Penn Badgley is done with sex onscreen.
"You," a Netflix drama, revealed that he asked the series' showrunners Sera Gamble and Greg Berlanti to reduce the intimacy because of his marriage to singer and doula Domino Kirke, whom he wed in 2017.
On his "Podcrushed" podcast, presented by Stitcher Studios, Badgley said, 'Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?' One of the main things is, 'Do I want to put myself back in a career path where I'm just always the romantic lead?' It's really important to me, and especially my marriage. I've come to a place where I'm not willing to do that.'
"It was a question: Do I have a career if I don't?" Badgley continued, "It's really not my desire to take this program."
Badgley said that showrunner Gamble was especially open to his suggestions and tailored Badgley's "You" character Joe Goldberg (under the pseudonym of Jonathan Moore in Season 4) accordingly.
“I told Sera, my desire would be zero, to go from a hundred to zero.” She accepted and acknowledged what I said. “You can’t take this out of the DNA of the concept, so how much less can you make it?” Badgley recalled.
Badgley stated that instead of focusing on the unlikely obsessively passionate sex scenes between Joe and his new love interest Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), he prefers the physicality of action scenes, as shown in the fiery Part 1 finale.
"Playing [Joe] for so long is quite exhausting physically and mentally, but I do enjoy the physical task," Badgley said. "I find those scenes quite rewarding physically because I often don't say much or scream one word too many times."
After filming a confrontation between Joe and Rhys (Ed Speleers) in a castle basement, the alum of "Gossip Girl" admitted that he got COVID.
“I got COVID in that scene, and it was quite intense,” Badgley said, recalling that production of Kendrick Lamar's album “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” took place on the same day as the album was released. “I was kind of [in pain].“I do a lot of physical acting in it, and at its worst, it’s bad Jim Carrey. I do have a stunt double, but it’s remarkable how little they’ve used
Jenna Ortega, a former "You" actor, also received COVID during a crucial moment for "Wednesday," the other record-breaking Netflix series that resisted her appearing again in "You" for Season 4.