{"id":294739,"date":"2026-02-21T06:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T06:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/294739\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T06:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T06:34:10","slug":"harry-melling-on-pillion-sex-scenes-and-learning-how-to-lick-boots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/294739\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Melling on ‘Pillion’ Sex Scenes and Learning How to Lick Boots"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFor the BDSM drama \u201cPillion<\/a>,\u201d Harry Melling<\/a> traded the world of wizarding for one of leather, licking boots and orgies in the wilderness.<\/p>\n

\n\tBest known for playing Dudley Dursley in the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d films, the actor, now 36, takes on his first true leading role in Harry Lighton\u2019s unorthodox romance. In the film, Melling plays Colin, a shy meter maid and barbershop quartet singer who catches the attention of Ray (Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd), a stoic motorcyclist looking for a \u201csub\u201d to fulfill his sexual (and domestic) desires.<\/p>\n

\n\tSoon, Colin is cooking meals and doing chores for Ray. They don\u2019t kiss, and Ray makes him sleep on the floor by the bed like a dog. It might sound degrading, but when Colin appears midway through the movie in a leather biking outfit and shaved head, he looks liberated.<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, Melling talks to Variety about the year\u2019s kinkiest rom-com, getting comfortable with Skarsg\u00e5rd and why he has never consciously tried to escape the long shadow of Hogwarts.<\/p>\n

\t\tDid you have any hesitations when you first read the script?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI kind of went in with no fear, to be honest. I think I would have been nervous if the sex scenes \u2014 or the more risky, out-there moments \u2014 weren\u2019t grounded in the storytelling. If they\u2019d just been interludes meant to be sexy, I think I would have felt quite nervous about that.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut when I read the script, I always felt those scenes were genuinely pushing the narrative forward. They tell the story very intricately \u2014 Colin\u2019s journey from inexperience to experience \u2014 and because they were so embedded in the narrative, they felt like a continuation of the acting process rather than a moment designed to create a \u201cbeautiful love scene,\u201d if you know what I mean.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat do you make of the studies that say Gen Z rejects sex scenes?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a movie like \u201cPillion,\u201d if you take the sex out of it, you don\u2019t have a movie. The sex, the expression of it and the way it helps build the characters and their stories is so pivotal to the DNA of the film. I can\u2019t really comment on the idea of a younger generation rejecting sex scenes. I\u2019m 36 now, and in my experience of going to the movies, sex has always featured in some way. Maybe the question is more about how sex is being portrayed \u2014 perhaps that\u2019s what\u2019s shifting. I haven\u2019t seen \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d yet, but obviously in the states it has blown up. Maybe there\u2019s something about sex being articulated in a different way now than it was before.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPILLION, Harry Melling, 2025. \u00a9 A24 \/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\t\tWhen you choose roles, is there an appeal to go for projects that feel dangerous and exciting in order to shed the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d thing?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s never been something I\u2019ve thought about directly. I\u2019ve never said to myself, This is a good decision because it pushes me further away from how people might have seen me when I was younger. That\u2019s not really how I operate. In fact, when I try to think strategically, it always backfires in some way.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat I am looking for is variety. I\u2019m always looking for new challenges and for as rich and varied a career as I can possibly have. And I know this sounds strange, but I\u2019ve felt that way since I was about 10 years old, when I started doing the \u201cPotter\u201d films. Trying to deliberately maneuver away from \u201cHarry Potter\u201d would probably hinder me, because I\u2019d be too aware of what I\u2019m coming from. It\u2019s far better to live in a kind of ignorance and just follow your nose \u2014 to pursue the work that genuinely excites you.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou and Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd met only a couple of days before filming. How did you build trust in each other?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI had done a week of filming prior to when Alex flew in. We met on a Saturday, and on Sunday we rehearsed the wrestling scene. We basically jumped on each other and worked that out, into the intimate scene. Then on Monday, we started shooting. It really was: \u201cbish, bash, bosh \u2014 here we go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor my character especially, it was kind of incredible for that reason. Colin is always second-guessing Ray\u2019s behavior \u2014 how do I please this man? What does he want? Am I in the right place? All of those thoughts are constantly running through his head. The fact that we hadn\u2019t had months beforehand to sit down and talk through how we\u2019d play the roles or what backstories we\u2019d each imagined was actually really useful. It meant that what we were discovering happened in real time, on set, in front of the camera. It was a happy accident \u2014 not by design at all, just a logistical necessity because Alex was away \u2014 but it worked in our favor.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe also worked with an incredible intimacy coordinator, Robbie Taylor Hunt, who was instrumental in shaping those scenes. In many ways, his role is like that of a stunt director. It\u2019s about camera placement, angles, physical positioning \u2014 the practical details that help sell a moment on screen \u2014 but also about protecting the narrative beats of the story. He was pivotal in making sure those scenes served the characters and the arc.<\/p>\n

