Liam Neeson Reveals Support for ‘You’ Star Penn Badgley’s Boundaries Around Sex Scenes
The Netflix series You recently courted controversy from a surprising angle. Lead actor Penn Badgley is uninterested in doing sex scenes for the rest of his career. His recent comments on the topic set off an awkward swirl of social media angst on Hollywood sex scenes — from several angles.
The former Gossip Girl star touched on an increasingly sensitive topic on platforms like Twitter. But one A-list star has Badgley’s back on the idea that actors should have stronger boundaries on sex scenes if they so choose.
The recurring social media discourse around sex scenes in movies
For several years now, the social media discourse around sex in media has become more fraught. The Me Too movement in particular set off a different angle on the topic. The old battle lines drawn between moral majority conservatives and anti-censorship progressives became more complex.
Actors spoke up around that time, with surprisingly mixed perspectives. Many reported that their sex scenes were professional and carefully handled. Others noted that their intimate scenes were handled poorly and disrespectfully. Still, at that point, the conversation was more about on-set behavior than the content of these films and TV shows themselves.
In the years since, though, the conversation has taken a different tone. Collider reports that these increasingly common social media blowups are decidedly puritanical. They often conflate the fictional portrayals of sex with real-life morality and abuse. And, despite mirroring those old conservative moral panics in some ways, some of the loudest voices identify with the progressive left.
Penn Badgley made headlines after saying he was wary of filming sex scenes
This complex, convoluted discourse soup is what the You star unknowingly stepped into when he shared his feelings on the topic of sex scenes. But his comments weren’t meant to be a continuation of any existing conversation. They were clearly meant to be personal, the Los Angeles Times reports.
“There’s almost nothing I could say with more consecration,” Badgley said of the idea of filming sex scenes. “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.”
He went on to clarify that his feelings stem from a dedication to fidelity to his wife, singer Domino Kirke. He praises the You crew for respecting his boundaries but says that he has no interest in being the kind of romantic lead he used to be ever again.
Liam Neeson supports Penn Badgley
Badgley’s comments set off a storm of controversy that he likely didn’t expect. The situation boiled over to the point that some of the biggest names in acting also chimed in — including Taken star Liam Neeson. He has his own interesting romantic track record, but none of that affected his on-screen work.
Neeson had a wide-ranging interview with Variety to promote his new film Marlowe. Badgley’s comments were already a big enough deal that the interviewer felt it was important to get the Irish actor’s take on the situation.
“Yeah, I absolutely agree and support him,” Neeson said. “I don’t like to do them. I’ve done quite a few sex scenes and I would have preferred to leave it to the imagination, especially for ladies, the actresses.”
Neeson’s take isn’t as career-changing as Badgley’s. He doesn’t enjoy filming these scenes, but he doesn’t have any ultimatums about which projects he’ll take on. You will not have Badgley’s character engaging in much beyond implied intimacy, though. And, for the foreseeable future, any project he takes on will have to take his limitations into account before signing him on.
