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Actor Penn Badgley recently made waves as it came to light he specifically requested no intimate scenes in the new seasons of Netflix series You.
He explained what happened in an episode of his podcast Podcrushed.
He started his request:
"Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?"
But Badgley knows he signed a contract and the nature of the work, so he clarified:
"How much less can you make it?"
Sera Gamble, the show's creator, was receptive to the request.
Badgley shared:
"They came back with a phenomenal reduction."
The question many had is why.
Badgely said it's about fidelity in his marriage.
"Fidelity in every relationship, especially a marriage, is important to me."
His request to back off any on-screen intimacy and moreover his stated reasons for making the request started quite the online kerfuffle.
First are those in favor of both his action and the reason.
\u201cPenn Badgley requesting to have zero intimacy scenes moving forward with any of his projects because he respects his marriage too much & feels it\u2019s unnecessary to both his public image & acting is the only thing that brings me hope for men today\u201d— \u02e2\u1d43\u1d48 \u1d4d\u1d52\u02b3\u02e1 \u02e2\u02b8\u1d48 (@\u02e2\u1d43\u1d48 \u1d4d\u1d52\u02b3\u02e1 \u02e2\u02b8\u1d48) 1676060029
\u201cPenn Badgley asked them to rewrite You with zero intimacy scenes out of respect for his marriage and you can\u2019t even get a text back.\u201d— Katie Levans (@Katie Levans) 1676074162
\u201clike ain\u2018t no way out of all men in hollywood you lot are trying to come for penn badgley for saying he wishes to do less intimacy scenes because he doesnt feel comfortable with it anymore since he\u2018s had a long term partner and all.. setting healthy boundaries is problematic now?\u201d— \u2653\ufe0e (@\u2653\ufe0e) 1676221370
However, there was also a fairly immediate blowback to his phrasing.
Not really to his actions—many people acknowledged his right to want to draw some boundaries in his work—but for his reason why and what it implies about other married actors.
\u201cAlso: if, as an actor, you find sex scenes uncomfortable and don\u2019t want to do them, that\u2019s fine! But I don\u2019t know, doesn\u2019t framing it this way \u2014 as some kind of breach of fidelity \u2014 seem weird to the people you\u2019ve worked with?\u201d— Guy Lodge (@Guy Lodge) 1676173183
Someone noted it gelled oddly with his prior roles.
\u201cPenn Badgley: \u201cI respect my wife too much to perform roles that involve intimacy and simulated sex with other women.\u201d\n\nAlso Penn Badgley: \u201cLet me play a stalkery women murderer all day. Because that\u2019s definitely not a contradiction to my puritanical take on simulated romance.\u201d\u201d— Garry McC (@Garry McC) 1676235627
Some pointed out tying it to infidelity rubbed them the wrong way.
\u201cno offense to sexless generation, but i find penn badgley's antisex comments really creepy and unprofessional. it's his choice not to do sex scenes but tying it to infidelity and not crossing boundaries with his wife is offputting\u201d— Manish (he/him/his) (@Manish (he/him/his)) 1676124886
Still others discussed the boundaries in question.
\u201cPeople are being so weird about Penn Badgley choosing to do less intimacy scenes as if he\u2019s taken some sort of ethical stance as opposed to him just\u2026making a personal choice about what he\u2019s comfortable doing with his own body for his work?\u201d— kiara (lost w/o lost) (@kiara (lost w/o lost)) 1676188314
One person summed up the disconnect many felt.
Request: understandable.
Stated reason: not so understandable.
\u201cI don't feel like the problem is penn badgley not wanting to do sex scenes? if the physical intimacy - simulated or not - makes he or his wife uncomfy then sure don't. it's that he sees it as some weird moral high ground\u201d— weekend rad \ud83d\udcfb (@weekend rad \ud83d\udcfb) 1676241942
\u201cIf Penn Badgley had just said "Yeah I don't want to do intimacy scenes anymore" instead of all of that word salad then we wouldn't have to sit through yet another discourse about moralizing sex on screen and for that reason alone I'm annoyed with him\u201d— Leah says PREORDER ELLIE ENGLE! (@Leah says PREORDER ELLIE ENGLE!) 1676225766
Finally, someone pointed out the larger context in the history of film.
\u201cI\u2019m not going to comment on Penn Badgley\u2019s decision as his business is his business.\n\nBut folks who are using it to act like we shouldn\u2019t have intimacy in film are weird af. This industry already has a weirdly puritanical aversion to sex. We don\u2019t want another Hays Code.\u201d— Noah Delgado (@Noah Delgado) 1676238825
It will be interesting to see what comes out of this decision in terms of other actors adding intimacy boundaries to their contracts.