'Red Rocket' 's Simon Rex 'Wasn't Allowed' to Keep Prosthetic Penis, Wants It to Live in Oscars Museum

"It will be in a museum one day," Simon Rex told PEOPLE of the prosthetic penis he wore in his Sean Baker-helmed film Red Rocket, for which he's received critical acclaim

Simon Rex attends the 33rd Annual Producers Guild Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on March 19, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty

Simon Rex is opening up about one of his most memorable props.

The Red Rocket actor, 47, told PEOPLE he "wasn't allowed" to keep the prosthetic penis he wore in the Sean Baker-helmed film as he arrived at Saturday's 33rd Producers Guild of America Awards. "I don't think that was an option, but it will be in a museum one day," he said.

When asked if he would donate the piece to the newly opened Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, Rex replied: "I like that idea."

After going nude in the critically-acclaimed film, Rex confirmed earlier this month in his acceptance speech for Best Male Lead at the Film Independent Spirit Awards that he was in fact wearing a prosthesis. "I finally had to let it be known," he said.

"I just had fun with it, and me and Sean Baker ... we agreed that we were going to keep it mysterious, and not say whether or not that was really me naked," Rex explained. "And at that point, after we won the Spirit Award, I said, 'It's time to tell people.' We did this for eight months. We somehow got away with it for eight months. It was just time to let people know."

Simon Rex in Red Rocket
A24

In Red Rocket, Rex plays Mikey Saber, a con man and washed-up porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown with very little welcome from the locals, all while plotting his way back to the big time.

The film serves as a comeback of sorts for Rex, whose career took off in the mid '90s as a model for Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Versace, and Levi's, as well as a VJ on MTV. He also appeared onscreen in Felicity, What I Like About You, and the Scary Movie franchise.

"It's been very surreal, because we've all been living in this strange time together, in this Twilight Zone pandemic, strange times collectively that we're all in," he explained. "So if you add, on top of that, this amazing highlight of my career, it just adds to the weirdness of it all.

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"Sometimes I just start laughing. I'll be in a hotel room by myself and I just start cracking up because it's kind of like, life is just a big cosmic joke. And how is this happening now? And I still think I'm just reeling from it all," Rex added.

Red Rocket is now available on streaming and Blu-ray.

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