The third season of Riverdale is here and it's bound to be darker — and hotter — than ever. But before we even watch the premiere, we already have some predictions about what's to come next for Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) and the gang: A new mystery — even creepier than the Black Hood — will plague Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), FP will hook up with Alice (we know they're #endgame), Archie will take off his shirt...
Luckily, most of our theories aren't that far off — according to the show's new makeup department head, Juliana Vit, that is. Aside from the new Donnie Darko vibe the show is getting from now on, Apa will appear shirtless (a lot) and Reinhart will get a little dirty to Nancy Drew her way out of something. We're guessing that's not even the half of it, but we'll just have to wait and see. Until then, we tapped Vit for her behind-the-scenes scoop on what really goes on before the camera rolls, how Apa covers his real tattoos for those shirtless scenes, and why this season will be much dirtier and bloodier than the last. Her answers, ahead.
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This is your first season on the show. What research did you do ahead of time to prep?
"Before I started working on it, the show was already my guilty pleasure. I'm also friends with Erin [Mackenzie, former makeup department head on Riverdale], and I'd always call her to chit-chat about it. For the most part, we kept the same looks from season one and two for each character. I also worked on the last six seasons of Once Upon A Time, so I came from another ensemble cast that's pretty much as big as Riverdale. It took a bit to jive together, but it's been really fun, even on our 14-hour camera days."
"Before I started working on it, the show was already my guilty pleasure. I'm also friends with Erin [Mackenzie, former makeup department head on Riverdale], and I'd always call her to chit-chat about it. For the most part, we kept the same looks from season one and two for each character. I also worked on the last six seasons of Once Upon A Time, so I came from another ensemble cast that's pretty much as big as Riverdale. It took a bit to jive together, but it's been really fun, even on our 14-hour camera days."
Do any of the characters' looks change this season?
"The characters' looks really have been established by season three, so it's kind of hard to change anything now. We do have to cover some characters in more dirt than others. For example, we haven't had to put any on Vanessa [Morgan] or Madelaine [Petsch], but we do have to make [Reinhart] sweaty and tired-looking sometimes, and she's all for it."
"The characters' looks really have been established by season three, so it's kind of hard to change anything now. We do have to cover some characters in more dirt than others. For example, we haven't had to put any on Vanessa [Morgan] or Madelaine [Petsch], but we do have to make [Reinhart] sweaty and tired-looking sometimes, and she's all for it."
How do you make someone look sweaty and dirty?
"We're filming a summer heat wave [in the show], so everyone has to have that fake sheen right now because they're supposed to be sweating. Luckily, we’re shooting while Vancouver is going through a real heat wave, so most of the boys are just actually sweating. For everyone else, we use different kinds of fake dirt, but to make them sweat we'll spritz on coconut oil or glycerin. If the fake sweat dries, you just reactive the glycerin with Evian Facial Spray and it's shiny again."
"We're filming a summer heat wave [in the show], so everyone has to have that fake sheen right now because they're supposed to be sweating. Luckily, we’re shooting while Vancouver is going through a real heat wave, so most of the boys are just actually sweating. For everyone else, we use different kinds of fake dirt, but to make them sweat we'll spritz on coconut oil or glycerin. If the fake sweat dries, you just reactive the glycerin with Evian Facial Spray and it's shiny again."
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What can we expect from season three?
"[Season three] does take an even darker turn than last season. There's a bit more going on as far as prosthetic stuff goes. We have a big prosthetics day with [Apa] coming up. There's a bit more blood and a bit more dirt, too. Over the next season you'll also see other people have different tattoos that aren't just from the Serpents."
"[Season three] does take an even darker turn than last season. There's a bit more going on as far as prosthetic stuff goes. We have a big prosthetics day with [Apa] coming up. There's a bit more blood and a bit more dirt, too. Over the next season you'll also see other people have different tattoos that aren't just from the Serpents."
Speaking of tattoos, Apa just got two new ones in real life. How do you cover them?
"He has four tattoos now. He actually sent me a video after getting his newest tattoo on his arm. I thought, Oh dear, because he's always shirtless. To cover them, we first use a coral cream from a Skin Illustrator palette to cancel out the darkness in the black ink, then we go in with another palette that's thick, dries really fast, and doesn't smudge. It takes about 40 minutes to finish him, face and body, for shirtless scenes. It is a bit of a process, but we did a good job covering them, as you'll see."
"He has four tattoos now. He actually sent me a video after getting his newest tattoo on his arm. I thought, Oh dear, because he's always shirtless. To cover them, we first use a coral cream from a Skin Illustrator palette to cancel out the darkness in the black ink, then we go in with another palette that's thick, dries really fast, and doesn't smudge. It takes about 40 minutes to finish him, face and body, for shirtless scenes. It is a bit of a process, but we did a good job covering them, as you'll see."
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