‘Riverdale’ alum Madelaine Petsch on her chilling vacation thriller ‘The Stranger’

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“I spent six months trying to relearn things I actually like in my own life,” says Madelaine Petsch, who played venomous queen bee Cheryl Blossom on teen drama “Riverdale” for its seven bonkers seasons. Including the color red: Her striking auburn locks were augmented with Cheryl’s signature color in almost every scene.

Nearly a year after the series wrapped, Petsch, 29, is still working out where Cheryl ends and she begins. “When I finished the show, I was like, ‘Should I cut my hair off? Do I buzz my head?’” she says. “I used to have the same red nails every day, same length, same everything. I was so sure I hated red.” Today, though, she has clearly turned a corner. “I’m putting red polish on as we speak!” the actress says.

It’s not too much of a spoiler to say red makes some chilling appearances in Petsch’s forthcoming horror film, “The Strangers: Chapter 1.” The actress is back in LA after a year and a half working on a project she describes as “only something that crazy people would do”: shooting a trilogy, all at once and out of chronological order, on location in Slovakia.

The new “Strangers,” whose first installment hit theaters Friday, is an expanded take on the 2008 film starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as a couple under siege in their vacation house. The slow-burn thriller tapped into a primal, universal fear, and Petsch counts herself among its admirers. “I was like, who would dare touch this amazing, perfect film?” she says.

“Who” was veteran director Renny Harlin, who helmed “Die Hard 2,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight.” He wanted Petsch for the lead, Maya, a young architect on a road trip with her boyfriend when the pair are ambushed by masked invaders at an Airbnb. Petsch jumped in with both feet, quickly becoming a creative trio with Harlin and producer Courtney Solomon and getting an executive producer credit.

“We all became, like, one hive mind,” Petsch says. “We were rewriting scenes in the middle of the night. It was honestly one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, and one of the most fun.” She’s got a thick skin for scary stuff, it turns out. “At one point I made it my mission to watch every horror movie in Blockbuster,” she recalls of her youth. The only movies that really freak her out are “the ones that feel real, which is why the original ‘Strangers’ really resonated with me.”

Petsch fell hard for the Slovakian capital. “My love affair with Bratislava is big,” she says. Shooting three movies simultaneously didn’t allow for much downtime, but on a few stolen weekends, Petsch went exploring and found serious treasure. “We would go to the outlets between Bratislava, Slovakia, and Vienna,” she says, “which were some of the best I’ve ever been to. It was insane, like, Prada. And we’d pop over to Vienna and have lunch.”

She is, by her own admission, a hermit when she’s not working. (The jury’s out on whether those Prada purchases have seen the light of day.) “I do buy a lot of clothes that ultimately don’t end up getting worn because I don’t go out much,” she says with a laugh. When she does, though, she makes it count. Petsch has dazzled at the last three Paris fashion weeks, making headlines in 2022 for a series of ensembles for Elie Saab, Dior and Fendi. As for her everyday style, she describes herself as a curator of elevated classic looks. “I love Mimchik — it’s really cute, high-quality stuff. I believe they make everything in Los Angeles, too, which is wonderful. And The Frankie Shop. I love the elevated basics they do.”

So when it’s not fashion week — or a shopping spree — how can people lure her out of the house? “A good meal,” she says firmly. “The promise of vegan food excites me!” Petsch is a lifelong vegan, raised on eight rambling acres in Washington state by South African-native parents she’s described fondly as hippies. LA is famously vegan-friendly, though Petsch has a secret weapon right at home. “I’ve got a great partner who cooks vegan for me all the time,” she says of her boyfriend, who works in music.

Encouraging her fellow humans to go vegan — without being too lecture-y, she’s quick to add — is a cause she’s woven into both her work life and her gargantuan social media presence. “It’s crazy to expect people to change their entire lives when they’ve been conditioned to believe they’re meant to eat meat,”
she says. “But it’d be great if, as a society, we could just encourage people to eat less of it.” To that end, three years ago she was an executive producer on “Meat Me Halfway,” a documentary about the nascent “reducetarian” movement. The film was critically well-received, and one of her first forays into producing.

