Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling spark in the First Pillion teaser

A24 just dropped the first teaser for Pillion, a sharp, bike-side romance led by Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling.

Pillon (2025) | Photo Credit: Picturehouse and A24

Adapted by writer-director Harry Lighton from Adam Mars-Jones’s novel Box Hill, the romantic comedy film tracks Colin (Melling), a quiet twentysomething whose life reroutes after a chance encounter with Ray (Skarsgård), an enigmatic biker. What starts as an invitation to ride pillion—literally taking the back seat—becomes a tightly structured connection rooted in trust, boundaries, and the charge of giving over control. The teaser also suggests a quirky contrast as its visual language with chrome and countryside against bar noise, then morning-after calm.

Festival response has already been loud. Pillion premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2025, where Lighton won the section’s Best Screenplay and the film drew a seven-minute standing ovation—one of those heat-check moments that tends to follow a movie into release.

Though what stands out here is how unflashy it is about intensity. Skarsgård plays Ray with cool restraint, while Melling gives Colin an awkward uncertainty. It also reads as a romance about choosing roles, negotiating care, and finding a language that feels steady even when the world around them doesn’t.

Picturehouse is opening Pillion in UK cinemas on November 28, 2025. In the U.S., A24 is handling distribution following its acquisition of the film, with a theatrical rollout planned for early 2026.

Check out the teaser for Pillion below.

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