Skeet Ulrich – Riverdale – New York Comic Con 2019

By: Maddie Ruby

Q: Can you talk a little more about FP and Alice’s relationship and finally getting a “Falice” kiss?

A: I know, yeah. It is definitely amped up. There’s a time gap between a couple episodes and “Falice” is rising. She’s such a blast to work with and here’s some things that happen that really take it way beyond romance. There’s a fire they have for each other and it gets deeper. It’s really interesting.

Q: How does having extended family with him this season affect FP, particularly since he has been such a “lone wolf” up to this point?

A: I think it’s an issue we’ll deal with going forward, fighting his very nature. I think deep down he really wants this to happen, but sometimes it’s not within us. It will be interesting to see how it plays out and what Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] does with it.

Q: What’s your reaction to finding out Charles is alive?

A: It’s hard to answer that without giving some stuff away, but it’s unique. It’s not what you’d expect.

Q: Can you talk about filming the first episode of the season and what it was like emotionally?

A: Well, there is one scene in particular where I have to deliver the news of his passing and it was scheduled to shoot one day and moved almost a month later. And I don’t think I’ve ever had that raw of an experience filmed ever. It was literally almost impossible to utter lines. Unexpectedly, to be honest. I knew it was sitting there and I’ve done scenes like this, very emotional scenes, for decades. Early in my career I would get headaches over the concentration of dark things, this and that, and the music I needed to listen to. And then I went through a phase of almost mimicking it. I more recently have gone into a phase of relaxing and trusting that the preparation will show up. Anytime I shoot scenes like that I make them shoot the close ups first. They want to typically hear the dialogue and do some blocking, but we know the words. Let’s just shoot it. It was hard. I don’t know how it’s cut. I haven’t seen it, but it was incredibly raw, as was the whole experience of everything that happened with Luke and the ups and downs of those final few days. He had left his favorite hat at my house a week before he passed and we were trying to get together so I could give it back to him. And after he passed his family called and asked if they could have his private memorial at my house. I was like, “Absolutely, but why?” I didn’t realize it, but apparently Luke did not like to go many places. But he always wanted to come to my house. We lived very close together. I’d run into him at the local hardware store more than I would on set. All those things, all those connections and the emotions that really you try and bury the four months prior of it happening until were asked to reexamine it in the episode…I don’t know. It’s one of the hardest experiences I’ve had on film.

Q: Would you say you’re personally similar to your character or different?

A: I think we’re very different. I raised my kids on my own and I absolutely love it and I am a very calm person. And I think I get to exercise a lot of demons with him and a lot of my own ghosts from how I was raised.

Q: We talk about change of relationships and things like that. I think FP is on that side of good right now, do you think he’ll change and slip back into the Serpents?

A: I think it’s coming and it’s brewing. I think that’s the really interesting part of Roberto’s writing and how he structures the stories. You get little inklings and I never know how it’s going to fully manifest itself. I have the feeling that he’s going to flip again, which I can’t wait for because I miss my Serpents jacket.

Q: We see Jughead starting private school, how is that going to change his home relationship with FP?

A: Yeah, it changes instantly, a child going away to college in a way. I miss Cole [Sprouse]. We still have work together, which is great, but it’s not as much as it has been in the past. He isn’t around as much; I think there is a little bit of empty nest. I think you find what you really want when it’s taken away and that’s what FP is dealing with, that bitter sweetness.