Girl next door becomes leader in thriller
PARK CITY, Utah — Vancouver actor Tiera Skovbye, 22, plays the girl next door with a feminist spin in Canadian thriller Summer of ’84, which had its world première at the Sundance Film Festival this week.
Skovbye portrays 17-year-old Nikki, the former babysitter and current crush of 15-year-old Davey (played by Vancouver actor Graham Verchere of TV’s Fargo).
Davey and his three pals are convinced the too-friendly neighbouring cop with a passion for gardening (Mad Men’s Rich Sommer) is the serial killer behind the disappearance of local teenage boys. Armed with walkie-talkies and BMX bikes, the teens set out to solve the crimes.
Directed by Montreal-based filmmakers Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell, Summer of ’84 leans heavily on 1980s films such as The Goonies and The ’Burbs.
The filmmaking trio, who work together as the collective RKSS (Roadkill Superstar), made their Sundance debut in 2015 with comedic action-horror Turbo Kid and developed a following among the genre-loving audiences of the festival’s Midnight program.
The boys of Summer of ’84 initially spend their time flipping through adult magazines and trying to spy on Nikki, whose bedroom is opposite Davey’s. But learning more about Nikki leads Davey to see her in a new light. He insists the guys treat her as an equal rather than an object and Nikki becomes a leader in their detective work.
“I think it’s really cool that my character very easily could have just been written as those few scenes with Davey and the boys looking at her and objectifying her. That could have very easily just been my storyline,” Skovbye said of the script by Matt Leslie and Stephen J. Smith.
“This isn’t just about a couple of boys hunting,” Skovbye said. “It’s a group of friends and it doesn’t matter that there’s a female in there.”
Skovbye said she didn’t know what to expect when she arrived in Park City for the Sundance première of Summer of ’84.
“It was so much busier and crazier than I had anticipated,” she said of the festival started by actor-director Robert Redford to showcase independent film.
Skovbye was back in Vancouver right after the première to work on ABC’s storybook-fantasy series Once Upon a Time, in which she plays Robin, the daughter of Zelena and Robin Hood. She’s also a regular on Riverdale as Betty Cooper’s older sister, Polly.
To get ready for her dive into the 1980s, she watched movies including Stand By Me and used Madonna as an inspiration.
“We had a really amazing wardrobe and hair team, which helped me really get into the ’80s fashion and hairstyles, which always helps you embody a character and a different time period,” she said.