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What makes a place feel like home?
Is it warmth and familiarity?
Credit: The CW
Some idealized, make-believe version of the American Dream?
So asks Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) in the opening sequence of In a Lonely Place.
The dream quickly turns to nightmare as Jughead sees his down-on-his-luck father, F.P.
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(Skeet Ulrich), in the living room and notices Archie (K.J.
Apa) has a knife sticking out of his back.
Its typicalRiverdale: beloved American characters subverted into darker, deeper, more unsettling versions of themselves.
The CW
Every story we tell, we say, Okay, whats the dark underbelly of this?
It was almost like being with the comic book and my vision of them when I was a child.
It really was like those characters were coming to life off the pages of the comic book.
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Every stitch of clothes was inspired by a particular comic panel, a particular comic look, Aguirre-Sacassa says.
Jughead has a very iconic look with his crown and his blue turtleneck with the S on it.
Our costume designer pulled together various images from the comic books for Veronica and Betty, explains Aguirre-Sacasa.
That was part of the fun of Archie Comics the artists would draw fashion from the day into it.
Then there were the other films and television shows they sought to infuse into this moment.
We talked aboutPleasantvillea lot.
We talked aboutFar From Heavena lot.
Theres a little element of theStepford Wiveswith Betty and Alice turning their heads the same way, he says.
That specific stylistic choice also trickled down to the acting.
You read that right no fancy editing tricks.
That enthusiasm also extended to the cast when it came to turning back the clock on their beloved characters.
The young actors in particular love going back to the different decades.
I mean, Cole listens to 1940s music, so he goes further back than I do.
Lilis happy anytime her hair gets to be out of a ponytail and into anything else.
We actually shot this really cool sequence that we ended up cutting for time, Aguirre-Sacasa explains.
The camera tracked across like four or five booths, and each booth was a different time period.
In one booth, you had the kids in the 40s.
In the next booth, you had Cheryl in the 80s.
We have a lot of quintessential American characters in pop culture, explains Anders.
We have Nancy Drew, we have Judy Blooms books, and we have Archie Comics.
They have for decades.
