Olivia and her Wicker man (ft. William Shatner)

Wicker, the “raunchy” rom-com starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgard is, er, coming at the end of the month. Press has begun, and there was a screening last night in New York. Alexander Skarsgard showed up wearing his most normal outfit in recent memory, along with Olivia Colman, who is sporting beautifully greying curls.

They really seem to enjoy each other.

I have a longstanding theory that intimate scenes either make actors best friends for life or turn them into enemies. You either bond through the weirdness of it all (see also: Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie), or you can’t stand each other (see also: Richard Gere and Debra Winger). There’s no in between.

Speaking of Alexander Skarsgard, William Shatner namechecked his BDSM-flavored romantic dramedy, Pillion, on the Dropping Names podcast hosted by fellow Star Trek alums Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner. It is…something else.

I mean, look, Shatner is a gentleman of a certain age, when he was young, it was still actually illegal to be openly queer in the US (in fact, it was not officially decriminalized until 2003, sit with that for a minute). I don’t expect him to be up on the latest in queer culture. But at the same time, William, my man, Pillion is NOT representative of homosexuality at large. It represents a very specific subculture of BDSM (it’s streaming on HBO if you’re interested. It’s good!). Still, it sounds like the “empathy machine” worked on Shatner when he watched Pillion and he saw something in its romance that moved him, and that is genuinely beautiful.

But I do kind of want someone to show him Paris Is Burning next. I feel like it would really blow Shatner’s mind.