14 DAY TRIAL // If there’s one thing 22-year-old star Penn Badgley, along with the rest of the “Gossip Girl” cast, could do without, perhaps that would be less media attention while shooting for scenes of the popular CW series. Speaking recently with JustJared, the actor has admitted that the paparazzi on the set of the show make things extremely hard, up to the point of rendering a kiss with Hillary Duff completely unromantic, almost like an ordeal.
“It’s such an unromantic experience!” Badgley says of getting to make out with the famous singer and actress who has been cast for a guest appearance. However, Penn assures, it was not Hillary’s kissing that made the scene so horrible, but rather the fact that they had so many people gawking at them – more than there should have been, for that matter. “Not only is the crew surrounding us, but there’s a million [expletive]in’ paparazzi. Literally every time we’d do it, we’d hear a machine gun shutter speed. It was very much a job.” the actor further explains.
Of course, as fans of the show must know, Badgley is not the only star from “Gossip Girl” to complain of what the excessive media attention is doing. The fact that most of the scenes are shot in the streets only makes matters worse, because open sets allow paparazzi to get in and snap every move of the stars. Then, as Chace Crawford was also saying a short while back, in an interview with Interview magazine, there’s the fans, who also come equipped with cameras and fervent demands for autographs, best case scenario (meaning, when they don’t start asking personal questions).
Badgley says nothing of this violation of privacy, but Crawford is actually very upset about it, since he’s a very private person and doesn’t appreciate it when people (fans and media alike) cross certain boundaries that, he believes, common sense should ensure are never trespassed. Nevertheless, Chace too agrees that shooting scenes for the show when the paparazzi are around is nearly impossible and making their job harder than it should be. And he doesn’t even get to kiss Duff, one might add.
“There are always those ‘Gossip Girl’ walk-and-talk scenes where you’re walking and just talking about life and death. You’re having a serious conversation, looking someone in the eye, but everywhere around you, it’s literally a circus. Sometimes I sit back and laugh. But it definitely drains your focus and energy. I came out so mentally exhausted. […] You have to be realistic with yourself as to what your range is going to be. I look at the veterans of the game and what choices they made. You need to know what your threshold is and what you can take on and what gets to a point where the audience doesn’t believe it.” Chace says in a recent interview about a regular day on the set of “Gossip Girl.”