You's Penn Badgley Likes Recording Joe's Voiceover More Than Playing Him On Screen
"You" is back for the first half of Season 4, and for anyone who's followed the series up until this point, they have a good idea of what to expect out of the continuing murderous adventures of Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley). First and foremost, there's going to be plenty of blood and gore, as Joe has a tendency of locking people up in giant cubes before violently dispatching them. They also know he's going to fall head over heels in love with someone because Joe's nothing if not a romantic. And there's going to be voiceover. Oh, is there ever voiceover in this show.
Joe is rarely in a position where he can outright say what he's actually feeling, from pronouncing his love to someone or making it clear he'd like to dismember them. Therefore, there are numerous scenes throughout "You" where Joe will talk to someone and then stop talking so that we can hear a lengthy voiceover. This results in the other actor just kind of having to act normally, as if Joe isn't just staring at them while doing an internal monologue.
As it turns out, those voiceovers are actually some of Badgley's favorite parts of creating "You," and he's well aware of how awkward it can look onscreen.
Penn Badgley can show off more with voiceover
Penn Badgley, along with some of his "You" Season 4 co-stars, dropped by Elle to play a game of "Who Said That?" They listen to dialogue from previous seasons of "You" and try to guess the character who said it. Naturally, since the topic of discussion is all about people's lines, Badgley took some time to discuss why he prefers voiceover to actually talking within a scene.
Badgley explained, "So I do the voiceover most of the time before unless we're later in the season, and there's no time to record, sometimes it's after. But I almost prefer the voiceover because it's very spontaneous and free, and being Joe on camera is like being in a straight jacket. I can never say or do anything, and then I just strangle somebody really intensely but don't speak." Fans are all too aware of this. In fact, Netflix humorously released a video of various scenes from "You," but with the voiceover removed. Needless to say, it's pretty funny watching Joe Goldberg stare intently at someone without saying anything.
This can also create some awkwardness with Badgley's scene partners, as he goes on to say, "For the other cast members, they have to act with me and learn very quickly that I'm usually not gonna say anything back to them. So they have to act very much like they're not hearing themselves being dressed down [by Joe's voiceover]." Badgley's Season 4 co-star, Lukas Gage, even admitted that it was hard not to laugh acting alongside him as he had to pretend he had no idea Joe was insulting his character. "You" Season 4 returns with its second half on March 9.