Image source: Fabio Lovino/HBO
There’s a lot to unpack as The White Lotus season 2 unfolds: the tension between Harper and Cameron, the misogyny of the Di Grasso family, how the gay (obviously, but hopefully not) targeting a tender Tanya. There are also penises galore.
Set in a sunny seaside resort of the same name in Sicily, it’s the perfect setting to bare it all — and bare it all, many men did. In episode one, Cameron (played by actor Theo James) strips in front of Harper (Aubry Plaza), revealing a glimpse of his “ginormous” lower region. Fans say they spotted a easy Jack’s (Leo Woodall) cock slide in episode five. Later, at the end of the sixth episode, Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) faces a naked Nicolo.
All that frontal male nudity has left a lot of people wondering: are all those penises real, or the stuff of prosthetic magic?
According to James, at least for Cameron, it’s the latter. In a recent Interview with Jimmy Fallonhe confirmed that he did in fact wear a prosthetic penis for the nude scene — an aesthetic choice made by director Mike White, which he then discussed at length with the show’s key makeup artist Rebekah Hickey. “I said, ‘Honestly, I just don’t want it to be a distraction.'” Then, “we get on set and she’s got like a hammer or something,” says James. “It’s bigger than that. It’s like she stole it from a donkey in the field. The thing is gigantic. It was nine inches flat and about four inches wide. We were like, ‘What the hell is that?’” (For what it’s worth, the average penis size is 5.16 inches.)
Aside from the looks, the decision to create a prosthetic part for nude scenes is hardly unusual or new. JasonCollinsa prosthetics and special effects makeup designer, who designed the penises for the shows Pam & Tommy and Euphoria, previously told POPSUGAR that the process takes weeks of careful planning, hours of application, and sometimes dozens of silicone pieces .
“Nothing is reusable because the edges on these things are so delicate, and that’s what gives them their seamless transition from skin to device,” says Collins. “When that fringe is broken or disrupted, the audience can tell they’re wearing something. Once we remove those daily, we need to have a new piece for the next day.”
Similar to making a facial prosthesis, the process of making a fake penis is as follows: cast, shape and color each silicone application. “They’re all cast in the exact same shape and color,” he says. “Once we understand the recipe and the plasticity of the silicone devices, we just keep pouring them every day.” (It’s worth noting that according to Allure, actors don’t get their actual genital casts. While prosthesis teams create a three-dimensional copy of the groin and leg area, this is done so that the part fits the person – Not to reflect their real anatomy.)
Whether you signed up to watch every Sunday. As Bert Di Grasso so eloquently put it, “I mean, it’s a penis — not a sunset.”
Image Credit: Fabio Lovino/HBO