Archie actor thinks Vancouver is ‘kind of boring’
It takes more than a soda shop to keep Archie Andrews entertained in Vancouver.
New Zealand actor K.J. Apa, who plays Archie in the dark and gritty teen drama Riverdale, says filming The CW/Netflix series in Hollywood North is “kind of boring.” “The food is really good. “The only thing is when you live there for a long time, it can get kind of boring. The city is not the biggest city in the world and it shuts early, which I guess is kind of good,” Apa told Kelly Ripa during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan.
“It keeps you coming to work the next day,” replied co-host Ryan Seacrest.
The Riverdale actor made headlines last month when he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a light pole while driving home to Vancouver following a 16-hour day on set in the Fraser Valley. Apa escaped severe injury. The Riverdale cast may be bored here but they are definitely not anonymous.
The show’s stars had a couple of unfriendly and well-publicized encounters with Vancouverites while shooting the show’s second season.
Cole Sprouse, who plays Jughead Jones, clashed with a busker on Robson Street after the woman refused to stop singing while the crew filmed nearby, and Lili Reinhart, who stars as Betty Cooper, took to social media to lash out at a fan who criticized the cast following an awkward interaction downtown.
“You do not have the right to approach STRANGERS and throw your arms around us like you know us. What you did was not cool, and inappropriate,” Reinhart stated in a series of tweets.
Riverdale’s Season 2 premiere aired Wednesday night on The CW and was available for streaming on Netflix on Thursday.
Mission restaurant Rocko’s Family Diner, which doubles as Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe on the show, is holding a viewing a party Thursday (7-10 p.m.).
Apa is not the first TV star to throw a little shade on boring old Vancouver.
Dominic Purcell, who plays Lincoln Burrows in the B.C.-filmed Fox series Prison Break, referred to the city as a “gulag” while complaining about our wet weather and homeless problem in an Instagram post last year.
“People say we had three days of sunshine like Santa just arrived. Well congratulations,” Purcell wrote. “I grew up in Australia, yo and have lived in the beautiful sunny California for 20 years where I surf and play in the ocean.”