Mr Man's Top 10 Nude Scenes of 2020: it's only au natural to be curious

19 Dec 2020 - photos courtesy of publicist

2020 was a horrible year by almost any standard. But according to the panel of experts at mrman.com, 2020 did have one stand out silver lining: “Not only is male nudity more prevalent in 2020, it is salacious.” To prove their point, mrman.com has compiled Mr Man's Top 10 Nude Scenes of 2020, adding the caveat that, “We had a hard time narrowing this year’s scenes down to ten.”

In a world saturated with porn (which, face it, we've all watched more of while in isolation) and erotic imagery, it's shocking that male nudity on film and television is still so rare. More shocking than seeing an actual penis or bared butt. But then I just read an article about Edward James Elmos's epic struggle, and failure, to create equal opportunity nudity in the Battlestar Galactica franchise companion film, The Plan. And I've lost track of how many interviews I've read where male actors (Chris Pine, Ewan McGregor, Richard Gere, Kevin Bacon, Ben Affleck, Jason Segel, Peter Sarsgaard, Ralph Fiennes, even Ken Jeong) were lauded for being brave and exposing their assets. As Jack Reynor expounded to The Hollywood Reporter about his nude scene in Midsommar,

I recognized that this is something that really only happens to women in horror films, and it’s an opportunity to do something different, something that feels new. As an actor, you want to find things to do that haven’t really been seen by a mainstream audience, particularly. So, this was certainly an opportunity to do that, and I felt very ready to do it. I don’t have an issue with the nudity; it’s more an issue of the mental space that I needed to occupy throughout that entire sequence. That was the part that I think was really difficult.

Or Michael Fassbender telling Vulture about his extended, and memorable, full frontals in Shame,

It just baffles me: Women can parade around naked all the time, but the guy conveniently has his pants on. I remember my mom always complaining about that to me, saying, “This is such bullshit, it’s always the women who are naked” … so I did this one for you, Mom!

Of course, out of purely prurient interest and for Fassbender's mom, I immediately turned to Mr Man's 2019 list and discovered that Reynor made the right artistic choice. As well as affording a middling horror film an extra marketing hook. And I was reminded of my constant battle with Facebook when I posted what to me were innocuous photos accompanying insightful prose. Even my blog is saddled with a warning label (and spider blocker) thanks to my occasional inclusion of a male member. And who could forget the epic battle over leaked nudes between Justin Bieber and Orland Bloom? Even a former US president got into the controversy. The fear of, and the desire to see, the penis is still very much with us.

The Mr Man Top 10 Nude Scenes of 2020 list is full of familiar, and fresh, faces as well as formerly private parts. It consists of:

10. Matt Bomer, Boys in the Band 
9. Andy Samberg, Palm Springs 
8. Paapa Essiedu and Samson Ajewole, I May Destroy You 
7. Michele Morrone, 365 Days 
6. Juan Carlos Maldonado, The Prince 
5. Dan J. Johnson, P-Valley 
4. Tom Mercier, We Are Who We Are 
3. Daniel Kaluuya, Queen & Slim 
2. Nicholas Hoult, The Great 
1. Paul Mescal, Normal People

Matt Bomer and Daniel Kaluuya are talented but also scorching hot actors whose performances are only enhanced by states of undress. Who could forget Bomer in tighty whities in AHS: Freak Show? His extended casual shower in The Boys in the Band is integral to the plot and thematic concerns while also being eye candy of the most delicious kind. Kaluuya was a sex object (and final girl) in Get Out, who could resist seeing more? The Prince was a hit at Inside Out, Normal People a critical darling, and Michele Morrone helped make 365 Days one of Netflix's biggest hits despite being merely a hardcore remake of the execrable 50 Shades of Grey, wherein Jamie Dornan explicitly did not show his "todger."  

All of the top 10 men make one curious to see the films, if only to put the nudity into context of course. But there is one question that remains: will I watch Palm Springs just to see Andy Samberg in the buff? Fortunately it is not a necessity, Mr Man has all the pertinent scenes available for perusal at mrman.com/top10-of-the-year/2020.