What does it take to build a sexy basket man?

The idea of turning to the local basket maker to solve the problem of being husbandless is the improbable central idea of the film Wicker, opening in cinemas this week.

Set in the 17th century, the film stars Olivia Colman as the fisherwoman searching for a husband and Alexander Skarsgård as the man made from wicker.

To solve the challenge of making a believable and sexy woven basket man, the Australian directors Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer turned to Wētā Workshop.

It was a “dream job” and a “unique creative” challenge Wētā Workshop's prosthetic makeup designer Joe Dunckley told RNZ’s Nine to Noon.

“For us at Wētā we're known for science fiction and fantasy work - monsters and aliens - but this is a romantic lead, something entirely different and he's not made of flesh and bone, so we couldn't turn to the same sorts of materials we would normally.”

The workshop had to devise new methods to make their wicker romantic lead, he says, and ensure that Skarsgård shone through as an actor.

“He's got a real unique and recognisable expressive quality, and we wanted him to be able to emote through that.”

It was an 18-month R&D and manufacture process to get the end result, Dunckley says.

“The prosthetic makeup comprised nine individual pieces that we would put on every morning,” lead makeup effects Artist Sarah Rubano says.

“We had separate lips, under eye pieces, separate ears, a forehead, nose, cheekbone piece, we had little eyelashes made from harakeke.”

Skarsgård’s wicker-like body was made of 50 individual plates and pieces anchored and stitched onto a delicate spandex mesh, she says.

They managed to get his make-up down to 90 minutes each morning on the Budapest set, she says, maximising Skarsgård’s acting time on the film which had a relatively modest budget.

“We're very, very lucky to work with an actor like Alexander. He is so respectful and he brought humour into the trailer and Joe and Alexander and I, we all counted on each other to get it done - and it was a real pleasure.”

The project came to Wētā at a perfect time, Dunckley says.

“We'd just finished up working on the Avatar films and we had this incredible team of textile artists, costumers and weavers that had been working on that project.

“And also, you know, these incredible 3D modellers. And it ended up being such a wonderful collaboration within the workshop.”

Barely any CGI was used on the film which has become a surprise hit.

“It's just been so exciting, we're just getting a real kick out of it. And it feels very rewarding, it's not always the case, it is a fun little chapter for us, for sure,” Rubano says.

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