By Fatma Younis
Ursula Wills, an author from Stroud in Gloucestershire, wrote the short story "The Wicker Husband" in 2006 after a camping trip in Cornwall where she encountered wicker sculptures at Melinsey Mill. The 14-page tale, about an ostracised fisherwoman who commissions a basket-maker to weave her a husband, has now been adapted into the Hollywood feature film "Wicker," starring Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård and Peter Dinklage, which opens in UK cinemas on 30 October.
From camping trip to short story
Wills visited Melinsey Mill, an old watermill where a basket maker had created an art trail around the pond featuring large wicker sculptures such as a stag, a giant spider and a wicker man fishing. The sight sparked the immediate idea for her story, which she later posted on the short story website East of the Web.
Stage musical and film rights
The story gained online traction and caught the attention of actor Rhys Jennings and Olivier Award–winning composer Darren Clark, who turned it into a musical. The production opened at Watermill Theatre in Newbury in March 2020 but closed after only four nights due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A year later, producer Justin Lothrop approached Wills for film rights. After Olivia Colman joined the project in 2023, development moved quickly, with filming taking place in Budapest through late 2024.
Film adaptation and premiere
Joint writer-directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson expanded the intimate relationship between the fisherwoman and her wicker husband to create what they describe as a raunchy fantasy rom-com. The UK premiere was held earlier this month at the British Film Institute in London. Wills called the finished film "unique and amazing" and said she believes "audiences are going to go crazy for it."
Future projects
Wills now has a literary agent and a new collection of 13 short stories set for worldwide release in April. Reflecting on the journey of "The Wicker Husband," she said: "It's got legs and it's not finished walking yet."
