Mendes AT work
Like her headstrong teen on ‘Riverdale’, nothing can stop Camila Mendes from chasing her dreams
Camila Mendes needed to have a good cry. Or rather, Veronica Lodge, the teen socialite she plays on Riverdale, needed one. “It’s a very emotional scene,” the actress says of filming a dramatic phone call for the recently released third season of the hit drama. “The first take, I started crying in the middle of it, tears streaming – it was very intense,” she says. “The second one, I couldn’t do it. At one point, I was about to be like, ‘Can we cut? I need to start over because I’m not getting there.’ But right before I did that, as soon as I started saying the last line, I just started crying. It was totally unexpected, but it just showed me how much I’ve grown.”
Indeed, the 24-year-old has come a long way in a short time. Just three summers ago, Mendes was preparing to enter her final semester at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. A selfdescribed “performative child” she grew up acting in school but admits she didn’t always take her NYU classes that seriously. “I got sucked up into the New York fun life,” says Mendes, who recalls attending parties thrown by her Riverdale co-star Cole Sprouse’s twin brother Dylan. “I remember there was one day where I walked into class late, and my teacher just yelled at me in front of everyone. He was like, ‘You’re wasting all your talent.’ ” So Mendes began interning at a talent agency, eventually persuading them to represent her as an actress.
When her team first got wind of Riverdale, they thought Mendes would be a perfect fit for Veronica. There was only one problem.“‘They’re probably going to go with some white girl,’ ” Mendes, whose parents emigrated from Brazil, remembers her reps telling her. “They were looking for someone who looks like Krysten Ritter.” But when the casting notice was broadened to include Latinas, Mendes jumped at the chance to audition.
It was a “whirlwind,” she says of her path to Riverdale, which began with an audition in November 2015, shortly before graduation. “Some teachers were really cool about it, and some teachers … weren’t,” the actress says. “The goal is for me to be able to pay my loans. I was frustrated that they would get mad when someone’s trying to pursue the career that they’re teaching.”
Still, Mendes is glad she finished school by Christmas, because by January 2016 she was doing network tests in Los Angeles. (And meeting pals like 13 Reasons Why star Katherine Langford, who auditioned for Betty.)
The key to playing Veronica is “playfulness and poise,” explains Mendes, who can rattle off some of her favourite “ridiculous” lines from past seasons – such as “Betty, impossible is being invited to the Vanity Fair party and Elton John’s party in the same week” – from memory. “Veronica comes from a very privileged upbringing, but I don’t want her to seem spoiled and arrogant, so it seemed like poise was the best quality to incorporate within everything she does.” That poise will be on full display now that Riverdale has returned, with Archie (KJ Apa) on trial and Veronica opening a speakeasy this season. “Other [high school shows] really focus on the drama between the teenagers and the emotional stuff,” says Mendes. “Riverdale has all that, but also all of these ridiculous, absurd genre elements to it, which is exciting for us because we’re never bored.” But does that mean Mendes – who stars with Charlie Weber ( How to Get Away With Murder) in the upcoming thriller Coyote Lake, and the internet’s current boyfriend Noah Centineo ( To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) in the comedy The Stand-in – is down for Riverdale season 42? “It’s hard to reinvent a mystery and keep it fresh every season, but [the writers] continue to surprise us; it just depends on how they decide to revamp it,” says Mendes. “If they continue to create these new concepts that are great – and I’m not rotting away because I’m 40 years old then I’d be down.” As if Veronica Lodge would ever rot!
“They’re going to go with some white girl”