\t\tIt\u2019s funny to hear about how some of the sexiest scenes are filmed in very unsexy ways.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, big time. If you saw some of the outtakes from the alleyway scene, where I\u2019m giving Alex a blowjob, I was completely at the wrong angle. It looked hilarious. Hopefully, in the edit, the thrill of it comes across. But in the doing of it, it\u2019s often just about nailing those small adjustments and technical details that help sell the sex of it.<\/p>\n

\t\tSome of the sex scenes are quite funny and elicit laughs, but the movie doesn\u2019t mock the sexual subculture. How did you straddle that line between shock value and respect?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tA huge part of doing that was working with the GBMCC \u2014 the Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club. They\u2019re a real organization, and they were in the film, playing the pillions and bikers, but they were also central to our research. They introduced me to people in the kink scene who taught me about things like bootlicking. They were a pivotal part of making the film feel authentic. A lot of them came to Cannes when the film premiered, and they seemed genuinely thrilled with the film. That was such an important thing, that they felt their story was represented on screen.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPILLION, from left: Alexander Skarsgard, Harry Melling, 2025. \u00a9 A24 \/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\t\tOne of the things I enjoyed about the film is that Colin\u2019s parents are incredibly supportive of him and set him up on dates with men. But they feel, justifiably, protective and slightly uncomfortable with his dynamic with Ray.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe parents\u2019 journey in the film is almost the opposite of the norm. They start from a place of absolute acceptance. They\u2019re almost overly supportive, suffocating Colin in certain ways \u2014 \u201cHave you got a boyfriend yet?\u201d and all of that. As the story progresses and they begin to understand \u2014 or not understand \u2014 Ray and the nature of the relationship, they shift. They don\u2019t deny the relationship, but they challenge it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Sunday dinner scene was always one of the most important in the script for me, because it\u2019s where all the perspectives coexist in one space. You\u2019ve got Peggy, who\u2019s deeply questioning the relationship and who Ray is and what his intentions are. You\u2019ve got the dad trying to stay in the middle, keeping the peace. And then you\u2019ve got Ray saying, \u201cIt\u2019s a consensual relationship. Colin knows what this is. This is how it works. What\u2019s the problem?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been fascinating talking to audiences in Q&As, because that\u2019s the scene where people really divide. Some are firmly on Team Peggy; others are on Team Ray, asking what Peggy\u2019s problem is \u2014 they\u2019re happy, it\u2019s working. For Colin, that confrontation becomes the catalyst for the final act. It\u2019s the moment that pushes him to question the dynamic Ray has established and say, \u201cActually, I think I need more. I want more from this relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tWhen the relationship ends, Colin has developed a sense of what he wants and the ability to express that. Have you had similar moments in your career, of coming out of a project with newfound knowledge about yourself?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSometimes there are things that linger; characteristics that hover and stay with you for a while after you finish. \u201cPillion\u201d was the first film where I\u2019m in nearly every scene and every shot, which is a very different beast for me. What stayed with me was Colin\u2019s optimism and his curiosity \u2014 those are the things that really lingered. I felt like a much more receptive human being for a long while, because I was still in Colin\u2019s pursuit of understanding, his wanting to put himself together. When I finished playing Edgar Allan Poe in \u201cThe Pale Blue Eye,\u201d it had a different kind of after-effect \u2014 a quite sad one, given the ending of that film. Every movie is somewhat different in terms of the place it leaves you.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat feedback have you gotten so far on \u201cPillion\u201d? Have you talked to people in sub\/Dom relationships?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tA lot of the Q&As we\u2019ve been doing, particularly in the U.K., have been fascinating. We spoke to one woman after a screening who was really interested in talking about consent \u2014 about how in some relationships, a contract is drawn up to establish the rules, and how that didn\u2019t happen in \u201cPillion.\u201d It\u2019s interesting, because there are just so many different versions of how these relationships can work. A lot of people come up to me and say, \u201cI understand Colin\u201d or \u201cI felt like I was Colin\u201d \u2014 and that, to me, is really moving, that they feel they can share that with me.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed. \u201cPillion\u201d is in theaters now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the BDSM drama \u201cPillion,\u201d Harry Melling traded the world of wizarding for one of leather, licking boots…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,51677,409,111,139,69,115356],"class_list":{"0":"post-294739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-harry-melling","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-pillion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}