Costars weigh in on Hemsworth’s mammoth prop

LOS ANGELES—Chris Hemsworth’s enormous prosthetic body part in a scene in the comedy, “Vacation,” was inevitably the amusing main topic in our interviews with the lead stars, Ed Helms and Christina Applegate. The “Thor” actor, playing Leslie Mann’s Texan cattleman-stud husband, walks into the bedroom of visiting couple, Ed and Christina, in nothing but his abs, boxer briefs and a mammoth penis prop.

The following are excerpts of our laughter-filled chats with Ed and Christina.

Ed Helms

What was it like on the set when you shot the scene with Chris Hemsworth wearing that prosthetic penis?

I give Chris so much credit for doing that. Every take was hilarious and it was impossible not to laugh. And not just because of the prosthetic, which is funny and looks funny, but because Chris’ performance was perfect—the way that he walked into the room and ignored his own underwear.

Chris is, for all of his action-hero prowess, an excellent comedian as well. That’s what made that scene work—Chris’ good comedic instincts. That’s part of the fun.

In one of the takes, I was joking around when Chris came in. After he left the room, the line in the script was, “He just came in here to show off his package.” But I made a joke because we were all laughing so much.

I said, “He just came in here to show off his abs.” And we all started laughing. But they used that take in the movie. It was a great little moment of how sort of free and fun it was.

ED HELMS thinks most comedians were bullied as kids.

When Chris was strutting around with that prop, did you feel a bit insecure?

Why would I feel insecure (laughs)?

When you were growing up, were you socially awkward or the one who bullied the kids?

Definitely, I was a little awkward.

Is that where your comedy comes from?

Yeah (laughs). I think most comedians were bullied when they were little. It’s a coping mechanism. So, thank you to my bullies.

Your “The Hangover” costar, Jamie Chung, said she and her boyfriend flew to Boracay for a vacation. But her agent called and asked her to return to audition.

Did she interrupt her vacation?

Yes, she flew back to LA immediately. She was bummed, but it was a blessing in disguise because it was for “The Hangover Part II,” which eventually boosted her career.

Good because ordinarily, I would say to stay on vacation. Don’t leave vacation.

Have you vacationed in Asia?

I have been around Thailand a good amount which I love. We shot “The Hangover Part II” in Bangkok.” At first, Bangkok was very intense and kind of too much for me. But then, I settled in and really loved it. There is a lot going on there.

I haven’t been to Japan yet. I am very excited to go there or the Philippines—I would love to check that out. So far the most exciting place I have visited in Asia were Sumatra and Mentawai Islands in Indonesia. That was an incredible trip—just incredible people and beautiful culture. I did that trip when I was 26, I think. I like to get around.

Christina Applegate

What was your reaction when you first saw Chris with that prosthetic?

We were really excited—I know that sounds really wrong (laughs). Luckily, we had already shot a lot of scenes with Chris and already knew how incredibly funny he was. He held his own. He really brought so much to everything. He was such a nice guy so at this point we were all just really excited like a bunch of little kids to see this ridiculous thing.

I remember all of us were standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for Chris to come down. He had to do a few fittings up there. I guess there were different sizes (laughs) that he had to go through. Finally, they settled on what became the hero penis. He walked down and we were all like, “Oh man, this is amazing.”

CHRISTINA Applegate prefers tattooed punk rockers. Photos by Ruben V. Nepales

Chris was so game and such a team player. It was at that moment that everyone—men, women—just looked at him and went, “How does one get abs like that?” It wasn’t lascivious. It wasn’t like any of us were turned on or anything weird like that. It really was about marveling at the perfection of another human being.

We all just sat there like, “Wow, wow! And you’re funny too. You have abs like that and you’re nice. Damn you. You’re supposed to be like us, like we’re squishy funny people. We can get away with it because we’re goofy but what are you doing to us? You’re ruining it for the rest of us.”

Were you surprised that Chris can be funny, too?

I hate to be that guy who’s like, “I’m surprised … .” Because an actor’s an actor. Some people are good at comedy and some people aren’t. But Chris was just so funny and good. And the fact that he’s Australian—all of that was completely stripped away. I completely believed that he was this man from Texas.

Did I hear you correctly—you called the prop a hero penis?

Yes, I called it the hero penis.

Did Chris set new standards for your idea of a dream man?

My husband (Martyn LeNoble, Dutch founding member of Porno for Pyros) is my dream man. In fact, I had a dream of a punk kid when I was 13 years old. He was in my dream—he was 15, a total punk, from a different country and he had very interesting teeth.

Twenty years later, I married him so that’s my taste. I like my tattooed punk rocker from Amsterdam. Well, my Dutch punker.

But then you saw Chris.

I don’t tend to go that route. I really do tend to go with really tall, lean, punk rockers. That’s what I’ve been attracted to since I was younger. I did marry out of type (ex-husband, actor Jonnathon Schaech) for a few years. I have an appreciation for that as well but who I am at the core skews a little bit more on the alternative side.

But I have an appreciation and a jealousy of Chris’ stomach (laughs). I don’t think I’d look weird if I had that stomach. I’d be OK with that. It’s a beautiful thing.

Where would you like to go if you and your husband could get away for a special moment?

Under the stars is always a pretty great thing—when you can really see the stars, like no lights, just darkness and stars. That’s the coolest thing.

(E-mail the columnist at [email protected]. Follow him at twitter.com/nepalesruben.)