Drew Barrymore received an unforgettable birthday surprise, courtesy of “You” star Penn Badgley.
14.02.2023 - 17:09 / variety.com
Kate Aurthur editor Penn Badgley has been in the headlines recently, and not only because Part 1 of the fourth season of “You” dropped on Feb. 9: On his podcast “Podcrushed” last week, Badgley talked about his strong dislike of filming intimate scenes — and the internet exploded with thoughts about his remarks. He also said that he’d shared his feelings with Sera Gamble, the “You” showrunner, ahead of the season. In turn, he said, Gamble had a “really positive response and they came back with a phenomenal reduction” for Season 4. In two wide-ranging interviews for this week’s Variety cover story, which will be released on Feb. 15, Badgley spoke expansively on the subject. In our story, Badgley details how the number of sex scenes he knew he’d have to do for “You” had been a major factor in 2017 in him not wanting to play the role of serial killer/love addict Joe Goldberg. The whole series, after all, revolves around Joe’s romantic fixations, and how he gets the women he’s fallen for to submit to his charms. By design, “You” has a ton of sex.
Badgley spoke carefully describing his discomfort with sex scenes, “having done a fair amount of them in my career.” “It’s not a place where I’ve blurred lines,” he says. “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.” He’s also now older than his romantic interests on the show. “Didn’t used to be the case,” he says. Badgley wishes he didn’t have to do any sex scenes. “It’s important to me in my real life to not have them.” When asked to clarify what he means, Badgley responds:
Drew Barrymore received an unforgettable birthday surprise, courtesy of “You” star Penn Badgley.
You.Maybe it’s the way Penn Badgley looks with or without a beard. Or maybe it’s the show’s funny, yet cutting satire on the people we suffer through every day.But damn, four seasons in, You (★★★★☆), Netflix’s series about a sociopath who obsesses over women, still hits that same perverse spot it did to make it one of the streamer’s best in recent years.Originally a Lifetime Original adapted from Caroline Kepnes’s book series, You was brought to the screen by producing giants Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble, who installed former Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley as the lead.After one season aired on Lifetime, the show migrated to Netflix, where it blew up and has remained a permanent fixture since season two.Badgley stars as Joe Goldberg, a troubled sociopath with inclinations for becoming obsessed with random women, ingratiating himself into their lives, and then killing anyone who gets in his way.On paper, this seems like a strange recommendation in the #MeToo era, but You‘s greatest strength has become its humor, focusing on entertainment and sardonic musings on everyday life from a truly messed up man.Over the first three seasons, Joe traveled across the coasts, going from being a bookstore manager in New York to a young dad in suburban California.
Breaking Bad, describing the part as “the one that got away”.The You star was asked in a new interview with Buzzfeed to name a role fans would be surprised that he auditioned for but didn’t get.“One I got close on was Breaking Bad,” Badgley said. “It was between me and Aaron Paul, we tested.” Paul ended up getting the role of crystal meth cook and dealer Jesse Pinkman in the hit series, which aired for five seasons between 2008 to 2013.Actually, that was the best television script I’d read at that point,” added Badgley.
Liam Neeson admitted that he is still uncomfortable with filming sex scenes despite shooting many over his decades-long career. During an interview with Vanity Fair, the 70-year-old actor shared his thoughts on "You" star Penn Badgley's recent revelation that he requested to film fewer intimate scenes for the fourth season of his hit Netflix psychological thriller series.
Had things gone another way, Penn Badgley would have played Jesse Pinkman alongside Bryan Cranston in “Breaking Bad”.
Penn Badgley saying no to sex scenes in YOU Season 4 has gone down well but would an actress have had the same luxury? If you are as eagle-eyed as Joe Goldberg from Netflix’s psychological thriller YOU, you may have noticed the subtle but significant dialling down of raunchier scenes the show was famous for in earlier seasons. It turns out this is because the former Gossip Girl star asked to do as few sex scenes as possible out of respect for his wife Domino Kirke.
Penn Badgley has opened up about the one role that he was almost cast in – Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad.
