Penn Badgley reveals how they shot his sex scenes for his acclaimed series You. He detailed the entire process of shooting intimate scenes in a new first-person essay titled Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss, and Coming-of-Age. For those unaware, Penn Badgley played the titular role of Joe Goldberg in the psychological thriller series You, which aired on Netflix from 2018 to 2025.
Penn Badgley talks about sex scenes in You
Penn Badgley bares it all in a new first-person essay titled Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss, and Coming-of-Age, and the outlet Vulture has published an excerpt from it.
The 38-year-old actor talks about filming sex scenes for You and how it isn’t as fun and glamorous as viewers might think it would be. In a report published by PEOPLE, Penn Badgley narrates filming a particular “fantasy sequence” where he had to picture another person while making love to his wife.
He writes that Joe Goldberg is “meant to be humpin’ on his wife, with whom he has become not only bored but also contemptuous.” Joe Goldberg is fantasising about Marienne Bellamy, the librarian (played by Tati Gabrielle), instead of his wife, Love Quinn (portrayed by Victoria Pedretti).
While filming the scene, the director “has chosen to place the camera directly in front of my face,” Penn Badgley recalls of shooting the sex scenes.
Since the makers were unable to place Pedretti and the camera equipment in the same room, Penn Badgley had to shoot the scene himself in a room surrounded by the crew.
The actor confessed he had to imagine the camera as his lover and surrender to the moment. He recalled imagining himself in his room, all by himself, and letting go of inhibitions once the director said, “Action.”
Penn Badgley notes, “A moment ago there was only resistance in my body to do what was needed, but upon the utterance of one word — action — I am supremely present in the face of sheer absurdity. I look in camera. And I hump my ass off.”
Originally reported by Anwaya Mane for Mandatory.
