Theo James Confirms He Wore a Prosthetic in 'The White Lotus'
Entertainment

Theo James Confirms He Wore a Prosthetic in 'The White Lotus'

It's confirmed: Theo James was wearing a prosthetic penis in that scene of HBO's The White Lotus.

Appearing on The Tonight Show over the weekend, James finally addressed the burning question that had been on the minds of viewers since the airing of the show's first episode, during which his character Cameron Babcock gets completely naked — revealing what appeared to be a massive penis.

According to James, he knew in advance that he would be sporting the prosthetic for the scene. "The truth of it was you go into these scenes and you have a conversation with the director and the producers, and they go, 'Okay, for this, we're going to use a prosthetic,'" the 37-year-old actor told host Jimmy Fallon, who responded, "Wow, thank goodness. That makes so many men feel so good right now."

But what James says he didn't know was exactly how big that prosthetic would be — and actually requested that it be normal-sized. "I said, 'Honestly, I just want it not to be distracting,'" James recounts of his conversation with makeup designer Rebecca Hickey. "'He needs to be regular Joe because the scene's, you know, it's not about the pee-pee — it's about power play and sex.' And she says, 'I got you. Regular Joe.'"

Naturally, James says he was surprised when he appeared on set to discover a prosthetic that was nine inches long and four inches wide. "We get to set and she's got like a hammer or something," he said. "It's like she stole it off a donkey in the field. The thing is ginormous. Me and the director, Mike White, are sitting there going, 'That's average, is it?'"

Amidst laughter form the audience, James says he did not take the the prosthetic "pee-pee" home. The actor also revealed that an initial version of the scene, which was ultimately cut, was much more graphic. "The initial version we shot was way too much," he said. "We did a more subtle version. They toned it down."

Photo via Getty Images / WireImage / Gregg DeGuire