Neil Patrick Harris has opened up about what it was like to film the sex scenes in his hit Netflix series Uncoupled, revealing the very on-brand name he had for his penis pouch.
In the comedy drama, the actor plays a newly-single gay man in his late 40s whose life turned upside down when his partner walks out on him after 17 years together.
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Appearing on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shephard podcast, Neil admitted he “created a little pouch and named it” to protect his modesty when shooting some of the show’s more intimate moments.
He said: “I was curious about the crown royal bag around your junk, because they just provide a bunch of options in your dressing room. Some have tape, some have drawstrings, and I was not sure and I don’t have any real modesty, so none of it really bothered me except that I didn’t know the other person.
“It was a lot of dating scenes on Grindr-style, so I would just meet the guy that I’m going to be humping, talk to the intimacy co-ordinator and then start humping.”
Neil continued: “I created a little pouch and named it – it’s the NPH, the Neil Penis Holder. It’s like a very stretchy ring that then they rip stitch that around a mesh bag so you don’t have the drawstring stuff. You just stretch the thing around your heha, like slap you in the stinkers, like the whole package and then you don’t have to worry about anything ever. You just walk around.
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“The NPH is nice, I recommend it. It was very helpful and gave me some confidence.”
Kristina Bumphrey via Getty Images
Neil and his co-stars worked with an on-set intimacy co-ordinator prior and during the filming of the sex scenes, which while he admitted he “thought it would be very strange” initially, it turned out to be “incredibly helpful” for him.
He explained: “It requires that anything that might happen in the scene needs to be written or expressed two days before you film the scene. You don’t have to write in the script, ‘he does this and his hand goes there,’ but in the rider that you film, you say all of the things that could potentially happen so that’s above board. Because what could potentially happen – and I’m a producer on the show as well – you don’t want to be in the position where the scene ends with the script saying ‘they keep making out and start having sex’. Then you don’t know when they’re going to say cut, or know not how far you are supposed to take that…
“As an actor or producer, I can’t go to the other guy and say ‘you’re ok if I do this thing, right?’ because that is a very loaded question, because if he says no, I might not want to hire him again from his perspective, so he says yes as he wants to be a team player, but he might be uncomfortable with that.
“My least favourite thing is making someone feel unintentionally like they didn’t like something. So the intimacy co-ordinator is there to make sure everything is discussed and planned.”
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He added: “I thought it would make it all very saccharine and very sterile… And you do talk it through, but you talk it through in a way that can still feel sexy.”
Uncoupled is available to stream on Netflix now, while Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard is available on podcasting platforms.
