The second season of HBO’s”The White Lotus” is well underway, featuring lush imagery of Sicily and, to some viewers’ shock, an extra view of cast member Theo James.
During the first episode of the second season, James’ character, Cameron Babcock, is seen grabbing a swimsuit from Harper Spiller’s (Aubrey Plaza) hotel room. As she searches for sunscreen, Cameron is seen in the background taking off his pants and changing. Harper and the viewer watch Cameron change and the scene leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. Inquiring minds wanted to know if James, notorious for baring all in HBO’s “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” sported a fake organ or if, by any chance, it was the real thing.
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It turns out the member in question was a prosthetic penis, James confirmed during an appearance on Friday’s broadcast of “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” Using an artificial body part is common practice in TV and movies. In fact, “The White Lotus” had already employed a prosthetic penis for Steve Zahn’s character in the first season.
“So, you go into these scenes, and you have a conversation with the director, and the producers, and they go, ‘Okay, for this, we’re gonna use a prosthetic.’ ..and you say, ‘Okay, that sounds good,’” James shared.
The actor recalled discussions he had with makeup head Rebecca Hickey. James said he told Hickey, “I just wanted it not to be distracting. It needs to be ‘Regular Joe.’ Because the scene, you know, it’s not about the pee pee, it’s about power play and sex. It’s about whether he did it deliberately or whether it was an accident and what that means. She says, ‘I got you. Yeah, I got you. Regular Joe.’”
When James saw the prosthetic, he joked about the size, which according to Hickey was regular. “I mean, it’s bigger than that. It’s like she stole it off a donkey in the field!” he joked. ‘The thing is ginormous.”
Watch the clip below.
The scene still made quite an impression on viewers. One fan wrote a jokey “I love prestige television!”
Another wrote, “I have the same question because the show used a prosthetic penis in season 1. let the people know Theo lol #WhiteLotus”
Another shared a graphic chart, also questioning the real vs. prosthetic penis.
In an interview with ET, James said his nude was toned down and added, “It’s interesting, [because] at first… we don’t know whether it’s deliberate or [if] it’s accidental. But it reveals itself… The initial version we shot was way too much. So, we did a more subtle version.” James is likely alluding to the fact that he’s shot from behind, rather than full frontal.
At the season’s premiere event, Meghann Fahy, who plays sunny housewife Daphne, teased, “I think that Season 2 is a lot sexier, and it’s a little bit more sinister right off the bat. It’s really action-packed, actually — I think people are gonna be surprised.”
“The White Lotus” will debut the penultimate episode of its second season Sunday evening.
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