For anyone dismayed that the ‘Riverdale’ series coming to the CW might not be directly in line with the ‘Archie’ comics source material, you have no idea h0w much better this project is now than it might have been had certain folks over at Warner Bros had their way. At least this is how ‘Archie’ comics chief creative officer Robert Aguirre-Sacasa feels the material should look and feel and be presented, instead of some radical “high concept” nonsense spouted by an exec who had no idea about why people love the source comics or why they should be trying to adapt it in the first place.
Aguirre-Sacasa apparently still cannot believe the original meeting he had with a VP at Warner Bros when trying to make a movie out of ‘Archie,’ as was the original plan before he got the opportunity to make the show over at the CW. In his words during the ‘Riverdale’ panel at the Television Critics Associations winter previews:
“We go to the kickoff meeting and he said, ‘You know, I’ve been thinking about this and I think you guys need to something a little more high concept, a little bigger than a coming-of-age [story].’ I said, ‘Yeah, great. We’re open to that.’ He goes, ‘I want you to think about time travel.’ I say, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘You know, Archie traveling through time.'”
After that suggestion, which Aguirre-Sacasa and his friend Jason Moore (director of ‘Pitch Perfect’) clearly were not entirely on board with, Aguirre-Sacasa talks about how the VP quickly moved on from time travel to his next big concept:
“‘Portals are huge. This is a portal to another dimension.’ We’re just sitting there gobsmacked.”
Continuing on the riff, Aguirre-Sacasa then goes on to talk about the final “brilliant” idea from the VP:
“I think this is the greatest idea. He’s like, ‘What if Louis C.K. is Archie?'”
Can you imagine the character alternations that would have had to be made to make Archie work with Louis C.K. playing the main role? Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy, but he just does not fit the character. I am so happy that Aguirre-Sacasa and company decided to turn down that movie deal, and I really hope that everything works out for ‘Riverdale’ at the CW, and am looking forward to its premiere on January 26th. Are you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: TV Guide
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.
