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In film, we’ve become accustomed to seeing actresses show skin, even ones who have spoken out about feeling pressured to do so. However, full-frontal male nudity is often harder to come by. Some movies and TV shows, however, have centered the male body, often stirring up strong reactions online.
Several actors have noted their surprise about seeing visceral reactions to their full-frontal nude scenes, such as Barry Keoghan who told Vanity Fair in 2024 that he thought the reaction to his nudity in Saltburn was “crazy.”
“I think it’s true art. It really is,” he said. “And it’s true vulnerability as well. You’re really kind of putting yourself out there in the most vulnerable state. It’s beautiful to look at. I’m not saying it’s because of my body, but it’s freeing to see that body move around in the way it does. It’s like a moving painting, almost.”
No matter how you feel about the naked body in all its glory, there’s no denying it: seeing a penis on the big screen can be shocking, likely because it’s only been done a handful of times over the last century of mainstream movies and TV, compared to the countless naked women we’ve seen grace our screens.
This imbalance points to a problem on all sides: why are women expected to go nude more than men? Why are men’s nude scenes fodder for viral reactions? Why can’t we just normalize nudity and let actors do whatever feels most comfortable for them?
While plenty of stars are exercising their right to never strip down on camera, others are imploring us to not make a big deal when they do. So, we’re (calmly) celebrating those doing their part to normalize male nudity on screen!
From Murphy to How I Met Your Mother alum Jason Segel, more actors have been doing the daring act on screen.
See which movies and shows had their male actors go fully nude below.
A version of this article was previously published in June 2022.
‘Eden’
Starring Vanessa Kirby, Jude Law, Sydney Sweeney, and Ana de Armas, Eden is about a group of European settlers coming to Floreana island. There is full male nudity, and Law even talked about it to People, saying, “Well, I didn’t know about that…. I think we all had to be audacious.”
‘Saltburn’
Barry Keoghan’s full-frontal nude scene in Saltburn all but broke the internet in 2023 and while the actor says he found the response “crazy,” he was prepared.
“It can be detrimental to the mind and your mental state if you read into it too much or you look at too much stuff being said,” he told Vanity Fair.
“But I wouldn’t go there if I wasn’t prepared for that, or if I wasn’t open to receiving what people want to say. I think it shows an act of maturity in your craft, and if it justifies the story and moves it forward, why not?”
‘Swarm’
Prime Video’s Swarm follows a young woman called Dre (Dominique Fishback) in her fascination-turned-obsession with a pop icon called Ni’Jah (Nirine S. Brown). In one scene, after a one-night stand there’s a full-frontal moment of Rory Culkin, Macaulay Culkin’s younger brother.
‘Palm Springs’
Starring Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg, Palm Springs follows a pair of wedding guests who find themselves stuck in a time loop, and falling for one another. (Yes, there is a scene where you see all of Samberg!)
‘A Million Little Pieces’
In A Million Little Pieces, Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays a writer battling a drug addiction in a facility for addicts filled with some complicated characters.
The star has a pretty intense nude scene but it’s all part of the craft!
‘Gone Girl’
You wouldn’t think a crime drama like Gone Girl would have a full-frontal scene, but that doesn’t stop Ben Affleck from dropping it for all to see in that shower scene.
It turns out, even the actor didn’t see the scene coming. “[Director] David [Fincher] assured me, because trust is essential with directors and actors: ‘Listen, if we tilt down we will never go far enough to see anything,'” he joked at the Hollywood Film Awards in 2014.
“So thank you, David. And I’d like to thank you for keeping the set cool. Because if you are gonna have one chance for America to see your junk you want it to be cold. It’s a real gift.”
‘Kinsey’
Gee, who would’ve guessed that a movie all about Alfred Kinsey, a man who literally studied sex for a living, would have full-frontal nudity? Peter Sarsgaard fans, get ready.
‘American Reunion’
It’s not surprising that an American Pie movie made the list, but it was shocking when Jason Biggs goes full-frontal in a crazy scene in American Reunion.
‘The Boys In the Band’
When a party leaves seven gay friends who have to be in touch with their feelings, things get real, real steamy, and real heavy for The Boys In the Band.
‘Queen & Slim’
Starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, Queen & Slim follows a couple who kill a cop in self-defense on their first date. Soon, they’re on the run, and things get crazy (and yes, there’s a steamy sex scene or two!)
‘The Great’
When a royal woman marries an emperor, she has to choose between her own joy or Russia’s. The Great has everything: laughs, romance, and of course, some steamy sex scenes where Nicholas Hoult shows it all, including one scene where he walks down the corridor naked.
“You have to switch off that part of your brain that’s saying, ‘I don’t want to walk down a corridor naked,'” he told The Guardian in 2021. “You have to go: ‘All right. I’m Peter. And I feel so confident, and I’m so happy and enlightened, that I’m going to walk down this corridor naked.'”
‘Normal People’
Based on the novel by Salley Rooney, Normal People is a romantic, psychological mini-series that follows two people who keep coming back to each other’s love lives. Safe to say, there are a lot of sex scenes, and they show everything.
‘Scenes From A Marriage’
Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac have known each other for years and collaborated on a few projects. So when it came time to film those vulnerable scenes in the 2021 iteration of Scenes From A Marriage, the pair wanted whatever nudity was shown to be equal.
“I said to Hagai (Levi), who wrote and directed the series, in the very beginning, I said, ‘I’m comfortable with all the nudity, but any part of my body that you show, you’re going to have to show the same with Oscar,'” Chastain said during an appearance on The View.
