Penn Badgley at the ‘You’ TV show premiere at Paleyfest in New York on September 6, 2018. MediaPunch/Shutterstock
Joe Goldberg’s perils Penn BadgleyHas filmed many crazy scenes. You, but it’s not the murder that’s hardest to shoot — it’s the masturbation.
“I’ve now done it so many times on camera. It’s a strange — you don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal,” the Gossip Girl alum, 35, said during the Wednesday, July 13, episode of Stitcher’s “Podcrushed” podcast. “And then you discover in front of a crew of people with a camera on your face, knowing that in all likelihood, millions of people are going to see this.”
TheEasy AHe has filmed many sex scenes over the years for both Netflix series and other projects. However, he acknowledged that solo scenes can be more challenging. “I have to say, sometimes those scenes are harder than with a person because it’s just like, ‘Alright, this is what I’m doing,’” he explained.
It also doesn’t help that You directors keep giving him the same — and somewhat impossible to follow — advice.
“I’ve always gotten the note to make it less creepy,” he joked. “They say like, ‘Close your eyes or go faster or go slower.’ I’m like, ‘What? This man is f–king murdering people, and he’s masturbating in the street. You’re saying I’m making it creepy? How is it I’m the one making it creepy?’”
At one point, director Lee Toland KriegerBadgley was told by Badgley that it might make a scene less offensive if he closed his eyes. But the actor protested. “I’m like, ‘That’s the f–king … that’s the point!’” he recalled.
The Margin CallStar has been open about how uncomfortable it is to play Joe, despite the fact that he is a prolific murderer. “Every one of my greatest fears and hopes for people’s engagement [with the show] came to be fulfilled,” he told ViceJanuary 2020. “There were the reactions of overlooking all of Joe’s faults, which is the whole point of the show, and just being really into him. … It was both gratifying and troubling.”
Later, he observed that the psychologically-inclined character he was trying to portray became more difficult after he became father. Badgley with his wife. Domino KirkeHe welcomed a son in August 2020. He is also Cassius’ stepdad, aged 13, whom Kirke (38), shares with Morgan O’Kane.
“I was curious what my new fatherhood — how that would influence my experience with Joe and acting with him,” the Slap alum told Access HollywoodIn October 2021. “[Joe is]He was so morbid in his obsession with self-preservation and primal instinct. Sometimes I almost found it harder as a result.”
