For 8 years, 'You' Star Penn Badgley mastered the art of becoming Joe Goldberg—the dangerously charming bookworm with a stare that could stop time (literally, he trained himself not to blink). In this behind the scenes video, Penn opens up about unlocking Joe’s superpower stare, the chilling shift from romantic lead to masked menace, and the emotional rollercoaster that is filming scenes that swing from heartwarming dad moments to full-blown psychological warfare. As he prepares to say goodbye to his most diabolical role yet, Penn reflects on what it really takes to live inside Joe’s twisted mind.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00I have played one of our most lovable sociopaths, one of our most adorable baby-faced killers.
00:13I've been playing Joe for too long, too long. Get out, get out now.
00:16Please just let me out.
00:18In seasons one and two where I think I found some fundamental parts of Joe.
00:22I killed them. Their blood is on my hands.
00:26Joe is nothing if not a starer.
00:32And I now, like I could stare forever.
00:40You know, and I develop kind of like, sometimes I develop this sort of superhuman ability to really not blink.
00:45And then blinking becomes a choice.
00:47You just become aware of like everything, you know, every little thing you do.
00:51It's like a choice.
00:52So Joe, he shifts often from friendly and charming to very dark and menacing like this.
01:02And like this.
01:04I was in the neighborhood and then I saw you.
01:08God, stop lying.
01:10This shift, it's returning to natural state.
01:12It is, I suppose, just the removal of a mask.
01:15I suppose I probably like really developed it.
01:19Episode six of season one where most of it was silent.
01:23He's following Beck to like a house out in the woods.
01:28He's stalking her in the house preposterously.
01:30Like, you know, he's really close to her.
01:32At some point, he's underneath a bed.
01:34And the entire time, he's got like an eye swollen shut, a gash on his forehead,
01:39and a swollen lip and bruises and dried blood all over.
01:42And it was, so I felt like I was wearing a mask.
01:46Joe is certainly the most evil character I've ever played.
01:49And now I'm saying, Edie.
01:51What I think I'm saying goodbye to is in any given day, the spectrum is wide.
01:57You know, I might have a scene which is truly romantic.
02:01Everyone calls me Joe.
02:03And then, you know, later that day, it's like shooting a scene that's all by myself
02:08where I'm raging for seven pages of inner monologue and conspiring and threatening and crying.
02:16Answer me.
02:17Answer me!
02:18And then I'll shoot a scene with my son and have a sweet little, you know, we're like reading a book to him.
02:24This is the final season.
02:25I take off my invisible cap.
02:27I hang it on my invisible hook.
02:30Let me miss it.
02:32Let's end it.
02:33Let's come on.
02:33Move on.
02:33And then I'll be able to miss it.
02:34But I can't miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:38Staring at each other.
02:40Come on.
02:40And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:45I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:45And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:46And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:47And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:49And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:50And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:51And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:52And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:53And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.
02:55And then I'll be able to miss it if we just keep doing this all day.