This guy made a movie about his small penis

Patrick Moote in Unhung Hero

 

Two years ago, Patrick Moote decided to propose to his girlfriend on the jumbotron while attending a UCLA game. The result, was pretty devastating:

The video of Moote’s proposal went viral and to make matters worse, in her litany of reasons for her refusal, Moote’s ex cited his small penis as a major factor.

Most men would have likely kept that information under their hat, but Moote and his pal Brian Spitz decided to turn a really shitty situation into a quest to answer the age old question: Does size matter?

I spoke to Moote and Spitz earlier this week about the film and its universal concern.

Kayla Marie Hillier: Why did you decide to make a documentary?
Patrick Moote: After the proposal went viral, most of the people who know me know that I’m fairly open about this stuff. Brian was one of them, and I gave him the low down on what had happened — I think it was that night that we started talking about the potential of making a documentary about size.

KMH: Did you have any concerns that the film could potentially cause some problems for you in the dating world?
PM: I’m still concerned about it, still wondering if this was a good idea. There were multiple times while we were shooting, and even now from time to time, where I kind of reach my threshold and I don’t know if I can do this anymore. There were definitely a lot of concerns when we were first getting going.
Brian Spitz: It was a constant back and forth between me and Patrick. First and foremost he’s one of my really good friends, so I wanted to protect him as a friend — but we were making a documentary. Patrick was so adamant about trying certain things or going certain places that sometimes I had to say, “Are you sure man?” and he’d always be like, “I have to do this. I have to get to the bottom of this question.” There’s actually a scene in Papua New Guinea where you can hear me off camera saying, “Are you sure you want to inject that?”
PM: He was so concerned. You can hear him in the background going, “Cut! Cut! Cut!” But I was like, we’re in Papua New Guinea. It’s not like we can fly back and do it all over again. That was my attitude when we were doing the whole thing. There were some things that may make me look like a crazy person, that might push the boundaries of what other people would be comfortable with — but when we started, I made an agreement with myself to go as far as I can until common sense reigned supreme or I’m potentially putting myself in some sort of harm.

KMH: Did you have any side effects from some of the medications that you took?
PM: Yeah. I’m already slightly high strung and a bit anxious as a person, so taking the pills — they’re vasodilators so they open up your vascular system and help your circulation but they also make your heart rate increase a little bit and your blood pressure rises. I would be a little jumpier than usual and I had a lot of erections — that was the main side effect.

KMH: Had you planned for the film to go beyond your own hang-up and to develop into this much more universal concern?
PM: No. When we started it, for me, it was about proving that there wasn’t anything wrong with me personally and that size didn’t really matter. I kind of went into it wanting to prove that it didn’t and that it was okay. And then it kind of turned once we went back to Seattle — but that was the best thing that happened. It turned it away from this issue and turned it back towards me. It became pretty obvious pretty quick that sure, maybe it’s a problem but obviously there’s a bigger problem here and the bigger problem is that I’m like… this penis obsessed little weirdo.

The gay and lesbian community have been hugely supportive of the film, which for me is a big win. It’s not just dudes with little penises being like, “I feel you bro,” it means it’s a little more for everybody. It’s about embracing your insecurities and it’s about how you don’t have to have a penis at all to relate to it. It’s more about helping yourself be comfortable with the fact that you’re not going to be what everyone wants you to be or is pressuring you to be. ■

Unhung Hero is available now on DVD