Most This Is Us fans probably didn't think they'd live to see the day Kevin Pearson would freely talk about his balls. Believe it or not, that day has come and it's quite the time to be alive. This Is Us' Justin Hartley gets super naked in Bad Moms Christmas, out Nov. 1, and while his portrayal of a male stripper may leave fans in shock and awe, the actor embraced every minute of it in real life. From the film's LA premiere on Monday, Hartley talks about being naked in Bad Moms Christmas, how he got into his character's liberated mindset, and how he feels about stripping down on camera again in the future. (Spoiler alert: He's definitely not ruling it out.)
TIU fans will barely believe their eyes and ears when they watch Hartley's character get waxed by the equally wild Carla (Kathryn Hahn) while he openly discusses his "dick, balls, and taint." Meanwhile, the actor is stripped down to the bare minimum (only a small towel covering his business) with bronzed, glowing skin and bulging muscles. Needless to say, the portrayal is unlike anything the 40-year-old has done before and is certainly a major, R-rated departure from TIU's Kevin.
Seeing as how it is such a raunchy, 180-degree turn from NBC's family-friendly hit, how did he do it? His trick was to not overthink it. "You’ve got to kind of check out of those moments, I think," he says.
Hartley didn't let the character intimidate him. In fact, he embraced how foreign being an exotic dancer felt to compared his real-life personality. "The cool thing about this movie was, this guy, he’s not so much like me. So I was literally able to slip into his skin and kind of just be a different person for a while," Hartley explains. It's a good thing he enjoyed it, because fans will likely have a great time watching.
After the Bad Moms experience, Hartley is still totally open-minded about taking part in more nude scenes in the future. That is, however, if they make sense. "I don’t have like a hard and fast rule when it comes to that stuff," the actor explains, with no puns intended. "I think it’s just project by project. If it tells a story, it’s easier to do, I think, other than like a gratuitous thing. This definitely tells a story."
Without giving too much away, Hartley's character riles up crowds by stripping on a bar, dons very tight, sexy Santa spandex underwear, and becomes Carla's love interest. Back in September, Hartley recalled the on-set vibe with Hahn as "interesting" to Entertainment Tonight. "It was like, 'Hi, how are you? Good to meet you,' legs go up, and here we go. Let's do this," he said.
So how will Hartley explain this role to his teen daughter? Probably by not explaining it at all. "If she saw this, she’s 13, so I’d probably be apologizing to a judge if I let her see this," Hartley jokes. "She won’t see this."
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
The actor, who just married Chrishell Stause over the weekend, takes his other role of being a dad very seriously. "Parenting is like golf. It’s like a series of errors," Hartley explains. "You try to make them as small as you possibly can. There’s no perfect sort of way to do it."
And while Hartley may not be having the male-exotic-dancer talk with his daughter anytime soon, he says the duo works through life together. "My daughter’s great. She helps me through everything, she really does. We do it together," he says.
Hartley is an A+ addition to the Bad Moms franchise and gives great dads everywhere an awesome rep — naked or not.
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