Netflix’s stalker drama You is probably one of the most psychologically complex shows on TV right now, specifically because it forces us to confront one very dark question: What happens when you find a creepy killer to be very, very hot?
Yes, the former Lifetime series made quite the casting coup when it nabbed Gossip Girl‘s Penn Badgley for the lead role of Joe Goldberg, an obsessive serial murderer who compulsively stalks the women he develops crushes on. Again, creepy!
The problem here is that Badgley—in real life—is one sexy man. So much so that many of You‘s fans have found themselves developing a nasty habit of crushing on Joe, the killer, by extension. It’s all very complicated, especially for the actor who has struggled with the concept of playing a dangerous, detestable human while being a total TV hunk.
Recently, on Podcrushed (the Stitcher podcast where the actor reads and discusses fans’ middle school stories), Badgley opened up about the challenge of walking that fine line while filming You‘s many intimate moments. The sex scenes are one thing, but where he really struggles? Masturbation.
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“I’ve now done it so many times on camera,” the Easy A star shared. “It’s a strange—you don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal, and then you discover [you’re] 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.”
Without another actor to work with, to play off of, one can imagine those scenes feel very strange—just miming self pleasure in front of your co-workers. “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,'” Badgley admitted with a laugh.
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As if that weren’t difficult enough, that’s also when You‘s central conflict comes into play: Is this supposed to be a sexy moment, or…?
“I’ve always gotten the note to make it less creepy,” Badgley said. “They say like, ‘Close your eyes or go faster or go slower.’ I’m like, ‘What? This man is f*cking 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?’”
He even revealed that episode director Lee Toland Krieger once instructed him to close his eyes while acting out a masturbation scene—to make it less off-putting. Badgley laughed, “I’m like, ‘That’s the f*cking … that’s the point!'”
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Therein lies the double-edged sword of being a gorgeous actor on a hit show that happens to be about a murderous psychopath: How do you downplay the inherent sexiness? As long as You‘s streaming (there is a fourth season on the way), people are going to be thirsting after Joe Goldberg, and that’s something Badgley’s just going to have to come to terms with.
“Every one of my greatest fears and hopes for people’s engagement [with You] came to be fulfilled,” Badgley previously told Vice. “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.”
Well, not that Badgley asked for our advice, but did he ever think about… being less sexy? Just a suggestion!
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bachy
I watched the first season of ‘You’ and by the end of it I had to ask myself: what exactly is this story asking of the viewer? It seems the aim of ‘You’ is to make the viewer feel a sympathetic, friendly rapport with a serial killer, and to be turned on by a man going around systematically stalking, gaslighting, torturing and murdering women. Featuring a new victim each season. WTF? Perverse in the extreme. No thanks. There’s a sh*t tonne of crazy I’m trying to avoid in the world already.
Henreid
I’m just wondering why scriptwriters didn’t envision Penn Badgley’s character as bisexual – seducing and preying upon both women AND men. Perhaps that was yet another approach that they considered to be too “creepy”…
bigrawtop
more likely, most serial killers focus on women.
moretruth
Much more impressed with Theo James being totally naked in most of the Time Traveler’s Wife Horrible show but Theo’s body is epic. Now, if he’d only join the cast of YOU as a time-traveling naked man and gets trapped in Penn’s dungeon bubble that would be awesome.
KyleMichelSullivan
I absolutely despised that show. I forced myself to watch the first season, just to see how bad it would get, and unfortunately it did not disappoint, in that aspect.
It was stupid, in the extreme. A young woman has sex in front of tall, uncovered windows in a street-level apartment in the middle of Manhattan? Seriously?
Wrong about antiquarian books. Tearing off the binding of an antiquarian book and saying it’s of no importance!? In the first episode? Seriously?
Had zero respect for women. They’re all either stupid, ignorant or back-biting bitches with obsessions? Seriously?
And ignored simple physics. A car hits a rock hard enough to knock the driver out, but there is no damage to it? Seriously?
Dear God, if this is what people think is good or complex, intelligence on this planet is doomed.
miller2900
I have to agree with you Kyle. Although, I think so called “human intelligence” was doomed a very, very long time ago. As a gay man living in youth orientated Los Angeles, I’ve hated the idea of getting old. However, when I realize how utterly lacking in common sense so much of the world is I’ve learned that getting “older and wiser” is a good thing. That and I’m extremely thankful that I inherited a decent amount of “common sense” via my family. My only regret in that arena is that I’ve never been good at making the “big bucks”, especially living where I do.
Rocinante
Couldn’t agree more. Tried watching this mess and didn’t even get through episode 1.
DrJones
For a different viewpoint, my husband and I really enjoy the show. Yes, you can make the case that it is “distasteful,” anti-women, etc., but it’s ESCAPISM, the reason a lot of people watch a show like this. Personally, I find it fascinating because it rides the line of sympathy for his character (especially when revealing his childhood), and he’s not a traditional serial killer in that he is generally in situations by circumstance or other factors, not because he is constantly finding victims like a serial killer. I think the writers are also trying to highlight the shades of grey, and that everyone has a past, especially in later seasons (he gets with someone with a past as dark as his).