‘Gen V’ Built a Five-Foot Penis for Superhero Sex Scene, and Creators Break Down That ‘C–ksplosion’
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains minor spoilers for Episode 4 of “Gen V,” now streaming on Prime Video.
It wouldn’t be “The Boys” universe without an exploding penis, right?
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In its first four episodes, Prime Video’s spinoff “Gen V” managed to outdo “The Boys” in the sheer number of on-screen penises shown — and also ushered in the first-ever “cocksplosion” seen on TV. Naturally, we had to speak with executive producers Eric Kripke and Michele Fazekas about it.
In Episode 4, Marie (Jaz Sinclair) is looking for Emma (Lizze Broadway), her missing roommate who shrank down super small to investigate the mysterious Woods supe program. To get answers on her whereabouts, Marie turns to a classmate named Rufus (Alexander Calvert), a creepy psychic who offers to find Emma — but suggests Marie pays for his services sexually. Marie considers ditching Rufus, but he relents and gives her some info on Emma.
Suddenly, however, Marie blacks out and wakes up in Rufus’ room with the psychic perv standing in front of her naked, clearly planning to assault her. With her friend Jordan (London Thor) banging on the door, Marie gets caught up in the chaos and accidentally uses her blood-bending powers to swell Rufus’ penis to an uncomfortably large size. Right as Jordan breaks down the door, Marie’s blood powers hit their peak and Rufus’ penis explodes in a bloody mess.
The first episode of “Gen V” had another penis gag, albeit much less gory — and echoed a similar, super-sized sex scene in the Season 3 premiere of “The Boys” last year. During a dorm-room hookup, Emma shrinks down at the request of her classmate Liam (Robert Bazzocchi), who has a fetish for shrinking heroes. During their sex scene, the super-small Emma climbs on Liam’s penis, which appears hilariously gigantic in comparison.
With Variety, Kripke and Fazekas reveal how they shot the massive penis scene, break down the “cocksplosion” and reveal the secret meaning of Rufus’ name.
We have to start with the penis explosion, though there’s probably a better name for it. What did you guys call it?
Michele Fazekas: Cocksplosion, I think.
Eric Kripke: Yeah, it’s a cocksplosion.
Between that and the giant penis in the series premiere, this rivals “The Boys” for representations of on-screen genitalia. Did you purposely try to outdo the main series?
Fazekas: When I came onto the show, I realized meeting Eric and Evan [Goldberg], straight dudes love penises. They love talking about them, looking at them.
Kripke: So funny. They’re endlessly funny. They’re the weirdest looking things. They’re just hilarious.
Fazekas: We never came into this saying, “We want to top ‘The Boys.'” That scene, yes, is about a cocksplosion, but it came from a lot of women in my writers’ room who’ve gone to college and who’ve had these shitty experiences with dudes in college, where you’re like, “Is this guy a predator?” Feeling unsafe. That’s where it came from, of young women going into college. We never start with the outrageous thing, we always start with the story.
The moment right before the cocksplosion when Marie suddenly finds herself in a room with naked Rufus is quite jarring. If she didn’t wake up and use her blood powers, what would’ve happened there?
Fazekas: He’s a guy who is like human Rufenal. He was probably going to sexually assault her, and that’s why it’s fairly satisfying when that doesn’t go his way.
Kripke: It’s intentional that his name is Rufus. We always talked about him and how he’s a walking roofie.
How did you try to balance these heavy topics, like self-harm and eating disorders, with this over-the-top, darkly funny world?
Kripke: It’s the same processes in “The Boys,” which is you really have to lead with character. You have to treat your characters with empathy and humanity. In life, there’s gallows humor, and people make jokes so they can cope. The person can be funny, but the thing that they’re going through is not funny, and you can never play it for a joke. You have to play it how the character would really feel about it. You can get into real things that real people are going through. Is there snarky dialogue in the show? Yes, but “The Boys” universe is not like a Joss Whedon, everything-is-fun-and-light-and-bopping-around.
Fazekas: We treated those things very seriously. We talked to subject matter experts about people who cut and people who have eating disorders and mental disorders, and we wanted to know all of the information — because you have to know it and be mindful of it before you start. We’re not just willy nilly cracking jokes, “Eating disorders are hilarious.” The first time you see Emma vomit, she has her go bag and she has this whole ritual she does every time, and that’s very real. We’re not treating it lightly.
We learn at the end of the episode that not only can Emma shrink, but she can grow to a huge size by eating food. How did you shoot those gigantic scenes?
Fazekas: You shoot her and there’s a little bit of forced perspective on how to make her seem big, but it’s mostly just shooting her and then putting her into the scene giant.
Kripke: Yeah, it’s all blue screen stuff with her shot separately, and then carefully added into what they’re filming with Sam.
Going back to the premiere episode when Emma is hooking up with Liam, was the giant penis real or CGI?
Fazekas: We have a practical, five-foot penis and we enhanced it with visual effects.
Kripke: It’s not our style to CG a penis. I think it’s important for verisimilitude that we create these penises practically. When we were writing the pilot, that scene, as shocking as it is, is about Emma’s self- esteem. It’s about being goaded and pressured into doing something sexually that she’s not comfortable with, and that really costs her something. Again, we’re never like, “Hey, we blew up a dick in ‘The Boys’ so let’s have a tiny person climb a dick in this one.” We’re always talking about, “She’s going through it” and this was a bold way to dramatize that.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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