Harry Lighton’s “Pillion” made its New York debut at the New York Film Festival. Lighton, Alexander Skarsgård, and producer Emma Norton attended the premiere.
“Pillion,” which will be distributed by A24, follows Colin (played by Harry Melling), an introverted gay man, who enters a BDSM relationship for the first time after meeting a mysterious biker named Ray (played by Alexander Skarsgård).
“Pillion” is a part of the New York Film Festival’s Spotlight collection. This will be Lighton’s first feature-length film, which he discussed in an interview with The Knockturnal.
“I had been kind of building up to making a feature for… about 10 years,” said Lighton. “There was a lot of trepidation, but the reality was kind of surprisingly enjoyable.”
The film, which centers around a gay BDSM relationship, is not only a complicated concept for audiences to understand, but it is also a tricky subject for a first feature. Luckily, Lighton had great source material to pull from, the novel “Box Hill” by Adam Mars-Jones.
“I thought that the book presented BDSM and sexual alterity in a way which…showed the capacity for contradictions in that world,” Lighton told The Knockturnal. “I thought that was a really interesting prospect to try and sort of shed a new light on that culture.”
Adaptation can be challenging for a screenwriter since books and films are very different mediums. But Mars-Jones, who’s also a film critic, and Lighton had come to an understanding early on in the process. “He gave me complete freedom,” said Lighton.
“Pillion” is a laugh-out-loud “dom-com” with tender moments that is best viewed with an audience. While it’s technically a romance film, Lighton created a multi-faceted feature that will leave audiences examining their standards.
“I hope that people watch the film and are kind of provoked into new ideas about subjects which they have quite deep-set opinions about,” Lighton told The Knockturnal.
“Pillion” is set to release in 2026.
(Photo courtesy of A24)
