Archie Renaux is in his rom-com era! From starring in 2023’s The Other Zoey alongside Josephine Langford and Drew Starkey — to playing the main love interest to Camila Mendes in Prime Video’s newest romantic film, Upgraded. J-14 sat down with the actor, who spoke about balancing acting and dad life, if he still speaks to the Shadow and Bone cast despite its cancellation and so much more.
Keep reading for our exclusive interview with Archie.
J-14: You’ve been working on so many rom-coms with such well-known young Hollywood actors! What was it like to work with Camila Mendes for Upgraded?
Archie: It was lovely. She’s great and she’s very, very talented — easy to get on with. I’ve been saying that, just creating that kind of giddiness and the back and forth, we just had a laugh of each other. That’s something [that] broke down the barriers pretty quickly and that kind of poking [fun] at each other and pushing each other’s buttons helped create that energy pretty quickly and got us to at that level.
J-14: What’s your favorite rom-com?
Archie: There’s [not many] rom-coms that I’ve really enjoyed. So yeah, I guess I’m [more of a] rom-com fan [now]. I really liked About Time.
J-14: You starred in The Other Zoey last year with Josephine Langford and Drew Starkey! Could you tell us a little bit about working on that set?
Archie: It was really good fun. [Drew] had to learn how to play football […] and we went out and kicked the ball about for a while and he got pretty good, pretty quickly […] And it was a shame about that film was that the Covid restrictions were all still there so we didn’t actually get to spend much time out and about. We were kind of masked up a lot of the time and trying to avoid Covid. I was really, really trying to avoid it at one point because I didn’t think I was going to be getting home for Christmas. I think there was, someone had it on set, which would’ve been a nightmare. So that was a bit of a shame, but we said a really good fun.
J-14: What was it like filming in London, for a change?
Archie: Yeah, it was lovely. It was nice. It was nice being close to my family for a change. I’ve got a young kid as well, I’ve got a 3-year-old daughter. So being able to go and see her or them being able to come down pretty easily was lovely. We were lucky with the weather. It was very hot and sunny, which was a suprise.
J-14: You mentioned being able to see your daughter while filming Upgraded — how has dad life been treating you?
Archie: Yeah, really good. That does get tough. It does get tough sometimes it does get [stressful] and I go from two extremes of not seeing her at all. And then like, I’ve been full on dad-ding it at the moment, which I’ve kind of struggled with. My partner’s been working, so I’ve had it all kind of to myself and it’s been a lot. I’m trying my hardest but it’s been a lot — but it is equally just as amazing and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
J-14: I have to mention Shadow and Bone, which was unfortunately cancelled last year after two seasons. Do you still speak to the cast from time to time?
Archie: Yeah, we’re still in the group chat, still there. Everyone’s still in the group chat. Patty [Patrick] Gibson came to watch Upgraded with me yesterday. But yeah, everyone’s still in touch. […] I live in Newcastle now, so I’m kind of away from it all a lot of the time. So it’s hard for me to see a lot of people.
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