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Real-life couple Alanna Wilson and Alex Huston Fisher on the warning signs that their film was turning into a sexualized phenomenon and meme-fodder: "Working on those scenes—that's when they became surprisingly more compelling than we thought."

Real-life couple Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston-Fisher on the warning signs that their movie was turning into a meme-making phenomenon: "Working on these scenes — that's when they became surprisingly sexier than we thought."

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"Behemoth!" says Tony Gilroy. It would not have been possible without the success of "Andor".

If you're online, Wicker, a fantasy rom-com centered on a rejected fisherwoman who enjoys a raucous night out with her wicker husband, will chime.

From directors, co-writers, and real-life couple Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fisher, the feature has taken on a life of its own since social media and a corner of Internet memes were created on the indie film.

And can you blame them? Based on a 14-page short story by Ursula Wills-Jones, The Wicker Husband stars British Academy Award winner Olivia Colman as the aforementioned village outcast, who grows tired of the lecherous remarks of his female co-workers (led by The Crown's Elizabeth Debicki) and the philandering crush on him. The husband should leave his material. Enter Alexander Skarsgård as a bewitched husband made entirely of wicker whose raw sex appeal and tender affection for the fisherwoman - in both good and bad ways - captivates the entire village.

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Oddly enough, Wicker might have been considered a tough sell until Coleman came on board as its lead star and executive producer. "You're always trying to push the rock over the hill," Fisher tells The Hollywood Reporter. "But then Olivia signed. And then, BOOM!" Turbocharged stuff. Skarsgård, who, like Coleman, has made some daring career moves in recent years, became the only man to do the Shining Knight justice. "We wanted her to be amazingly beautiful and actress-like," Wilson tells THR.

But even with two full-fledged Hollywood A-listers, the couple couldn't have predicted just how crazy Wicker — and its online image — would become. "Everyone fell in love with them as a couple on set, even from the camera test," says Fisher. So, when the trailer came out, we learned a lot about the internet and the viral loop.

Below, Wilson and Fisher talk candidly about the journey of Wicked Black Bear, from its Sundance premiere to its appearance at the BFI London Film Festival last week. They talk about the insanely impressive work of a New Zealand effects studio to create Skarsgård's practical wicker suit, how the film sends you poignant messages, and why a project partially powered by the power of a wicker penis might be what everyone's been waiting for.

This must have been years in the making. Tell about the origin of the story.

Alex Huston Fisher It's now been five years since he wrote it, which is surprising.

Eleanor Wilson Yes, it's amazing how time flies. And it's from the first draft to now, talking to The Hollywood Reporter, [which] is actually kind of normal and fast! We shot the movie two years ago and finished it a year ago and then it was shown at Sundance. The gist of it is that [it's] based on a short story by Ursula Wells called The Wicker Husband, and that short story was shared with us by one of our producers, Justin Lothrop, who was a fan of her writing and brought the short story to us to make it into a movie—and we just loved it. This is a short, short story. I think it's 14 pages, but it's beautifully structured, which is a rare gift to be given as a screenwriter. We worked on the script for a while. We sent the script to Olivia Colman. He said yes, which was crazy.

FISHER You are always trying to push the rock up the hill. We were trying to make a few more movies, and [it was] like, 'Oh, [Mat] has to come after those.' But then Olivia signed. And then, boom!

FISCHER is precisely turbocharged. He is jet fuel

Did you know from the beginning that Olivia would be the dream, but thought it might never happen?

Fisher We never allowed ourselves to believe the dream. We know how it goes. "Don't bother," said our agent. But then he was the agent who called Olivia's agent, and then, I don't know why, but they read it and then they liked it.

Wilson was like, "Olivia wants to meet."

Fisher and this is usually good. It means that only you can let it go

Wilson you always think you're going to be on these calls and you have to do a great job and you have to explain and sound professional and make sure that…

WILSON Yeah, you could say we're not very good at it. But when we got the call, [Coleman] was just like (in a British accent), "Oh wow, thank you so much for thinking of me. I love the script. Let's do it."

Wilson and then we talked more about our kids.

Our baby Fisher was only six months old.

Wilson he was like a baby in the other room and we still didn't know how to do everything. We were really nervous, but the whole time we just talked about the kids. It was great

Did he tell you what he liked most about the script?

Fisher is funny because a lot of communication with Olivia, even when we're on set, is non-verbal and instinctive.

Wilson Yes. I don't know that he's necessarily told us what he likes about it, but he seems to just latch on to things instinctively, and I think he must have seen something in the fisherwoman that really got him.

WILSON He certainly did. All of our actors in the film are very different, but [with] Olivia, we're not so talk about the character, she just gets it.

His fisher absorbs 100% of the written material.

So, when he came, the money flew a little?

Fisher was the year 2023. So it was a very dark time. We were coming out of the writers' strike. No original film was being made. "Don't even try to make a movie" was the mood. So [we] got Olivia on board and [special effects studio] Wētā Workshop early on, and they did the prosthetics. After that, we went to the capitalists.

Did you find it was a hard sell? Just because, obviously, it's a unique premise for a movie.

Wilson: At every stage of making this film, we tried to make it with people we know. We needed…

WILSON to maintain control of the thing and make it in a slightly safe space. So we never took it to the big studios. It was a strange film and we wanted to make sure we could make it the way we wanted. So we took it to independent investors that we already knew somewhat.

FISCHER The first thing our producer Justin said [was], 'Are you going to put it out as a pitch, or are you going to write it basically on spec with some development money?' And we said, "We can't bring it up. We want to be able to understand what it is and write it for what it is." So we always went for the control version.

Fisher and once we attached the script and Olivia and the workshop, then we went to the financiers we knew.

Wilson and someone who already knew us a little and knew what our sensibilities were and agreed with that.

Fisher because the worst thing you can have is a movie that has its own DNA and then someone takes it and tries to make it something it's not. This was the worst case scenario. It's no worse than making a movie.