Jameela Jamil, the star of Disney studio Marvel’s film “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” announced that she had to drop out of the audition for a new show over the sex scenes she was expected to perform in the movie.
That show, season four of “You,” a psychological thriller on Netflix. The description of “You” states that it is about “A dangerously charming, intensely obsessive young man [who] goes to extreme measures to insert himself into the lives of those he is transfixed by.”
Her comments about leaving the show came when she appeared on Penn Badgley’s “Podcrushed” podcast. Badgley is the star of “You.” Speaking to him, Jamil said that she backed out of trying out for a role on “You” because she did not want to appear in sex scenes. She made that decision before Badgley announced that he would no longer appear in sec scenes because fidelity in marriage is important to him, making the issue moot.
In any case, she said, when speaking about the issue, “I don’t do sex scenes. In fact, I was supposed to audition for the most recent season of your show.” Continuing, she added, “My character was supposed to be quite sexy, and I pulled out of the audition, because I am so shy about anything sexy that I can’t.”
She then noted that it wouldn’t have ended up mattering, as Badgley decided that he would not appear in sex scenes any longer. Speaking on that, she said, “And then you f***ing came out and were like, ‘Yeah, I’m not doing sex scenes anymore,’ and I was like, ‘I didn’t even know that was a boundary that we could draw.’ But then I was like, I should have gone and done the f***ing show.”
She added that it’s not just appearing in the scenes that makes her uncomfortable, but watching them does as well, saying that she “can’t even watch sex scenes in films. … Even on my own, I have to fast-forward through sex scenes because I’ve become so shy about watching other people.” Clarifying why, she said, “it’s not a shame. … I feel there’s an awkwardness around it.”
The Hollywood Reporter, reporting on Badgley’s comments about sex scenes in season four of “You” and how he clarified them later on, said:
In an interview with GQ, Badgley said that he was taken aback by the reaction to his comments, but he understands how things can be taken out of context on the internet.
“What I was speaking about wasn’t actually the final product,” he told the publication. “It was sort of like the culture inherent to the production of all movies but particularly those scenes. It’s like, look, we know that Hollywood has had a history of flagrant exploitation and abuse.”
While Badgley knew he wanted to ask Gamble about reducing his sex scenes, he said he was still nervous to have the conversation with her.
“It was not easy. It was easy because of Sera’s response, and I felt relieved,” he explained. “But technically speaking, if I thought I’d had the ability to set that boundary earlier, I would have.”
He also acknowledged that he’s aware that trying to steer clear of intimate scenes could have an impact on his career. “We shall see if setting that boundary, of course, has any ramifications,” he said. “Just simply, it does limit the number of projects you can be a part of.” But he takes comfort in knowing that his decision didn’t impact the writing of You or Joe Goldberg’s story.
“It didn’t change the trajectory of the season at all,” he said. “I mean, Joe was naturally ready to not be in that position anymore.”
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