The Trailer For Cami Mendes' New Movie Is A Far Cry From Veronica Lodge
Dysfunctional family relationships are often explored on The CW series Riverdale, but Camila Mendes' latest movie project looks like it'll blow any of her character's Lodge family drama out of the water. She's no stranger to intense scenarios onscreen, but the trailer for Camila Mendes' new movie Coyote Lake puts the actress in territory even Veronica Lodge would cower at.
In between seeing her in Riverdale episodes, you might've caught Mendes as the popular object of Noah Centineo's affection in the recent Netflix flick The Perfect Date, but her Coyote Lake role definitely isn't as glamorous as Shelby or Veronica. In it, she plays teenager Ester, who runs a boarding house with her mother Teresa (Adriana Barraza) by the landmark of Coyote Lake. The lake is on the border between Texas and Mexico, serving as the location for plenty of drug smuggling activity. According to Teen Vogue, Ester and Teresa frequently drug, rob, and drown the criminals that spend the night at their inn.
While powerless Ester just goes along with these missions, Teresa actually conducts them in order to gain money for them to start a new life together. Their undercover mission is disrupted when the arrival of two unwanted guests leads to an exploration of how little Teresa and Ester actually know about each other. It's safe to say that they're not exactly the Gilmore girls.
The film's first teaser trailer picks up in the middle of one of the women's nighttime drownings. Sitting on a boat in the middle of the lake, Ester and Teresa silently set loose a covered figure, seemingly a dead body, and watch as it drifts off and sinks below surface. They exchange an unreadable look, but when Ester breaks eye contact, she seems a tad haunted by the body floating away. Well, same.
Mendes spoke to Teen Vogue about the character, calling Ester "young, naive, [and] tomboyish." If you've caught The Act on Hulu, you know that disturbed mother-daughter duos are a bit of a thing right now, and it sounds like Ester and Teresa are continuing this TV trend. Riverdale's Hermione Lodge suddenly doesn't seem so bad, right?
Mendes also discussed the role's differences from her previous work, telling Teen Vogue, "Coming from a theater background, I really love digging into these kinds of characters... I love playing characters where I really don't know their experience at first, where I can really transform."
Born and raised in Mexico, director Sara Seligman also wrote Coyote Lake. Mendes and Barraza join a cast that includes Charlie Weber, Manny Perez, Neil Sandilands, and Luisina Quarleri. Based on what she's spilled about Ester, it looks like Mendes will initially play a more passive role in the story. We'll have to wait and see if the thriller's twists encourage Ester to take a stance, but until then, here's to more fantastical drama on Riverdale.
Coyote Lake is in theaters and available on demand on Friday, August 2. Riverdale continues on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
