Penn’s ‘You’ turn
PENN Badgley didn’t mean to step away from the spotlight for six years. But since “Gossip Girl” ended in 2012, he hasn’t had another starring TV role until now. “I didn’t anticipate that [my absence] might be like this,” the 31-year-old tells The Post. “But I was playing music and making independent movies and starting a family, and trying to integrate what it means to be on a show like ‘Gossip Girl’ and live your life.”
“You,” which premieres Sunday at 10p.m. on Lifetime, marks his big return to TV. The network is clearly anticipating a hit, already renewing it for a second season ahead of the first. In the psychological thriller, Badgley plays Joe, a bookstore manager who uses social media to stalk and gaslight his crush, Beck (Elizabeth Lail). In other words, he’s a creep. Badgley leans into it.
For a scene involving public masturbation, he says, “The director told me, ‘Can you close your eyes, because it’s too creepy when they’re open.’ And my response was ‘No. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. He’s masturbating in public — my eyes are going to be open, because it’s creepy!’”
It’s dark stuff, and Badgley doesn’t take that lightly, now that he’s a family man. Last year he married singer Domino Kirke, sister of “Girls” star Jemima, and became stepfather to Domino’s 9-yearold son.
“I take being a husband and a father — step or otherwise — as a sacred charge,” he says. “I value these things more than anything else.”
He also spent the past six years fronting the indie band Mothxr. “There was an open road ahead of us, if we wanted to pursue it,” he says. “But ultimately we decided to disband the project because we all wanted to go in different directions.”
So Badgley turned back to TV, which led to “You.” Like “Gossip Girl,” the show is set in New York, and Badgley, who lives in Brooklyn, found many of its locations a trip down memory lane: “The first apartment I’d ever had, which was on 19th Street, was where Beck’s apartment was” in the show, he says.
Aside from the shared setting, Badgley believes “You” has other things in common with “Gossip Girl,” on which he famously played Dan Humphrey, the mastermind behind the blog of the title. He sees Joe as a darker progression of Dan.
“I feel like this show is asking some interesting questions,” Badgley says. “Joe is threatened by the physically impressive, brooding, somewhat predatory male archetype, because he’s actually quite sensitive. And the irony is, in his sensitivity and isolation, he ends up becoming a brooding predator himself, but completely unaware that he is.”
While the #MeToo era seems a turbulent time for predatory men — even fictional ones — Badgley says he’s ready to take the heat.
“If we discover that the verdict . . . is that we may have been irresponsible, I think it’s wise to own up to that and try to do better,” he says. “This is an incredibly fruitful experience as an actor, as a person, even as a husband and a father. Joe made me think and pray a lot. The question that remains at the social level is, ‘Is it also great for the viewer?’ I don’t know. So let’s see.”