Penn Badlgey Says What Are the Toughest Scenes in ‘You’ (It’s Not The Murders)

Penn Badlgey Says What Are the Toughest Scenes in ‘You’ (It’s Not The Murders)

Over the course of 3 seasons (the fourth is in production) of ‘You’, the main character, played by Penn Bagley, has done endless questionable things like harassing his romantic interests, kidnapping, murdering and even pretending of his death.

In the midst of all these situations, Joe Goldberg masturbated in public on more than one occasion. Now, the actor responsible for bringing him to life has revealed just how complicated it was to record those scenes.

Penn Badgley reveals how difficult it is to record intimate scenes in the series “You”

On the July 13 podcast episode of Podcrushed, the actor opened up about one of the more complicated aspects of his work on the show.

“I have to say that sometimes these (masturbation) scenes are harder than when you’re with a person,” he said.

In the same way, he mentioned that, although at first it may seem like a simple job, once he is on the set, he realizes that it is not so:

“It’s strange: you don’t think it’s going to be such a big deal. You read it (in the script), it’s actually kind of funny or creepy, but it serves the story, it is what it is. And then you find out, in front of a group of people with cameras in their faces, knowing that probably millions of people will see this, that you’re faking masturbation.

Additionally, Penn Badley revealed that every time he’s had to do this type of scene (“so far, one per season”) he gets the same cue from his director:

“They always ask me to make it less creepy, they tell me ‘close your eyes, go faster or slower.’

However, the interpreter does not agree with the comments, as:

“This man kills people and masturbates in the street and you say I make it creepy? How do I make it creepy?”

Likewise, he recalled that the first time he was given this instruction, he thought that making his character a little creepy “is the point.”

Finally, he stated that:

“That’s the weird line we’re always walking on our show, and I guess a lot of us are looking at the toxicity in sex culture while also trying to be sexy.”

Penn Badgley asked not to romance Joe Goldberg in Netflix series ‘You’

On several occasions, the actor has emphasized that his character is a psychopath who doesn’t deserve his fans to fall in love with him.

On his Twitter account, he often receives comments from fans of the show to point out why Joe is problematic, in addition to responding disapprovingly to those who point out that, regardless of his actions, he is very attractive.