Nudity Required

Those are my two least favorite words on a breakdown! Casting any kind of nudity is always awkward and tricky. (I will post my more serious thoughts about this subject on Wednesday, but today is fun story day.)

I once cast a film that required a female character to go topless. The actress we liked for the role agreed to the partial nudity but she wanted to use fake nipples so she didn’t “feel” naked. The producer agreed to it as long as she came in and showed us how they looked before she got to set. So she met the producer (male) and the casting directors (me and my casting partner, both female) in the casting office for approval. 

She wore a prosthetic nipple on one breast and showed us the contrast to her natural nipple on the other. She even bounced around so we could see that it wouldn't fall off. I know what you guys are thinking, sounds like a really tough job, right? Well it is. Even the producer (a guy remember?) was uncomfortable. The only person who seemed comfortable with the whole thing, was the actress, who then peeled the fake nipple off and stuck it to the top of my glass desk like a suction cup. The prosthetic nipple looked exactly the same as the real one, so the producer okayed it for the shoot.

LESSON: It’s all fun and games until someone sticks a prosthetic nipple to your desk.