Penn Badgley doubles down on sex scene criticism: ‘That aspect of Hollywood has been very disturbing’

Actor spoke last week about his dicomfort with intimate scenes on camera

Penn Badgley has doubled down on his criticism of sex scenes.

The actor, who stars in the hit serial killer drama You, recently announced that he had requested a significant reduction in the number of “intimate scenes” in the latest season, which was released on Netflix last week.

“Fidelity, in every relationship, and especially my marriage, is important to me,” Badgley said.

Now, in an interview with Variety, Badgley expanded on his discomfort with filming sex scenes.

“It’s not a place where I’ve blurred lines,” he said. “There’s almost nothing I could say with more consecration.”

He added: “That aspect of Hollywood has always been very disturbing to me – and that aspect of the job, that mercurial boundary – has always been something that I actually don’t want to play with at all.”

Since the release of You’s first season back in 2018, the series had attracted attention for its frequent sex scenes.

Badgley admitted that he had “done a fair amount of them in my career”, but also noted that he is now older than the actors playing his romantic interests on the show.

“Didn’t used to be the case,” Badgely added.

The actor went on to state that it was “important to me in my real life” not to perform sex scenes on film.

Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg in ‘You’ (Netflix)

“My fidelity in my relationship. It’s important to me,” he continued.

“And actually, it was one of the reasons that I initially wanted to turn the role down. I didn’t tell anybody that. But that is why.”

In recent years, the processes surrounding filming sex scenes have changed drastically, with intimacy co-ordinators now employed throughout the industry to help safeguard performers.

Last week, Dame Emma Thompson spoke out about the importance of intimacy co-ordinators on set, stating that they are “absolutely essential” for young women on male-dominated film productions.

You is available to stream now on Netflix.