Penn Badgley shows how quickly he can go from dreamy to creepy in 'You'—and it's downright chilling
Over the years, Penn Badgley has stunned everyone with his brilliant portrayal of Joe Goldberg in the Netflix psychological thriller series 'You.' One of the most fascinating things about Badgley’s character, Joe, is how effortlessly he shifts from charming to a serial killer who’ll lock you in a glass cage and bury you alive. While on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' in January 2020, Badgley opened up about 'You' Season 2. During the interview, Colbert asked how he managed to step into Joe’s mindset. As per Huffpost, Badgley replied, "It is shockingly simple. [But] it does not mean it’s easy."
Badgley revealed that he discovered the trick to going from charming to creepy in seconds while shooting promo pictures for the first season of the thrilling series 'You.' At that point in time, Badgley was shooting with his co-star Elizabeth Lail who played his onscreen love interest Guinevere Beck. During the shoot, Lail lay in bed wearing a T-shirt and underwear, while Badgley stood “fully clothed with a windbreaker and … a hat.” Then, he simply stared at her.
Recalling the incident, Badgley shared, “I arrive on the mark, I do nothing but look up, and the entire crew behind the camera goes, ‘Oh! Whoa man! That is phenomenal! That’s so creepy!’ … And I did nothing. If you put a fully clothed person staring at a woman in her underwear in bed when he’s not supposed to be there, it’s inherently creepy. So you put yourself in a really questionable circumstance … and then you do nothing.”
Colbert asked Badgley to show the character change in front of the audience, and he did it perfectly. In the same interview, Badgley said the hardest part was seeing how fans reacted to his character. He was surprised to learn that many fans wanted to date him, even with all the killing and everything else. "I struggled greatly with the conflict of playing such a guy and him being partly so likable and having such a, as we say, thirsty response to him," Badgley explained, according to E! News. "I have to say though, it's not entirely fair to put that on the viewer because we're purposefully creating a device that is meant to be provocative—and hopefully thought-provoking—but not just titillating. It's not a clinical portrait of a serial killer," Badgley added.
While speaking about his show, Badgley also shared his viewpoint on how it reflects our society. "I think it's intended to function as a social commentary. I do, experience it as such...It says something about how we are willing to be patient and forgive someone who inhabits a body that looks something like mine—the color of my skin, my gender. These sorts of things. These sorts of privileges and how much we're less willing to forgive people who don't fit those boxes," he explained. For those wondering, 'You' is available exclusively on Netflix.
