BY JOSE PAOLO DELA CRUZ
Manila, Philippines – Fans went wild as Penn Badgley and Shay Mitchell – stars of the hit Netflix series You – walked into the Gallery of Greenbelt 5 for recent a meet and greet with their fans in the Philippines.
Penn, who first earned a following of then-swooning teens as brooding Dan in Gossip Girl, once again pointed out that while endearing at a certain level, his character Joe, is, for the nth time, “a psychopath.” “Who among you are bothered by Joe?” he asked the audience before him. Noticing that only a few raised their hands, Penn quickly reacted, “not that many? Come on guys!”
While obviously disgusted by his onscreen character, Penn divulged that playing Joe and his multi-faceted personality has been quite an experience for him as an actor. “My scenes with Peach (Shay) were actually the most fun. The scenes with Beck (Elizabeth Lail) were the most heartbreaking,” he said. (For those who haven’t seen the series yet, Beck is the love interest that Joe stalks into having a relationship with him; while Peach is her possessive best friend, who despises Joe, and vice versa).
On that note, it’s interesting to see Penn and Shay (of Pretty Little Liars fame), being sweet and friendly to each other, as they sat in the pop-up Mooney’s store at the Gallery in Greenbelt 5. Shay sang praises for Penn, describing him as “a great actor,” but minced no words in describing how her character Peach perceived Joe.
“For her he’s a pest… she just thinks very lowly of him, and basically disregards him. He’s not even enough for her to hate,” she said.
Like many – if not all – Hollywood stars on Philippine shores, Shay and Penn were the subject of food questions. And yes, they’ve had halo-halo, round two. Shay, who’s half-Filipino, has also successfully introduced Penn to ‘turon.’
Asked if the local delicacies were to his liking, Penn said with a smile, “Sweet, fried… that’s basically my kind of food so, yes!”
The duo then wrapped up the meet-and-greet by telling the crowd “Mahal ko kayo,” with matching missing finger hearts. Overwhelmed by the support of their fans in the Philippines, Penn said ““I feel like we’re two-fifths of the Backstreet Boys right now!”
You, which originally premiered on Lifetime, will return onscreen for Season 2 on Netflix. The series was based on Caroline Kepnes’ novel of the same name, but will reportedly deviate from the plot of the sequel book Hidden Bodies in season two, while “retaining the story’s essence.” Filming for season two will begin in Los Angeles soon.