You star Penn Badgley has said his character would “probably despise” Taylor Swift.When asked about his first effort at a TikTok video in conversation with Variety, Badgley discussed having set the song to Taylor Swift’s recent single ‘Anti-Hero’.Badgley lip-syncs to the song on TikTok, with the clip having gone viral and Swift commenting “OMG!!!!” on the social media platform.However, the actor said that his character Joe Goldberg “probably despises” Taylor Swift, despite one episode of You containing a reference to the pop icon.“I think, unfortunately, he would despise her,” Badgley said. “Because she’s successful and blonde, maybe? I don’t know, but I think he would.”In a four-star review of You season four part one, NME wrote: “Yes, it’s all very silly, but it’s also surprisingly gripping and consistently witty.”Penn Badgley recently revealed he requested to have no unnecessary sex scenes in the recent season of You, due to his marriage to singer Domino Kirke.Speaking on the podcast Podcrushed, Badgley said: “I asked Sera Gamble, the creator of the show, ‘Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?’“This was actually a decision I had made before I took the show.
in the fame department after Gossip Girl first premiered in the mid-aughts. Obviously, this was only heightened after tabloids caught wind of his . Stressful as this period was, Badgley said that dating Lively may have saved him from going down a destructive path. Plenty of young stars from this era have been open about dealing with substance abuse (, , , etc.), but Badgley said in an interview with that he never really did.
Creating boundaries. Penn Badgley, Neal McDonough and more stars have candidly discussed their decisions not to film sex scenes in future projects.
While Dan and Serena made it down the aisle on Gossip Girl, Penn Badgley and Blake Lively called it quits long before the 2012 series finale.
Penn Badgley credits his co-star and ex-girlfriend, Blake Lively, with keeping him on the right track as his fame was on the rise.In a new interview with, Badgley opens up about his three-year romance with Lively, who played his character Dan Humphrey's on-screen love interest, Serena van der Woodsen.The pair started dating in real life in 2007 at the start of the teen drama's run.“Beyond our relationship, I don’t think anybody was going to be interested in me publicly,” Badgley says, adding of his overnight fame, “It was a little bit night and day. I think the date was Sept.
Penn Badgley is opening up about his career.
Netflix is still releasing pretty much everything (outside of some reality shows) in their patented binge model. All of the episodes, all at once.
Penn Badgley doesn’t actually need to be on the internet to stoke his popularity. He’s already the internet’s boyfriend, and has been since the original “Gossip Girl” premiered in 2007. Badgley became famous at the exact moment when the celebrity-industrial complex, fed by the toxic brew of the gossip sites TMZ and Perez Hilton, was at its most pernicious — which was the same moment that teenagers everywhere got their hands on their first iPhones. “‘Gossip Girl,’ if you think about it, wouldn’t have happened at any other time,” Badgley says. “That was the spirit of the show: It was Perez. It was TMZ.” Badgley made it through that poisonous period intact. But now, when it comes to joining social media platforms, he is, understandably, apprehensive. Twitter used to suit Badgley best, he being a news-obsessed man of words, but that’s changed: “I can’t really spend much time on that platform anymore,” he says. Instagram, too, feels “a bit too much like standing on a stage and trying to present,” and Badgley doesn’t need that type of exposure.
the second half of season 4 on Wednesday, revealing the return of Joe's very dead wife, Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), from the second and third seasons. The surprising resurrection(?) came in the final moments of the haunting two-minute trailer as Joe (Penn Badgley) approaches the glass cage -- only to be met face to face with Love, who up until that moment is seen casually reading a book.
“I’m not some cold-blood psycho killer.” To which all fans of Netflix’s You would say, sure Joe, sure.
Penn Badgley is elaborating on the news that he requested to have no more intimate scenes in the fourth season of his Netflix series You.
Penn Badgley is prioritizing fidelity over Hollywood sex scenes.
Penn Badgley isn't holding back when it comes to romanticized portrayals of infamous serial killers on Netflix — even if he plays one.The 36-year-old actor, who plays fictional murderer Joe Goldberg in acknowledged the audience's growing fascination with serial killers amid portrayals of several notorious, real-life killers in TV shows and movies in recent years on the streaming platform.Badgley specifically singled out Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, two serial killers who were given the Netflix treatment in the 2019 Zac Efron film, and the 2022 Evan Peters series, though he never mentions the projects by name. Peters, for his part, won a Golden Globe for his performance as Jeffrey Dahmer.«You need to look at that, inside,» Badgley said when asked his thoughts on people admitting their attraction toward problematic men. «Now, to be fair, with our show you're meant to fall in love with him.