Penn Badgley is once again criticizing the heavy use of sex scenes in his hit show, “You.”
This time, he takes his comments a step further, saying those kinds of scenes are “disturbing” to film.
“It’s not a place where I’ve blurred lines,” he said in a new interview with Variety. “There’s almost nothing I could say with more consecration. That aspect of Hollywood has always been very disturbing to me — and that aspect of the job, that mercurial boundary — has always been something that I actually don’t want to play with at all.”
Another issue Badgley, 36, has with intimate scenes is the fact that, at this point in his career, he’s usually older than the actresses he films them with, which “didn’t used to be the case.”
Penn Badgley made his debut as Joe Goldberg in “You” in 2018. (Jenny Anderson/Getty Images)
He stressed, “It’s important to me in my real life to not have them.” When asked for clarification he responded, “My fidelity in my relationship. It’s important to me. And actually, it was one of the reasons that I initially wanted to turn the role down. I didn’t tell anybody that. But that is why.”
‘YOU’ ACTOR PENN BADGLEY REQUESTS FEWER SEX SCENES ON NETFLIX SHOW
Badgley’s wife, singer and doula Domino Kirke, “encouraged” him to take the role and as he put it, “I wasn’t going to listen to anyone more than her.”
The popular Netflix show premiered the first half of its fourth season last week. While the show’s creator, Sera Gamble, was discussing Badgley’s character’s storyline, he took the opportunity to discuss his concerns.
“I told her kind of my desire, and she immediately was accepting and responsive,” he said. “I’m always very practical. I said I know it can’t be none, because there’s something coded into the DNA of the show, and I signed the contract, and so it is what it is, but as little as possible would be my preference.”
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Penn Badgley and Domino Kirke were married in 2017. (Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Fans who watch the new episodes will notice that Badgley got his wish — the sex scenes, which were very graphic in earlier seasons, were definitely toned down.
This isn’t the first time he’s discussed his issue with these scenes.
Last week he spoke about the topic on his podcast, “Podcrushed.”
There, he said he specifically asked Gamble, “Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?” He added that ideally there would be “zero” of those moments in the show.
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Again, he recognized that sex is a huge part of “You” and it wouldn’t make sense to take it out completely. He repeated that Gamble was extremely understanding and accommodated his request as much as possible.
Badgley is firm in his stance against sex scenes. (Cindy Ord)
He cited the importance he placed on “fidelity” as a reason he felt uncomfortable with on-screen intimacy on the podcast as well.
Badgley has been married to Kirke since 2017, a year before the series premiere of “You.” They share a son, two-year-old James, and he’s also stepfather to Kirke’s son from a previous relationship, 14-year-old Cassius.
