KJ Apa traded Riverdale for Bedford Falls this week, stepping out in New York to celebrate his new film Jimmy, in which he plays screen legend Jimmy Stewart.

The 29-year-old actor attended a special screening of the biopic on Tuesday night (October 21) at the SAG-AFTRA Theater, hosted by Burns & Co. Entertainment and The Cinema Society. He was joined by co-stars Max Casella and Jen Lilley, director Aaron Burns, and producers Angela Galgani Sullivan and Jack McClintock, with the cast and guests continuing the celebration at an after-party at The Skylark.

Jimmy follows Stewart’s remarkable decision, fresh off winning the Best Actor Oscar for The Philadelphia Story, to enlist as a combat pilot and commander in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. Casella plays It’s a Wonderful Life director Frank Capra, while Lilley plays Stewart’s wife, Gloria. The ensemble also includes Jason Alexander as Louis B. Mayer, Neal McDonough, Christopher McDonald, Sarah Drew and Rob Riggle — and in a touching piece of casting, Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life as a child, makes a cameo appearance.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about capturing Stewart’s unmistakable voice, Apa said the goal was interpretation over impersonation: “The goal is to give an honest performance while not being impressionistic. I think when you’re doing an impression or an impersonation, there isn’t as much happening behind the impression, and I think that’s where, when you interpret something, it’s more of an interpretation.”

Jimmy opens in theaters on November 6.