Along with gently touting the benefits of veganism, she’s shared her own struggles with anxiety in the hope of helping others. As her follower count grew exponentially in 2017, the year “Riverdale” debuted, she was barraged with mean comments on then-Twitter from viewers who conflated Petsch with her character. It came as a shock.

“I was being kind of mercilessly bullied, and I didn’t understand it. I had never really had attention like that, and it really damaged my mental health. I deleted my account, and I’ve never gone back.” Learning to create boundaries has been lifesaving. When she does post on her non-X platforms, she tries not to think about her millions of followers (“I would feel intimidated”) and makes sure to keep it all in perspective.

“I think if I could give myself any advice earlier,” she says, “it would be to not take it so seriously.” She’s done a crying-photos dump, with a bit of a wink, for several years running. “I started in 2020, because the pandemic was a really tough year,” she says. “And then it just became more of a funny way to make fun of myself for being emotional.”

What makes Petsch anxious these days? Stillness, she says. “It’s so funny, when I’m on set, I don’t get anxiety. It’s more about slowness. I’ve always lived in an environment where I’m moving all the time. So when I stop in any capacity, my body is like, ‘What’s wrong?’”

But she knows taking time to reflect and relax is important, even if it’s not her natural state. “I’m trying to find a way to make that into my rituals as a human,” she says. “Last year, I went to Puglia, Italy, which was lovely. And Mykonos[, Greece], which was a party city, which I did not know!” (She did not party, but she did love it there.) As a reader, she finds bringing a copy of  “The Artist’s Way” on her travels to be helpful — because it’s got an element of assignment to it, naturally. “It’s like a workbook for creatives,” she says. “It kind of helps you learn how to turn your brain on and off as an artist.”

In the Hamptons for our shoot, she found a small-town vibe that was very un-LA. She bought some merch at the IGA grocery, as one does, and was delighted to witness a little slice of nostalgia: “An ice cream truck rolled down the street in the middle of the day! I hadn’t seen that since I lived with my parents.” Lounging on the beach, however, was never in the cards. “I am very, very pale. The sun and I don’t have a great relationship,” she says wryly.

As her post-“Riverdale” career blossoms (sorry), she’s still very much in touch with the Archie gang. “The girls talk every day. We’re all very close — they’re my best friends.” Her former co-stars are on a BFF text thread, “ongoing forever,” she says. “We’re genuinely like family at this point.”

As for what she wants to do next, Petsch doesn’t aim small. “Honestly, everything!” she says. She’s got comedy on the brain, because she hasn’t done one yet. A straight drama, too. And she’s got her newly launched production company making moves. Her work ethic shines through loud and clear. “I really love what I do,” she says simply. “And I want to do it all the time.”

On location: Madelaine Petsch was photographed at 165 Surfside Drive in Bridgehampton. The epitome of luxury living, the 10,000-square-foot, ultramodern oceanfront home redefines sophistication and elegance. Constructed by master Hamptons builder Joe Farrell, it features eight bedrooms and eight and a half bathrooms. Meticulously designed with the finest materials and finishes, the “front row” home boasts an elevator from the six-car garage to the rooftop deck, where a more than 4,500-square-foot entertaining space includes a full kitchen, a putting green and a spa. A stunning oceanside heated pool and spa add to the serene retreat. Über-luxury permeates every corner of this exquisite property, setting a new standard for Hamptons living. More information at 631-537-1068.

EDITOR: Serena French; STYLIST: Anahita Moussavian; PHOTO EDITOR: Jessica Hober;
TALENT BOOKER: Patty Adams Martinez; HAIR: Ryan Richman at A-Frame Agency using Aveda; MAKEUP: Jen Tioseco at The Wall Group; FASHION ASSISTANT: Alex Bullock,
ON-SET ASSISTANTS: Meghan Powers, Tiana Schippa