Camila Mendes is celebrating Valentine's Day early with the release of new rom-com Upgraded, which marked her first movie as an executive producer.
The movie lands on Prime Video tomorrow (February 9) and is the first of two movies to be released on the streaming service this year with Mendes both in a lead role and as an executive producer behind the scenes.
"The best part was that I got to do it with my best friend who I met in college, Rachel Matthews, who is also an executive producer. It was our first foray into producing and we got to do it together, which made me feel less alone and I really felt like I had someone in my corner," Mendes told Digital Spy.
"It was magical because I realised I had way more of a knack for it than I thought I would. I realised that my seven years of Riverdale, being on a show for that long and working with several directors and always interacting with the producers, I naturally picked up a skillset that I didn't know I truly had until I was thrown into this experience.
"I learned so much and I'm very thankful for Bill [Bindley] and Mike [Karz] at Gulfstream, our other producers, because they really let us take the reins and let us have a lot more creative control than I think we were expecting we could have. They really trusted us, so I'm really glad I got the experience to actually put those skills to use."
Upgraded sees Mendes play ambitious intern Ana who, on a work trip to London, meets Will (Archie Renaux). Their meet-cute ends up with Will mistaking Ana for her demanding boss Claire (Marisa Tomei), and Ana is more than happy to let him believe it.
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It's a classic rom-com setup and Upgraded is the latest streaming release to continue the rom-com resurgence of recent years, which Mendes puts down to a "quest to bring back the magic of rom-com past".
"There have been so many amazing cinematic rom-coms and it's been tough to find that again and find that groove. I think it's started to happen because we're tired of seeing the same mould being created over and over again," she explained.
"I think people are catching onto that and realising that when done right, it's such a beautiful genre and you can have a lot of heart, a lot of comedy and if the acting is good and the chemistry and connection is strong, it's a recipe for success."
Her co-star Archie Renaux added that rom-coms are a "little break from the harshness of reality".
"You can lose yourself for an hour and a half, two hours whatever, and have a nice, easy watch and a fun watch and have a few laughs. Some films can be a bit heavy and a bit long, but these are things that people can watch with ease," he continued.
"They're feelgood films and I think that's what people are looking out for at the moment."
Upgraded is released on Prime Video on February 9.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
