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*Riverdale’s second season will be back from hiatus on March 7, and Nathalie Boltt — who stars as Mom from Hell ‘Penelope Blossom’ — has some big surprises coming up in the weeks ahead.
Following the resolution of the Blossom murder mystery in the Season One finale, the wicked ‘Penelope’ is no longer the wife of the richest most powerful man in Riverdale. Instead, she’s now a scheming widow turned courtesan, plotting her way to survive and thrive in a town that has only contempt for her.
Right out the gate, The CW’s Archie Comics-inspired series establish a very loyal fan base so when EUR/Electronic Urban Report asked Ms. Nathalie what she attributes to the show’s success, she explained:
“Very strong writing, very fast paced and a lot of live tweeting and social media stuff that happens while it’s happening but along with that, I think it looks really sexy. It’s got that delicious, really colorful kind of smokey look about it and also it’s a weird mash-up of time. You got all the social media stuff but then it’s kind of set in the 60’s. It’s kind of suburban but really twisted. It’s a mash-up of a lot of elements that seem to just intrigue people.”
Read the rest of our conversation below, where we dish about Penelope’s dynamic with her daughter Cheryl and how she will do “anything evil she can think of” to return to the upper echelon of society.
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What have you enjoyed most about exploring the world of Penelope Blossom?
NB: In the last few episodes and stuff that’s coming up, I think the thing that they do well with Penelope is that they show just a tiny little bit of her character and then they rip her away. I see her as an anomaly. She lives in this weird house on the hill. She’s not part of suburbia. She dresses weirdly like she’s stuck in some sort of vintage zone — a little bit Adams Family-ish. She’s just a bit removed from reality. She’s a bit otherworldly and I think that’s the main thing.
What does Penelope really think about the parents in “Riverdale?”
NB: In a word, she thinks they’re a bunch of peasants and she’s just above them. When they were the richest family in Riverdale it was obvious they had that social status, now that she doesn’t have that anymore, she’s absolutely desperate to get back up on the hierarchy so she could look down on people. And I think based on other discussions I’ve had, the character is based on extreme insecurity. She married into the Blossom family and was never really seen as good enough by Nana Rose and probably her husband Clifford either. And so it’s like the wannabe royals. She became a royal but now she’s losing her grip on that. I see Penelope doing all kinds of evil anything — anything she can think of to get back where she was. In terms of what she thinks of Riverdale, they’re all just going to be pawns in her game… and that includes her daughter.
Speaking of which, Penelope and Cheryl’s relationship is the most intense mother-daughter dynamic I’ve experienced on TV in a while.
NB: It was really tough at first. When we did our first really awful scene in Season One, where I kind of grab her by the face and tell her that she should be shipped off to a boarding school, that was kind of tough ‘cause Madelaine, who plays Cheryl, we really didn’t know each other that well, and to go into that kind of ambitious, explosive interaction with another actor is quite difficult. You don’t get any kind of like, intro to that and then you have to come out of that and there’s no one debriefing you. It’s all kind of like, “Oh… sorry, are you okay?” I’m quite a playful person in real life and Madelaine, she’s hilarious and super smart but we only had these occasional scenes where we could actually get to know each other. So at first, it was really tough because I say such awful things to her and I’m such a terrible mother but now we’ve got to the point where we actually kind of know each other a bit better and we just laugh about it. We laugh going in and then we say these terrible things and we actually cry and then we laugh coming out and just go, like, “Wow.. there’s another clinger for the audience.”
It seems like these two are going to have an explosive season, so what can you tease fans with about the events leading up to the finale episode.
NB: Well, viewers can be rest assured that Cheryl, as promised right at the beginning of season two, is going to get the upper hand. Before she does that, Penelope is going to sink even lower, in terms of prostitution as a high-class call girl. She not only enjoys the income but she enjoys the revenge and the embarrassment she causes Cheryl. And then a new character is going to appear and together we’re going to do whatever we can to get that status back in our family and we still stop at nothing, including theft.
Is it possible that Penelope and Cheryl can find some common ground through their mutual affinity for revenge?
NB: I think it’s very tantalizing to have that little bit of sugar between them, and we literally had that with ‘The Sugarman’ episode, where Penelope showed a little bit of love towards her children when she told Cheryl that she was trying to protect them from Clifford’s drug business. That’s the only time we’ve really seen a little bit of love and maternal instinct from Penelope. So I think there will be a tiny bit of that every now and then because otherwise, why would Cheryl stay? It’s such an abusive relationship that there’s gotta be some point where it’s only recognizing that they’re quite similar. I think what you’re saying is very interesting… if they just banded together, they’ed be unstoppable. The two Blossom women—two fiery redheads. The ultra mean girls. That could be really fun to play with.
As the old saying goes… “Hurt people hurt others.” So, who hurt Penelope? Will we ever find out?
NB: Even though the characters are based on comic-book characters, I think it’s always very much rooted in truth. Hurt people do hurt people and generally, the people that are hurt most are their family. So I would say there’s a lot of incredible deep hurt in Penelope’s past. If we look into where Penelope’s hurt actually comes from, it would explain a lot about her. It might solve some things for Cheryl and I think it would be very exciting to explore that. At this point, the showrunners don’t tell us too much ‘cause they like us to also guess and be intrigued by what’s coming next. But I think they will reveal that about Penelope because they have to. You can’t just be purely evil just for the joy of being evil. It has to have come from some twisted history in your past.
In terms of your process, do you have to go to a dark place in order to occupy Penelope’s headspace?
NB: It’s almost like therapy. Once Madelaine and I know that one is going to take it seriously then I can imagine the worst thing and the worse person and the people that you really think are unaware and just out there to make other people’s lives miserable and dialogue you play off in your mind… that’s Penelope. So in a way, it’s like your darkest moments coming up and you get to say them and play them and be rid of them. So it’s actually kind of therapeutic, so as long as no one gets permanently damaged. The biggest challenge for me is being one of those peripheral characters that always want more to play with. The way that Penelope is kind of seen in flashes, there’s not a lot at the moment so I’m growing and building my character for those scenes where you really get to see a bit more about her. For Penelope, the biggest challenge is patience, for anybody who wants more… and for me.
What can women learn from a character like Penelope?
NB: That they can adapt. She’s gone from being the high-standing wife to then, and not that prostitution is the answer, but she has found some way of empowering herself, if only temporary as she considers her next plan. She always has bigger and better ideas and now that she has freedom from her husband, she’s not going to sink. So I think adaptability and being thick-skinned and always dressing well is part of keeping yourself up top.
“Riverdale” returns this week, so what excites you most about the journey that Penelope is about to take viewers on?
NB: What’s coming up is Penelope’s new low of trying to rid herself of any family member that stands in her way on her mission to get back on top, and it’s terrifying. And some of the storylines this season, and the first season, there’s this sort of like, dark place that people go to and disappear that will have audience members sad for Cheryl. But she pulls herself out of it in the most spectacular way, and there could be music involved.
‘Riverdale” airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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