Grantland has published a 16,000-word oral history of the 1997 film Boogie Nights, and it includes a section on how they created the prosthetic for Mark Wahlberg’s character Dirk Diggler’s pen^s.

The model was made of plaster, and a little public merkin was specially created to match Wahlberg’s hair color.

The team also created a special bulge for his pants, which was “a woman’s stocking knee filled with birdseed.” After testing some prototypes, the final pen^s ended up being a little smaller than Diggler’s oft-mentioned 13 inches.

Special-makeup-effects coordinator Howard Berger told Grantland, “We sculpted a version that was 12 inches long, and we tested it, and it was just way too big.”

To get honest reactions from the rest of the cast, Wahlberg wore the prosthetic even when it wasn’t needed on screen, and everyone involved still has high praise for his performance.

Director of photography Robert Elswit said, “What Mark Wahlberg did in that movie was all sorts of things that he had to absolutely commit to.

He had to put a prosthetic cock on his own cock, you know what I mean? That’s asking an awful lot of an actor, honestly.”

The version seen at the end of the film was seven slightly tumescent inches.

In the words of editor Dylan Tichenor, “It was the size of John Holmes’ pen^s, but Mark is like eight or nine inches shorter than John Holmes.” Standing up, he means.

Wahlberg has since revealed that he keeps the prosthetic locked in a safe so his kids won’t stumble upon it.

“It’s not something I could leave out,” he said.

“All of a sudden my kids are looking for a spare phone charger and pull that thing out and go, ‘What the heck is this?!’ It wouldn’t be a good look.”

Wahlberg, who now has four kids, has since renounced his Dirk Diggler days in the name of God, saying his feelings toward the film have also changed.

“I just always hope that God is a movie fan and also forgiving, because I’ve made some poor choices in my past.

Boogie Nights is up there at the top of the list.”

The prosthetic was an important part of the film, as it was a pivotal moment in Dirk’s character development.

Anderson has often said that seeing Dirk Diggler’s gigantic pen^s in Boogie Nights is like seeing the shark in Jaws: It’s more powerful if you have to wait for it.

The team behind the prosthetic took great care in creating it, as they wanted it to be as realistic as possible.

Berger said, “It had to be perfect, because you can’t have anything take the audience out of the movie.

“You don’t want somebody looking at the pen^s and going, ‘That’s fake.'”

While Wahlberg wore the prosthetic even when it wasn’t needed on screen, he did have to perform a number of scenes with it, including the famous drug deal scene.

The prosthetic was also a key part of the final shot of the film, as it was a symbol of Dirk’s downfall.

Boogie Nights has become a cult classic, and the prosthetic has become one of the most memorable parts of the movie.