Penises are becoming increasingly popular on television. But most of them are fake, and many of the fake ones are made by Matthew Mungle, who specializes in prosthetics of all kinds. Dazed interview Mungle about the long and short of fake penises.
Absolute realism is the goal. That it hangs correctly. That it moves realistically. That the testicles move a certain way. The penis has to have a weight to it. It needs to be hollow enough for the real actor's penis to fit into it but it also needs to swing around like a real penis. So we reverse engineer it.
We sculpt our prosthetics from scratch out of oil-based clay, which means we can get lots of detail into the testicles and penis. Once a prototype is approved by the production team, we create a mould out of platinum silicone, usually a fleshed-tone colour, the same tone as the actor's stomach. Then we airbrush the penis with silicone and pigments, get the veins on it, darken the head and the foreskin, whatever it needs, and then we glue hair onto it, which is usually a lace piece with virgin hair tied onto it. For the testes, the sack has to be hollow and we insert urethane balls so it feels realistic. For a pre-existing mould, they can cost between $850 and $1,200. If it's from scratch, well, that can cost up to $5,000.
