s eyes. “We wanted to really see the darkness around his eyes,” she says. “Harry has great bone structure, so it was about not covering that up.”

Building Out the Supporting Cast

The cast of "Pillion." Photo: Chris Harris/ A24.

Jake Shears and Harry Melling in "Pillion." Photo: Chris Harris/ A24.

Once the leads were established, Ferreira turned her attention to the people who fill out Ray’s dual worlds. Many of those choices were shaped by practical limits,, then sharpened into character decisions.

The wigs of Colin’s cancer-stricken mother Peggy (played by Lesley Sharp) are the clearest example. “We wouldn’t be able to afford a plethora of hand-knotted wigs,” Ferreira says. Rather than fight that, she folded it into the role. “She’s still full of life. If she’s losing her hair, she’s going to make the best out of it. Shop-bought wigs, bright colors, headscarves, and quick changes became part of Peggy’s persona.

There was early discussion about giving all pillions shaved heads, but Ferreira resisted the idea of uniformity. “Some of the bikers came ready to go,” she says. “They’re real people. They’re not necessarily actors.” Comfort and credibility took priority in the conversations between Lighton, Ferreira and costume designer Grace Snell—including decisions around body hair. “We wanted them to feel comfortable in how they look on camera.”

The supporting character Kevin (played by singer Jake Shears) was treated as a deliberate contrast within the biker group; he is pillion to a dom with a severe limp, requiring Kevin to be more proactive than others. And whereas most of those real-life portrayals have shaved heads, Shears agreed to a mullet and green hair. “Any time I get the chance, I use colour,” Ferreira says, referencing her own striking purple hair. “Plus, I wanted him to look really different from Jake himself.”