The White Lotus' Theo James Clears Up Prosthetic Penis Speculation About Show's Infamous Scene

"The thing is ginormous.”
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Theo James in The White Lotus
Netflix

The White Lotus star Theo James has admitted he was wearing a prosthetic penis in an infamous scene from the hit drama. 

The actor’s character Cameron raised eyebrows in the first episode of the second series when he stripped completely naked while changing into a pair of swimming shorts in eyeshot of his best friend’s wife, Harper. 

Viewers momentarily saw Cameron’s penis from behind, which has proved to be somewhat of a talking point among fans online. 

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Theo has now admitted there was some special effects involved in shooting the scene. 

He said: “So, you know, the truth of it is that you go into these things and you have conversations with the director and the producers and they go, ‘ok, for this we are going to use a prosthetic, we are going to use something,’ And you say, ‘ok that sounds good’.”

Jimmy interrupted: “Wow, thank goodness. That makes so many men feel so good right now.”

Recounting a chat with one of the make-up artists, James said he’d asked for it “not be distracting”, which didn’t exactly turn out to be the case. 

“He needs to be a regular Joe, because the scene is about…you know, it’s not about the pee-pee,” Theo said. 

“It’s about the power play and sex and whether he did it deliberately and whether it was an accident.”

However, Theo was shocked when he saw it for the first time, admitting it looked like “a hammer or something”. “It’s like she stole it off a donkey in a field,” he said. “The thing is ginormous.”

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight previously, the British actor explained viewers didn’t even get to see most of what the White Lotus team had planned.

“The initial version we shot was way too much, we did a more subtle version. They toned it [down].”

He also insisted the scene plays a purpose in “moving the [story] forward”, although viewers won’t get to find out exactly how until halfway through the series. 

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