Neil Patrick Harris In The First Gay Sex Scene In Netflix S Uncoupled.

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) leaves him. As Michael travels again for dates, stories of love, heartbreak, middle age and unexpected sexual encounters unfold. Harris appears in various states of undress. In fact, the actor has his first on-camera gay sex scene in “Uncoupled,” with Gilles Marini from the movie “Sex and the City.” “We realized in that first scene, and then between takes he’s like, ‘Oh, is it true? Is it true what they say?’ Harris recalls. “And I said, ‘What do they say?’ And he says, ‘I heard it’s better to kiss another man than a woman and I can see that now. It’s true what they say.’ My knees buckled and I said, ‘Oh my God, thank you very much”. The cast also includes Tisha Campbell, who plays Michael’s best friend and business partner, as well as Emerson Brooks, Brooks Ashmanskas and Marcia Gay Harden. Tony-winning legend André De Shields stars as Michael’s neighbor Jack. For this week’s edition of the Just for Variety podcast, I sat down with Harris at Netflix’s New York offices just hours before he walked the red carpet at the show’s world premiere at the Paris Theatre. Here are some of the highlights: In family life Harris says he wasn’t looking for more work when he was offered Uncoupled because he’s trying to spend more time with his and husband David Burtka’s 11-year-old twins, Harper and Gideon. Filming in New York helped seal the deal. “I just want to be able to prioritize these next five or six years with them before they go to college,” Harris says. “I know even before then they’ll want more independence and they don’t want to spend time with us, necessarily. I didn’t want to have to go to Atlanta to shoot something for six weeks and then have a week off and then go to Toronto to shoot something, which I did.” “Sexual education Darren Starr may have created “Sex and the City,” but Harris says he wasn’t as familiar with the hit HBO series as one might assume. “It’s the same way I don’t know The Golden Girls,” Harris admits. “It’s the same way I don’t know Barbra Streisand. My gaydom started with ‘Into the Woods’ and ‘Les Misérables’ and musical theatre. It didn’t really start with Judy Garland.” The naked truth Harris says he wasn’t too worried about his nude scenes in “Uncoupled.” “I’m reasonably more comfortable in my own skin now than I was five years ago,” she says. Oscar skivvies Harris recalls stripping down to his underwear for a skit when he hosted the Oscars in 2015. “I apparently chose to do that, which I thought was funny at the time,” he says. “And then I realized that’s just the image people use when they talk about me as an Oscar host, and I wore really nice suits. I had a really good wardrobe for that.” Harris had to wear two pairs of tight whites. With just one pair “with the bright lights shining directly on it, you could kind of see it.” Picture perfect When it came time to find a photo of his private parts for Michael to post on the gay hookup app Grindr, the image of a prosthetic penis was considered. “I said, ‘Why don’t we just find a good picture of someone online?’ says Harris, adding, “I had to be pretty humble about it. It was a bit insecure because you don’t want to pick a huge dong because it’s like its own meta-weird joke. You don’t want to choose a tiny dong because that’s its own weird joke. [We needed] something that is normal, average size. But in the scene after, the guy says it’s a beautiful penis. So it had to be nice. I do not know. It was very strange to choose.” true stories During one scene, Michael hooks up with a dermatologist who suggests he inject his butt with botox to make anal sex more comfortable. “I laughed so hard when I was just told that this story fell apart, so to speak,” Harris says. “I said exactly what you said, ‘Is this something?’ And apparently it is. I hope we don’t turn it into a bigger thing.” For the record, Richman talked about the theme at the premiere, sharing that most — if not all — of it was inspired by real-life experiences discussed in the writers’ room. “Doctor’s” note. Harris recently returned from filming the new season of ‘Doctor Who’ in Wales. Showrunner Russell T Davis offered him a role after they worked together on “It’s a Sin,” HBO Max’s limited series about the early days of the AIDS epidemic. ‘Sex Education’ star Ncuti Gatwa will debut as the new incarnation of the Doctor. “I got to meet him and interact with him a little bit and he’s glorious,” Harris says of Gatua. “He’s going to be the first gay Doctor, which is going to be a very cool, sexiest Doctor.” “Uncoupled” is now available on Netflix. You can listen to the full interview with Harris above. You can also find “Just for Variety” wherever you download your favorite podcasts.