Indeed, in episode four of the limited series, Isaac does bare it all on screen. But he was still surprised by the public reaction. “You get sent the stuff to look at to be like, ‘OK, I’m fine with that.’ But I saw it on a laptop quite dark and I didn’t notice what was happening down there,” he said on The View. “It was a surprise when I started seeing all these things like, ‘It’s full frontal’ – I was like, ‘No, what are you talking about?’ And I saw it, and clear as day on the big TV there, it’s there for everyone to see.”
Scenes From A Marriage is a contemporary limited series adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s lauded 1973 mini-series, which chronicles the disolution of one couple’s marriage.
‘Trainspotting’
Starring Ewan McGregor and Jonny Lee Miller, Trainspotting is a dark comedy that follows the lives of four former heroin addicts. McGregor went full-frontal during a note-worthy sex scene.
The actor, who has appeared nude on screen several times, has a pretty chill attitude about the whole thing.
“Being naked is something that happens at either end of the day for me, and if you’re lucky, somewhere in the middle as well. And I don’t understand why it’s an issue,” he told E! News in 2012. I don’t take my clothes off in movies because I want to flash my body around. I took my clothes off for movies because I’m an actor.”
‘Game of Thrones’
It’s no secret that there’s a bunch of nudity in the beloved series Game of Thrones. One example of male nudity is when Arya (Maisie Williams) found a gentleman freaking out over warts on his penis, and yes, you can see everything. (It’s that controversial episode: Season 6, Episode 5!)
‘Minx’
Everyone’s favorite new showMinx is all about a proud feminist starting the first erotic women’s magazine. There’s a lot of nudity throughout the show, notably when they’re casting nude models to be their centerfold and a scene where one a model has his penis fully erect during a photoshoot.
‘Brokeback Mountain’
The Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain is a western romance starring Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams. There are quite a few sex scenes with heterosexual couples and gay couples, showing everything down there multiple times.
‘Wild Things’
In 1998 erotic thriller, ‘Wild Things’ Kevin Bacon plays a cop investigating a sexual assault accusation against a high school counsellor and has a brief nude scene in the film.
Like many actors, the nudity didn’t bother him but something else did…
“I didn’t have a problem with it, because it’s a scene getting out of the shower and it was just that kind of movie,” he told Business Insider in 2017. What I did have a problem with was the fact that when I went to promote the movie — and even to this day — that’s all I talk about. So it kind of ended up being, I don’t know, just kind of boring to me as a topic of conversation.”
You can watch this on Netflix.
‘Outlaw King’
Like Bacon, Chris Pine wasn’t too impressed when he was quizzed about his nudity in Outlaw King. In the 2018 movie, Pine plays an exiled king trying to reclaim his throne and briefly appears nude on screen.
“There’s certainly a double standard because nobody would talk about it if it were a woman,” he told E! News. “Because women are expected to do it and men aren’t? Why aren’t men expected to do it?”
You can watch this on Netflix.
‘A Bigger Splash’
In the drama film A Bigger Splash, we follow four adults stuck in a complicated love story. One of the stars Ralph Fiennes goes fully nude during a scene where he skinny-dips and is confronted by another adult played by Matthias Schoenaerts.
‘Peaky Blinders’
Starring Cillian Murphy and Annabelle Wallis, Peaky Blinders follows a Britsh gang trying to move up the ranks. Murphy frequently went fully nude in his sex scenes and felt totally relaxed about the whole thing.
The actor, who previously went nude in 28 Days Later said in an interview, via The Sun: “I’m completely comfortable with nude scenes. I wouldn’t want to get my thing out in every scene, but when it makes sense, it makes sense.”
You can watch this on Netflix.
’28 Days Later’
28 Days Later is a post-apocalyptic horror film that follows Cillian Murphy’s character awakening from a coma to see a pandemic unfold. Towards the beginning, we see him fully nude in a hospital bed as he awakes from the coma.
‘Blue Velvet’
The 1986 film Blue Velvet is a film many crime-lovers have come to enjoy, watching Kyle MacLachlan fall for a troubled Isabella Rossellini. In a disturbing turn of events, we see Rossellini force MacLachlan to undress at knifepoint, where we get glimpses of his penis as he retreats into a closet.
‘The White Lotus’
Starring Sydney Sweeney, Jennifer Coolidge, and Alexandra Daddario, The White Lotus is a dark comedy following a group of wealthy people on a tropical Hawaiian vacation. One of the stars Steve Zahn’s character Mark shows his exposed penis when he shows his wife how scared he is that his testicles have grown in size.
‘The Wolf of Wall Street’
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, and Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street follows the rise and fall of Wall Street stockbrokers. While many remember the full-frontal scene starring Robbie, Hill frequently went full-frontal himself. Specifically, you can see almost everything when Hill’s character masturbates in the middle of a party.
‘Eurotrip’
If you’re obsessed with comedy films, then you’ve probably already seen Eurotrip. While the racy film has a lot of nudity, dirty jokes, and more, there’s one startling full-frontal scene that takes place at a nude beach. The four main characters go to a nude beach, with three of them expecting to find naked women, only to find fully naked men across the beach.
‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’
Starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, and Kristen Bell, Forgetting Sarah Marshall follows Segel’s character who tries to get over his girlfriend suddenly dumping him by going on a vacation. Almost immediately after the film starts, we see Bell breakup with Segel when he gets out of the shower, making him drop his towel — exposing his penis to the world.
‘Euphoria’
It’s no secret that the fan-favorite HBO show Euphoria is a bit sexier than most shows, with quite a few nude scenes throughout the show. One full-frontal scene was a flashback of Rue (Zendaya) losing her virginity. Another full-frontal scene was a sex scene between Jules (Hunter Schaefer) and Carl Jacobs (Eric Dane) in Season 2.
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