She made her debut in the role of Veronica Lodge on the teen series Riverdale, a highly lauded dark take on the beloved comic strip, which earned her the Teen Choice Award for Choice Scene Stealer in 2017. Camila Mendes, who has starred in a few other prestigious projects since then, now lends herself to the romantic comedy — both as actor and executive producer — Upgraded.

Streaming on Prime Video, the Carlson Young-directed film has her playing an art intern whose chance meeting with a handsome young man (Will, played by Archie Renaux) takes her life in a new direction. t2 chatted with Camila on a video call to learn more.

What were the primary reasons that made you want to align with Upgraded, both as an actor and executive producer?

I saw so much potential in it when I read the script. Not to compare it to The Devil Wears Prada, because it does feel very different, but it did also feel like The Devil Wears Prada in the art world (laughs). I hadn’t seen that yet (on screen) and that interested me. Then I was excited to come on as an executive producer because I wanted to have creative input and make it feel like the most elevated version of itself by bringing on the best actors we could find, making the script feel smart and witty and having good banter between the characters.

Also, I think the term rom-com is used incorrectly sometimes. People call something a rom-com, but there’s not much ‘com’ (comedy). It is maybe there, like a little tongue-in-cheek kind, but I wanted to feel like we were leaning into the comedy a bit more because that is what I think was great about the rom-coms we grew up watching... they were genuinely very funny. I wanted to make sure we brought on actors who could handle that comedic timing and kind of take it to the next level.

In what ways is your character Ana similar to you? Do you have at least a working idea of art, if not an indepth knowledge that she does?

I don’t know as much as Ana knows in the art world, but I do love art. I am not as educated in art history. But I am a big fan when it comes to buying art for my home. There is art everywhere in my house. I love finding new and upcoming artists. So I relate to her in that way.

I am similar to her in the sense that we are both very passionate about what we do. And the choice that I made with Ana, because it was connected to me, was that she has kind of known that she has loved it her whole life and is dead set on this path. And that is how I have always felt about acting. I never had a moment of doubt about what I wanted to do because I just was so passionate about it. So I would say that is where we share similarities.

How much does lending your name to projects like this empower you as an artiste?

It really empowers me as an artiste. I am so grateful to have had this experience because my producing partner, Rachel Matthews, and I were given a lot more creative control than we were even ready for or thought we could receive so early in our careers.

I am grateful to our co-producers for the reason that they trusted us with that because we got to learn and thrive even on the most chaotic days. I would be excited by the challenges that we were facing and how to problem-solve them. It awakened me as an artiste and gave me a sense of newness in my career.