Back in 2016, Alexander Skarsgård decided to show a little skin at the MTV Movie Awards after being inspired by a fellow “sexy” actor’s lack of attire at the award show ceremony the year prior.
The Swedish actor’s bold decision to ditch his pants entirely for that MTV red carpet led to a photograph of himself half-dressed that has since become the main profile photo on his IMDb page—a discovery made by the Internet this week that caused equal parts amusement and bewilderment. But in a recent interview, Skarsgård attempted to explain the method behind his pants-free madness.
In a Q&A video for the website, he explained, “The year before, Zac Efron had taken his shirt off on stage and he is so sexy. I decided to also show a little bit of skin. I couldn’t take my shirt off because Zac had already done that, so I thought, well, then I’ll take my pants off because it’s equally sexy.” That choice meant that when Skarsgård got up to present one of the night’s awards alongside his Legend of Tarzan costar Samuel L. Jackson he also gave the audience quite the eyeful.
Of course, audiences have seen much more than just a little hamstring from the actor over the years as he is no stranger to stripping down on screen, including in his most recent film The Northman in which he does an entire fight sequence totally in the buff. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s director Robert Eggers even had to explain that they’d created a CG penis and testicles for Skarsgård in order to keep the real deal safe. “They were actually having to add things digitally, because they were wearing thongs, because no one wanted to get their bits chopped off,” he explained. “So we actually had to add some CG genitals for certain shots so that they didn’t look too Ken Doll-ish.” Eggers added, “You’ve got to make it look real, so I’m sure we did some full-body scans of Alex. They’re out there.”
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