In anticipation of the release of The Stepfather, Street chatted with Gossip Girl hunk Penn Badgley about thrillers, family life and playing Dan Humphrey
Street: How will the film be different than other thrillers? Penn Badgley: First off, it is a thriller — it’s not straight-up horror. You know, it’s not a slasher the way that I think maybe the original was in 1987. It’s a simpler, story-driven thriller. I mean, it isn’t full of twists and turns and for that reason people might not be getting what they’re expecting. They’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Street: What personal touches did you and the directors and writers bring to separate this film from the 1987 original? PB: I think that was more of an eerie, creepy, slasher film much more in that '80s vein of the cult, genre picture. This is a more broad thriller. There’s more of a story that will be able to draw you in and keep you invested as opposed to relying on gimmicks. Now I haven’t seen the original, so I’m not saying it relies on gimmicks, but I think if you were to translate an '80s slasher film to a modern slasher film you would just get a lot of bells and whistles and a really beautiful looking movie that was full of blood, but you might not be so invested and be able to relate.
Street: How is this film different from anything you’ve ever done before in the past? PB: First off, it is a lead role in a film and that is different from anything I’ve done. Probably the biggest differences were two things. One, that I didn’t really have much to say, even though I was a lead — like the character is really quiet, and he’s borderline petulant, and I really didn’t want to make him petulant, but he’s sort of pissed off, coming back from military reform school, and he’s partially reformed. But he’s definitely, I think, bitter a little bit from the whole experience and not sure how to approach his family, so he’s quiet, and he’s almost insolent. But again, those things I tried to temper to make him relatable and to make him redeemable. And then also, the physicality of the role — aside from getting in shape a little bit I also just was required to do some stunts, and I had to do stuff that I’ve never done in a role, which was really fun.
Street: What do you think college students can take away from this film? What do you think they can relate to? PB: I think the reason that so many people are drawn to movies with young protagonists or antagonists or whoever — the heroes or the villains — there’s a universal vulnerability in being a teenager, and you get that with this kid especially. He’s very vulnerable as far as his family is concerned.
Street: Who do you personally identify with more in terms of character, Dan Humphrey or the character of Michael in The Stepfather? PB: Surprisingly, it’s actually Michael. Dan is more relatable in a lot of ways, because he’s just sort of the every-man and pretty ordinary in most ways. Michael, you know, he does have a stressful relationship with his parents, you know he has that feeling of alienation, not that I would relate to that specifically, but he has problems, whereas I feel like Dan Humphrey doesn’t really have problems. [...] For me, Michael is just much more of a real, vulnerable kid, and I remember when I was 16 and I would alternately hate one of my parents. It’s just the way every kid is.
Street: Are you a fan of horror films yourself, and did your opinion change from before doing this film to after doing the film? PB: I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m a fan of horror films. I mean, everyone likes a scare — I’m always game. I saw the first two Saws, and then after that I thought it got kind of silly. You want to terrify the audience for a bit, but the whole reason everyone does that is because it’s fun and especially it’s timely, around Halloween, so in that sense, I’m a fan. But I think I’m more of a fan of making them, because physically it’s a very fun thing to do.
