1.
Rob Benedict wore a prosthetic penis in Season 4 of The Boys when he played multiple nude clones of himself at the same time. “Because it’s a seven-day shoot, that fight scene, and he’s every other person in that fight, that’s a lot of time to be naked,” explained series creator Eric Kripke. “So we ended up building a prosthetic penis, for what it’s worth. So he’s not so much naked as he is wearing a thong for seven days. But pretty close.”
2.
Margaret Qualley wore prosthetic boobs in The Substance. Director Coralie Fargeat wanted Margaret’s character to look “’80s inspired, with butt and boobs, think Jessica Rabbit.” Speaking about the boobs, Margaret even told The Sunday Times, “Unfortunately, there is no magic boob potion, so we had to glue those on. Coralie found an incredible prosthetic team to endow me with the rack of a lifetime, just not my lifetime.”
3.
Niecy Nash wore a prosthetic butt on Reno 911! Miami, and it was actually her idea. “I went to so many booty fittings, you don’t understand,” she told Conan O’Brien. “They couldn’t get it right because they were building it straight back. So, I went to my girlfriend I brought her up there — who had, you know, the natural slamma jamma — and I’m like, ‘See? You gotta start from the hips and wrap it around.'”
4.
Bill Skarsgård wore a ton of prosthetics to play Count Orlak in Nosferatu, including a prosthetic penis. During a scene where Orlak had to suck Nicholas Hoult’s character’s blood, Nicholas could feel the prosthetic rubbing against his leg and “didn’t know how to react.” After filming wrapped, Nicholas was gifted the penis framed.
5.
Taylor Zakhar Perez wore a prosthetic penis for Minx. He also told Entertainment Weekly that he’s “all for” nudity when it makes sense for the scene. “If the project and the scenes call for it, why not?” he said. “But I think just to throw a bare-chested woman or ass-out guy into the scene without it making sense, then it’s gratuitous and takes away from the quality of the content.”
6.
Jon Hamm wore fake nipples in Season 5 of Fargo. His character has pierced nipples, so they used real piercings on prosthetic nipples and applied them to Jon’s chest. During an interview with Jimmy Fallon, he explained exactly how the prosthetics were applied; he said, “They have to paint some latex on your nipples, and then they pull it off, and then they put a little fake nipple and put a ring through it. It’s the magic of movies. You, too, can have fake nipples made.”
7.
Drew Starkey chose not to be nude onscreen for Queer and wore a prosthetic penis. In an interview with Time, he explained that movement rehearsals were what helped break the ice for him and costar Daniel Craig. “We got to embarrass ourselves in front of one another — and have little accomplishments in the choreography with each other,” he said. “That imbued its way into everything.”
8.
J.K. Simmons wore a prosthetic penis when he played Milton Berle in Saturday Night. “I didn’t know about it until I got to Atlanta for my few days [shoot],” he told Variety. “I just assumed the camera was going to be belt-high and everything else left to the imagination. And obviously, you know, it’s not. We’re not looking for an X-rating, but I didn’t even think there would be a prosthetic involved.”
9.
Jonathan Bailey wore a fake penis in Fellow Travelers, and he shared how he chose which prosthetic to use. He told Seth Meyers, “When we started, obviously, you wear a protective layer, obviously, to protect yourself and so it’s not awkward. But, for the nature of the show, you want to choose something that maybe reflects what’s actually going on.”
10.
Charles Melton wore a prosthetic penis for May December and recalled wearing it for “nine hours a day.” “It was very professional,” he told Variety. “The whole thing. Natalie [Portman], Todd [Haynes], and I met to discuss the scene, walking through it and ensuring everybody was comfortable. There were a few conversations about the prosthetic, regarding what was realistic and what wasn’t. And I had to wear that prosthetic for nine hours that day. I didn’t have anything to drink that morning or the night before. That was an annoying process but still very respectful.”
11.
Lily James wore a bunch of prosthetics to transform into Pamela Anderson for the series Pam & Tommy, including a fake chest. “The breast piece was amazing,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “You would never, never know it wasn’t me. It was shocking.” She added that it took long to put on and made her very warm. She also said, “It would be boiling hot — I got really sweaty and my boobs were coming off.”
12.
Sarah Shahi wore prosthetic boobs for the Netflix series Sex/Life. On Instagram, she shared that she wore the prosthetics for any scene where her character was breastfeeding and that they took 3-4 hours to put on.
13.
Terrence Terrell wore a prosthetic penis in Obliterated. Since the full-frontal scene is extremely torturous, the creators wanted to ensure Terrence felt comfortable. “We would never put Terrence in that situation,” co-creator Josh Heald told Deadline. “There was a lot of manhandling and prodding. And it’s not just Terrence but also Tobias [Jelinek], who plays the sadistic Ehren; he has a lot of interaction with Trunk’s situation. The attitude was always to make sure that was a prosthetic and that we weren’t asking somebody to be put in that vulnerable situation.”
14.
Eric Dane wore a prosthetic penis during Euphoria and he even got to choose what it looked like. “I had absolute control over the penis. Because it was supposed to be mine,” he told Men’s Health. “I approved it. I said, ‘This looks like a nice penis. Let’s use this one.'”
15.
Penélope Cruz wore a prosthetic butt for the movie Volver and said she got so attached to it she didn’t want to take it off. “At the end of the shoot, I was blocked. I could not leave the set. I didn’t want to take my false ass off,” she said at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
16.
Theo James wore a prosthetic penis in Season 2 of The White Lotus. During discussions with the show’s makeup head, Rebecca Hickey, he felt the prop “needs to be ‘Regular Joe.'” “I just wanted it not to be distracting,” he said to Jimmy Fallon. “Because the scene, you know, it’s not about the pee pee, it’s about power play and sex.”
17.
Finally, Matthew Rhys wore a fake penis in the series Girls, and he was offered the choice between a few different prosthetics, but he decided to let the director and creative team choose. “I said, ‘That’s fine, thank you. That’s the one I’ll use.’ It wasn’t the one used by Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights,” he joked. “No. Clearly not. That one is far larger!”