Riverdale became an instant hit after season one premiered in January 2017, making most of the then-unknown cast household names. We got the chance to sit down with them in Vancouver, Canada (Yes, at the Riverdale set!) where they talked about fame and crazy fan experiences.
Cole Sprouse (Jughead Jones)
On fame:
Thankfully, I have been doing it for long enough that I know how easy it is to fall victim to the kind of arrogance and cockiness celebrity culture can bring about in young men, especially. I think, for me, it's been another act of patience and meditation on my younger self. And, obviously, it's changed my life because people have started calling me a different name which is interesting. I mean, I could sit here and chat your ear off all day about the thousands of ways it's changed my life, but I think it's made me happy and that's the real most important one.
Skeet Ulrich (FP Jones)
On a crazy fan experience:
You know, the weirdest thing was having teenagers wait for me at the airport and they [said] they've been waiting there for five hours. I was like, "First of all, how did you know I was even on that flight?" It was really shocking that some teen girls would be there and I'm sure they just thought I would just give them Cole's number or something.
Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl Blossom)
On fame:
I remember reading the pilot and being like, "Well, I hope we get picked up for a season!" That's as much as we really thought of, and every day, we all feel so lucky and it's honestly crazy and overwhelming and exciting and wonderful to see the reactions we get from fans every single day…I'm constantly pinching myself. Even driving on the set every day and being like, "This is where I work!"
Marisol Nichols (Hermione Lodge)
On fame:
To come back to work and be on a show that people love and to see people, like, their eyes get all big when they see you because they recognize you're on their favorite show—it's been really, really nice. I love being embraced by the fans and with social media, you get immediate feedback. I look forward to all the comments when the show airs and stuff like that.
On a crazy fan experience:
I've gotten a couple of like 65-year-olds [and they're like,] "I'm trying to get my teenage granddaughter to watch your show!" That's been pretty amazing. And I would say the most surreal thing is I'll get off the plane, and I'm like, "How do you guys know where I flew from?" That's been surreal because I'm not used to that kind of thing and I think that just comes with social media, like, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't post that I picked up Garrett's Popcorn in Chicago."
Lili Reinhart (Betty Cooper)
On fame:
It's so weird to me still. I don't know how people get used to this. It feels almost like they're not really even referring to me. And it's because the press and the outside world [don't] really know who I am. Like, they don't know every personal detail about me, so it feels like when I’m walking on a red carpet and they're like, "Lili, Lili!" It doesn't really feel like they're even talking to me. It's just kind of like this idea of a person... I'm still getting used to it, but I don't think I ever actually will.
Mädchen Amick (Alice Cooper)
On fame:
[The fans are] just so passionate and dedicated and so many of them are actually incredibly talented, like, they're great artists themselves. This one fan video that was just made not too long ago, I actually posted, [and] I was so blown away; they were very much into the whole FP-Alice storyline, and they cut together this video called "Mr. and Mrs. Jones" and it was like a take on Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Angelina [Jolie] and Brad Pitt. It's amazing. They used Skeet and my footage from other films that we've done and put them together as if we were [in] the same film—and it's brilliant. So, that stuff really blows me away, they're not only super dedicated as fans, but they're really talented.
Camila Mendes (Veronica Lodge)
On fame:
It's crazy because I came out of college and stepped right into this, and sometimes I'm like, "How did that even happen? How did I get so lucky? How was it so easy?" But I just keep going forward and also not take anything for granted; you never know what's going to happen in the future. The show could disappear—I don't know. So, you've got to be prepared for anything!
I try not to obsess about it [but I try to] understand where other people are coming from—why they do want to take selfies with you on the street. And learning how to navigate when it's okay to do that and when it's not, and knowing where you draw the line is important, and that's hard to figure out. No one teaches you how to do that.
You just learn as you go, and you feel it out in the situation. You can't be like, "I won't take selfies with anyone," you know? You kind of decide in the moment if that's something you want to do. And I firmly believe if you don't want to do it, you shouldn't. But if you want to make this person's day, then you should.
Interview by Anna Dimerin and additional text by Jacinda A. Lopez.
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