Neil Patrick Harris Shares How He Prepped For Those ‘Uncoupled’ Sex Scenes

The actor strips down on the Netflix series, which follows a gay man who reenters the singles scene in his late 40s

Neil Patrick Harris is showing a side of himself that we’ve never seen before. In Darren Star and Jeffrey Richman’s new Netflix series Uncoupled, Harris stars as Michael, a gay New York real estate agent whose partner of 17 years Colin (Tuc Watkins) abruptly leaves him. As Michael navigates dating in NYC again, stories of love, heartbreak, middle-age and unexpected sexual encounters unfold.

Throughout Uncoupled’s 8 episodes, Harris is seen in various states of undress. In fact, the actor has his first on-camera gay sex scene on Uncoupled, with Sex and the City movie alum Gilles Marini, who plays a brutally hot bisexual Italian businessman. Harris says he had no problem with the physical intimacy with his co-stars, but things did get challenging obscuring his private parts for some of the show’s steamier sex scenes.

“I’ll tell you what’s weird: You’re literally butt-ass naked, except you can’t show your genitals,” Harris told HuffPost. “When you go into your trailer, there are six or seven options of things you’re supposed to put around your stuff. Some of them have drawstrings, some of them have double-stick tape, some of them are much larger — I don’t mind size-wise, but they’re just, like, a giant piece of fabric — and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with any of them.”

Fortunately, the Emmy- and Tony-winning actor came up with his own solution.

“It’s called the NPH — the Netflix Penis Holder,” he quipped. “It’s a kind of rubbery [cock] ring that’s attached to a stretchy, flesh-coloured package thing that you wrap around all the stuff.”

And, if you’ve already watched Uncoupled, you’ll know that the Netflix Penis Holder got plenty of use. 

Harris also said he was comfortable filming nude scenes for the show saying: “I do legitimately feel more comfortable in my skin now than I did even five years ago.”

Uncoupled is streaming now on Netflix and also stars Tisha Campbell, who plays Suzanne Michael’s best friend and business partner. Emerson Brooks and Brooks Ashmanskas play Michael’s two best friends Billy and Stanley and Marcia Gay Harden plays Michael’s haughty new client Claire. Tony winner legend André De Shields pops up as Michael’s neighbour, Jack.