Charles Melton Wore Prosthetic for ‘May December’ Sex Scene With Natalie Portman Instead of Going Nude

Charles Melton gave viewers quite an eyeful during his sex scene with Natalie Portman in the Netflix film May December, but it wasn't his actual penis on display as he has revealed he wore a prosthetic.

“It was very professional,” Charles, 32, told Variety in a December 5 interview. “The whole thing. Natalie, [director] Todd [Haynes], and I met to discuss the scene, walking through it and ensuring everybody was comfortable. There were a few conversations about the prosthetic, regarding what was realistic and what wasn’t."

The Riverdale alum spent many hours wearing the item during the day of filming, which was one of the final scenes shot for the movie.

"I had to wear that prosthetic for nine hours that day. I didn’t have anything to drink that morning or the night before. That was an annoying process but still very respectful," he told the publication.

Viewers were given a shadowy glimpse of the lifelike prosthetic when Charles' character, Joe, got out of bed and headed to the bathroom after a brief but passionate tryst with Natalie's Elizabeth.

The film is loosely based on the love story between Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau, as the married Washington teacher fell in love with her then-sixth grade student, ultimately having two children together. Her husband, Steve Letourneau, divorced her, and she rarely saw the four children they shared. Mary Kay and Vili eventually married in May 2005, ultimately divorcing in August 2019.

In May December, Julianne Moore plays Gracie Atherton Yoo, a former pet store worker who fell in love with a then-seventh grade employee named Joe Yoo, played by Charles. Like Mary Kay, she eventually went to jail for having sex with a minor, and the couple shared three children, a college-age daughter and twins whose high school graduation was a plot point for the movie as raising the kids was one of the main things keeping Joe in his marriage with Gracie.

Charles isn't the only star to open up about wearing a prosthetic that got fans talking. Theo James showed off what appeared to be his manhood in the first episode of White Lotus season 2 while changing into a pair of swim trunks in front of his best friend's wife, played by Aubrey Plaza.

Theo, 38, kept fans guessing for several months about whether or not what viewers saw was the real deal or if he wore a prosthetic. He finally fessed up it was the later during a December 2, 2022, appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

“You go into these things, and you have a conversation with the director and the producers and they go, ‘OK, for this, we’re going to use a prosthetic. We’re going to use something. And you say, ‘OK, that sounds good,'” Theo explained.

“We get to set and [the makeup designer] has got like a hammer or something. I mean, it’s bigger than that. It’s like she stole it off a donkey in the field. I mean, the thing is ginormous,” the actor joked.

He added, “I said, ‘Honestly, I just don’t want it to be distracting. He needs to be a regular Joe, because the scene’s not about the pee-pee. It’s about power play and sex.”