Adam Scott tackles male body insecurities in indie comedy ‘The Overnight’

TORONTO – One of Adam Scott’s biggest fears when diving into full frontal nudity for his dark comedy “The Overnight” was that the film would get a dreaded NC-17 rating.

Shedding his briefs was not scary — especially since he and co-star Jason Schwartzman each donned prosthetics to cover their genitals, Scott is quick to point out.

“Once Jason and I actually put the prosthetics on we realized it wasn’t as big a deal as we thought it was going to be, because it’s not real. So we’re not actually naked,” the former “Parks and Recreation” star says during a recent stop in Toronto.

“We felt a lot more comfortable than we would have if we were nude. It just felt like a really interesting pair of shorts.”

Scott has been talking a lot about his private parts these days, thanks to a key sequence in the R-rated film, which features his character comparing his modest anatomy to that of his neighbour, a brash exhibitionist played by Schwartzman.

The outlandish scene is the result of a booze-and-drug-fuelled night that unfolds after Scott’s straight-laced character Alex and his wife Emily, played by “Orange is the New Black” star Taylor Schilling, accept a neighbour’s dinner invitation to family pizza night.

The evening starts innocently enough.

New to Los Angeles and eager to make friends, Alex and Emily meet Schwartzman’s gregarious Kurt at the park, where their similar-aged sons become instant buddies.

Kurt invites them to his home, where they meet his beautiful French wife Charlotte and are wowed by their impressive abode, global anecdotes and seemingly perfect life.

It doesn’t take much for Kurt and Charlotte, played by Judith Godreche, to convince Alex and Emily to stay the night, which takes increasingly bizarre turns as each couple opens up about various insecurities.

“I thought it was really interesting, what it was saying about people around our age and people with kids and couples and how they sort of fold dysfunction into their lives and kind of learn to not acknowledge it,” says Scott, also an executive producer on the film with his producer wife, Naomi Scott.

“And when they’re forced to kind of reassess who they are and how they fit into the world, how they would react to that.”

The film was shot in just 12 days, with “a good amount” of improvisation, he adds.

Scott initially feared letting it all hang out would elicit a strict NC-17 rating, a classification from the Motion Picture Association of America that would kill its chances of reaching a wide audience.

“But it wasn’t (a problem) at all,” he says. “They don’t tell you really why, but there just wasn’t a problem.”

The shock value largely seems to come from the fact that penises are rarely seen on screen, he says.

“People’s idea of what’s pleasing to the eye is certainly based on what we’ve grown up seeing more of. And who knows,” Scott says with a smirk, “I think that it’s about time guys start showing themselves a little (more).”

“The Overnight” opens Friday in Toronto before heading to other cities including Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa on July 3.