INDIANAPOLIS — One little white lie can spiral into something much bigger.
In "Upgraded," ambitious intern Ana (Camila Mendes) joins her demanding boss (Marisa Tomei) on a trip to London. After a kind airline employee upgrades Ana's ticket to first class, she meets charming Will (Archie Renaux), who mistakes Ana for her boss — and Ana goes along with it.
Mendes, best known for her roles in "Riverdale" and "Do Revenge," said it was effortless to build the chemistry with Renaux ("Shadow and Bone").
"We got along right away. We share a manager, so he linked us over text leading up to the film," Mendes said. "We were texting for months before we actually met each other in-person, and we got to establish a really nice dynamic that way."
And in a Miranda Priestly/evil stepmother-type role, Oscar winner Tomei ("My Cousin Vinny," "The Wrestler") brings the comedic relief.
"She's incredible. She brought so many interesting choices to the character that weren't even on the page," Mendes said of working with Tomei. "We were very lucky to have an actress of her caliber playing a role like that."
In the 1990s and 2000s, rom-coms like "Pretty Woman," "Hitch," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "The Proposal" were major box office hits. The genre has gotten a recent revival in the last few years, thanks to the successes of "Ticket to Paradise," starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, and "Anyone But You," with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell.
"I got to be an executive producer on it, so I'm very personally connected to it because I've never been so involved in a project before," Mendes said. "It's so beautiful to see the final product and know the journey it took to get there."
"Upgraded" is now streaming on Prime Video.